2016 ITALIAN ASSOLUTI NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AND OLYMPIC TRIALS
- Dates: Tuesday, April 19 – Saturday, April 23, 2016
- Times: prelims 9:00 am, finals 5 pm
- Location: Riccione, Italy (GMT +1, or 6 hours ahead of N.Y., 9 ahead of L.A.)
- Results: Available
On the final day of the 2016 Italian Sprint National Championships and Olympic Trials, Martina Carraro crushed the country’s National Record in the 100 long course meter breaststroke with a 1:06.41.
That time moves her up to 7th in the World Rankings in the event this season. Last season, a then-22 year old Carraro was Italy’s second-best breaststroker, and looked like she may have missed her opportunity with teenagers Arianna Castiglioni (1:06.95 best last season) and Giulia Verona (1:08.61 last season) both half-a-decade younger.
On Saturday, however, it was the veteran Carraro, and her peer Ilaria Scarcella, who took the top two spots at Italy’s Olympic Trials ahead of their young counterparts who will have to target Tokyo now as their turn to bear the torch.
Below, see the full report of the race by Anne Lepesant.
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.