Nicolo Martinenghi doesn't hold back emotion: admission after silver

After the chaos in the semifinals, with the initial disqualification for an alleged irregular swim and the readmission among the eight finalists by the race judges, Nicolò Martinenghi closed the 100 breaststroke final at the World Championships in Singapore with a beautiful silver medal, finishing with a time of 58″58 in the race won by China″s Qin Haiyang (58″23).

Closing the podium was Denis Petrashov, whose time of 58″88 gave Kyrgyzstan the bronze medal. Fourth place went to Dutch Caspar Corbeau (59″06), who was just two hundredths of a second ahead of the other Italian who qualified for the final, Ludovico Viberti. At the end of the race, Martinenghi did not hold back his excitement, for a podium finish that he said was worth as much as a victory.

“It’s been a difficult night – Martinenghi admitted to the microphones of ‘Sky Sport‘, immediately after exiting the pool -, for me this is a silver that is worth as much as the gold medal. I gave it everything I had, I really did”. ‘Tete’ closing in 58″58, he lowered by a lot the time he recorded in Paris, a 59″03 that, however, on that occasion earned him the’gold.

Martinenghi also confirmed the silver, in the same discipline, he won at the 2024 World Championships in Doha: then his time was 58″84, with only Nic Fink (58″57) surpassing him. Since the 2022 Worlds, held in Budapest, Martinenghi has always managed to medal, confirming his presence on the podium in Fukuoka, Doha and Singapore as well.