Swimming World presents the video series called the Ross Report. It is a series where our head video producer Andy Ross will travel around the country to tell the stories of the swimmers and divers you don’t know much about.
Previous Ross Report episodes:
- Ep. #1: Kaersten Meitz
- Ep. #2: Zane Grothe
- Ep. #3: Division II Indianapolis
- Ep. #4: Robert Howard
- Ep. #5: Georgia Tech
- Ep. #6: Division III Williams
- Ep. #7: Caeleb Dressel, Jan Switkowski & Mark Szaranek
This week’s episode focuses on Olympic gold medalist Federica Pellegrini from Italy. Pellegrini was in Fort Lauderdale training at the International Swimming Hall of Fame and sat down with ISHOF historian Bruce Wigo.
Pellegrini is 30-years-old and has already swum in four Olympics for Italy, winning the 200 free gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Pellegrini also currently holds the world record in the 200 free for LCM as she swam a 1:52.98 at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Pellegrini has continued to stay consistent with her swimming as she has medaled at every single World Championships in the 200 free since 2005. She is also the only swimmer to beat Katie Ledecky in a major final at either the Olympics or World Championships as she did that in the 200 free at the 2017 Worlds.
Pellegrini visited the International Swimming Hall of Fame and said that the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 will be her final Olympics. She is unsure what she will swim in Tokyo but has not ruled out the 200 free. She did not swim the 200 at the European Championships in 2018, instead swimming the 100 free. She placed fifth at Europeans with a 54.04.
She also talked about what it was like seeing some of the memorabilia from former coach Alberto Castagnetti inside the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Federica Pellegrini also voiced her support for the International Swim League and thinks it is a good step forward for the sport, as well as the FINA Champions Series. She said she will likely swim in both meets this coming season.
Pellegrini also talked about how her training has changed since the beginning of her career to now. She has been at a world class level of swimming since winning the silver medal in the 200 free at the Athens Olympics at the age of 16 in 2004.
*has already swum
😉
Thanks. Probably should get more sleep.