World 1500m freestyle champion Simona Quadarella (Circolo Canottieri Aniene) led a run on meet records at the short-course Nico Sapio Trophy in Genova with an 8:12.19 victory over 800m as the meet came to a close.
Quadarella, whose was chased all the way by Rita Caramignoli, second home in 8:15.73, dedicated her efforts at the meet to the firefighters who lost their lives in an explosion last Monday that is now the subject of a criminal investigation.
Germany’s Marco Koch added his name to the meet-record sheet with a comfortable 2:05.01 win over Alessandro Fusco‘s 2:06.89 in the 200m breaststroke, while Marco Orsi, with a 52.61 in the 100m medley ahead of Simone Geni, on 52.93, the men’s 400m medley witnessed another local standard being established when Lorenzo Tarocchi stopped the clock at 4:07.07.
In 1:52.91, Alberto Razzeti set a meet mark in a 200m butterfly final that featured Hungarian great Laszlo Cseh, back in third on 1:58.86.
Beyond the records, there was good speed to be found in several finals, Matteo Ciampi a case in point as he threw down a strong 3:39.64 in the 400m freestyle ahead of Stefano Ballo, on 3:43.83. Ciampi’s time is fourth swiftest on the current-season World rankings.
In the much-awaited clash between Martina Carraro and World silver medallist in the dash Bernadetta Pilato over 100m breaststroke, Carraro had the edge, 1:05.02 to 1:05.40.
The meet serves as a qualifier for the Italian team that will race at the European Championships (25m) in Glasgow next month. Possibles for the squad include Alessandro Miressi, who won the 100m freestyle today in 47.29, defending European champion Fabio Scozzoli, on 26.14 in the 50m breaststroke 0.06sec ahead of Nicolo’ Martinenghi, and Ilaria Bianchi, who topped the 100m butterfly in 57.21.
Brazil’s Guilherme Guido has been in fine winning form all season, with several victories over Ryan Murphy, Matt Grevers and others on ISL tour, but a 50.58 from Lorenzo Mora in the 100m backstroke was good enough to keep the visitor at bay, on 50.80.
In other action, there was a 24.48 win over 50m freestyle for American Madison Kennedy and Hungarian Katalin Burian took the 200m backstroke in 2:06.68.