At the end of a very high level race, the Italian Thomas Ceccon, 21, established himself as the king of the 100m backstroke on Monday at the Budapest World Swimming Championships with a world record at stake.
The evening was also marked by the coronations of two 17-year-old teenagers, the Romanian David Popovici in the 200m freestyle and the Italian Benedetta Pilota in the 100m breaststroke.
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Ceccon, fourth at the Olympic Games last summer, won in 51 sec 60/ 100e
, taking a quarter of a second off the previous record held by American Ryan Murphy since the Rio Olympics in 2016.
not yet realized that I broke the world record
, ”reacted the Italian, already a bronze medalist on Saturday with his teammates in the 400m freestyle.
“
I didn't think of any record or time before taking the start.
I just swam my race (...) It's just amazing.
Murphy took silver and American Hunter Armstrong took bronze.
All three swimmers finished under 52 seconds.
After three days of competition, this is the first world record broken in the Duna Arena in the Hungarian capital.
The biggest race of my life
Thomas Ceccon
At the end of the evening, the Italian anthem sounded a second time, this time for Benedetta Pilato, titled in the 100m breaststroke.
"
It's a dream come true
," smiled the 17-year-old swimmer.
“
It was my first 100m breaststroke final and I was already happy to have reached it (…).
Now here I am with gold around my neck.
I am delighted with my work and my career
.”
In total, it is the third gold medal of these Championships for Italy, after Nicolo Martinenghi's title on Sunday in the 100m breaststroke.
The other feat of the evening was achieved by another teenager, the Romanian David Popovici, also 17 years old.
With a time of 1 min 43 sec 21, he conquered the throne of the 200m freestyle, becoming the fourth fastest man in history on the event.
Neck and neck with Briton Tom Dean, Olympic champion in Tokyo, for much of the race, he made the difference in the last 50 meters.
"
The plan was to swim fast, not necessarily as fast, but I manage to surprise myself
," he said with a smile.
"
On the last length, I said to myself 'this is the biggest race of my life so far and I want it to be memorable for me and for the others'
", he confided before receiving his medal from the hands of the Australian Ian Thorpe, one of his inspirations.
Korean Sunwoo Hwang, barely older (19), took second place ahead of Tom Dean.
17th title for Ledecky
On the women's side, the American Regan Smith, favorite of the race, was crowned world champion in the 100m backstroke.
This is the 3rd world champion title for Smith, already crowned twice (200m backstroke and as a team in the 4x100m medley relay) in 2019 in South Korea.
Always eagerly awaited, the American Katie Ledecky unsurprisingly won the 1500m freestyle, a race where she has been undefeated for 10 years.
She won in 15 min 30 sec 15/100, almost 25 meters ahead of the second, her compatriot Katie Grimes.
“
It's great.
The goal was to keep the right pace.
My trainer wanted me to go under 15:32, I thought that was a reasonable goal.
So to do 15 min 30 sec, it's great
, ”reacted the 25-year-old American, who thus won the 17th world title of her career, a record for women.
