VIAREGGIO, Italy, November 22. AT the Viareggio stop of the Italian Grand Prix, spanning Nov. 22-25, Alessia Filippi lowered her own 400 IM Italian record over short course meters.
Filippi covered the course in a time of 4:29.86 to dip under 4:30 for the first time, as her old standard of 4:30.25 stood for just a few days as she turned in the time at the Berlin stop of the FINA World Cup circuit on Nov. 18. Notably, her 4:30 in Berlin also was the fastest time in the world this year.
Meanwhile, Brazil's Fabiola Molina shined with a pair of backstroke wins. First, Molina sprinted to a time of 27.67 in the 50-meter distance, just a bit shy of her season-best time of 27.56 set at the Stockholm World Cup stop. Molina then ripped off a 1:00.03 in the 100 back to win that event as well.
In other stroke events, New Zealand's Zoe Baker topped the 50 breast (31.06), while South Africa's Suzaan van Biljon (200 breast – 2:25.75) and Italy's Cristina Maccanola (100 fly – 1:00.13) also touched first in their events. Additionally, Italy's Francesca Segat (200 fly – 2:07.74) and Livia Travaglini (200 IM – 2:14.97) earned titles.
The freestyle crowns went to Australia's Michelle Engelsman (50 free – 25.04), Spain's Maria Fuster (100 free – 56.21), Italy's Giulia Bolgiani (800 free – 8:39.18) and University of California-bound Sara Isakovic of Slovenia (200 free – 1:58.86).
The men also had a mixed bag of winners. Great Britain's Mark Foster (50 free – 21.63), Brazil's Cesar Cielo (100 free – 47.44) and Italy's Federico Colbertaldo (400 free – 3:43.33) won the freestyle events. The United States duo of David Cromwell (50 back – 24.34) and Hongzhe Sun (100 back – 52.50) swept the backstroke races, while Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor (50 breast – 27.41) and Italy's Paolo Bossini (200 breast – 2:08.72) took home the breaststroke crowns.
In the butterfly events, Ukraine's Andriy Serdinov (100 fly – 52.86) and Italy's Michele Cosentino (200 fly – 1:56.64) surfaced triumphant, while the Italian pair of Federico Turrini (200 IM – 1:59.55) and Alessio Boggiatto (400 IM – 4:09.62) nabbed the medley events.
Click here to view full event results PDF file.