Martina Carraro of Blue 91 opened the final day of competition at the 2016 Italian Assoluti National Championships and Olympic Trials in Riccione with a national record in the women’s 100 breast.
After swimming a 1:07.78 in prelims, Carraro came back in finals and went 1:06.41, taking a huge .45 off the previous Italian national record that Ilaria Scarcella had held since 2009. Carraro beat Scarcella (CC Aniene) and Arianna Castiglioni (Yellow Flames / Team Insubrika) in the final by a full 2 seconds, after finished third behind them at last year’s Spring Assoluti National Championships.
Carraro’s swim was all the more remarkable given that her third-place finish in last year’s final was a 1:09.45. Over the last year she has improved both her up-front speed and her closing speed, taking 3.04 seconds off her time.
| 50 | 100 | Time | |
| 2015 Final | 32.33 | 37.12 | 1:09.45 |
| 2016 Prelims | 31.62 | 36.16 | 1:07.78 |
| 2016 Final | 31.28 | 35.13 | 1:06.41 |
Carraro also cleared Italy’s Olympic qualifying standard by a huge margin and punched her ticket to Rio. She vaulted into the world’s top ten for the season with her swim.
2015-2016 LCM Women 100 BREAST
KING
1.04.93*OR
| 2 | Yulia EFIMOVA | RUS | 1.05.50 | 08/08 |
| 3 | Katie MEILI | USA | 1.05.69 | 08/08 |
| 4 | Ruta MEILUTYTE | LTU | 1.05.82 | 03/11 |
| 5 | Alia ATKINSON | JAM | 1.05.93 | 11/06 |
| 6 | Georgia BOHL | AUS | 1.06.12 | 04/09 |
| 7 | Molly HANNIS | USA | 1.06.16 | 03/04 |
| 8 | Jinglin SHI | CHN | 1.06.29 | 04/03 |
| 9 | Sarah HASSE | USA | 1.06.31 | 06/03 |
| 10 | Siobhan-Marie O'CONNOR | GBR | 1.06.34 | 07/01 |
Carraro previous best time 1:07:55 ITA winter nationals 12/2015
RACE VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzJQ1g2tSKQ
So it’s looking like the top 8 teams for 4×100 medley will be swimming sub 3:57!
Why France is always the only swimming nation without good female breaststrokers? 😥
What about Russia (without Efimova), GB (only at 100 breast), Hungary and Germany … ?
Her progression is very “remarkable” …
Was her previous PB 1:09.45? A 3s time drop at 100m in just one year by a 22 yo is very rare …
Congrats!
Wrong, she was already 1:08.07 at the University Games in July 2015