Italian Long Course Nationals: Oldest Italian Long Course Record Falls in Record-Breaking Day

RICCIONE, Italy, March 6. NOT many Italian records are holding up under the intense pressure at the Italian Long Course Nationals held in Riccione this weekend. During the second day of swimming, the oldest long course record in the Italian books fell.

Elena Gemo became the first Italian woman to break 1:01 in the women's 100 back when she hit the wall in 1:00.89 for the win. The performance broke the previous record of 1:01.52 set by Alessia Filippi back in 2006.

Marco Belotti followed in the men's 200 free to set an Italian record as well. He stopped the clock in 1:46.33 to hold off Filippo Magnini (1:46.89). The swim beat the national record of 1:46.60 set by Massi Rosolino at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Notably, Rosolino placed third in the race in 1:47.33.

Roberta Panara lowered the women's 50 breast Italian record twice. First, she claimed the top seed in prelims with a 31.28 to beat her old record of 31.72 set last April. She then nearly broke 31 seconds with a swift time of 31.08.

Next, Paolo Facchinelli set the Italian record in the men's 50 fly with a time of 23.60 as he touched out Mattia Nalesso (23.68). That effort beat his prelim record of 23.69, which in turn broke Nalesso's Italian record of 23.74 set in July.

The national records kept falling in the men's 200 back when Damiano Lestingi raced to a winning time of 1:56.91. The effort beat the longest standing record in the Italian long course record book as Emanuele Merisi's 1:57.70 set way back in 1996 in Livorno finally fell by the wayside.

In other action, Cristina Chiuso won the women's 50 free in 25.78. Meanwhile, Filippi took home the women's 400 IM crown in 4:37.35, while Alessio Boggiatto snagged the men's 200 IM in 2:00.03.

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