RICCIONE, Italy, March 8. DURING the final day of swimming at the Italian Long Course Championships, Federica Pellegrini lowered her world record in the women's 200 free with a blistering time.
Pellegrini clocked a scorching time of 1:54.47 to beat the standard of 1:54.82 she set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Here are the comparative splits:
2009: 27.31, 56.05 (28.74), 1:25.63 (29.58), 1:54.47 (28.84)
2008: 27.27, 55.92 (28.65), 1:25.57 (29.65), 1:54.82 (29.25)
Alessia Filippi snatched the women's 200 back in an Italian record of 2:08.44. Her performance cleared the 2:09 barrier as her previous record had been a 2:09.04 from 2007.
Francesco Vespe followed in the men's 200 fly with a touch-out triumph over Niccolo Beni, 1:56.33 to 1:56.63, to clip Vespe's Italian record of 1:56.37.
Another Italian record fell in the women's 200 breast when Ombretta Plos posted a 2:26.90 to beat Chiara Boggiatto's record of 2:27.12 set in 2005 in the same city.
Meanwhile, Cristina Maccagnola stopped the clock in 26.51 in the women's 50 fly to better Silvia Di Pietro's national record of 26.77 set in 2008.
In other events, Mirco Di Tora just missed the Italian record in the men's 100 back with a 54.07. Di Tora set the current record with a 54.05 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Loris Facci won the men's 200 breast in 2:10.58, while Federico Colbertaldo claimed the men's 1500 free in 14:58.71. Filippo Magnini walked away with the men's 100 free title in 48.28.
World-Record Footage