Simone Cerasuolo king of the 50 breaststroke, Pellacani and Santoro also d'oro

Simone Cerasuolo breaks the bank and is the new king of the 50 breaststroke, breaking the spell of ’Italnuoto d’silver. Amazing the race of the 22-year-old from Romagna–registered for Fiamme Oro and Imolanuoto and raised by Cesare Casella–responsive at the start (0.62), then inserting the usual powerful and fast frequencies to detach the competition from the twenty-five meters; all perfect and chrono of 26″54 that for a hundredth is not worth the personal best but little matter: there’s only room for glory.

The 50 breaststroke is the new king of the 50 breaststroke, breaking the spell of the silver medal.

Annihilated the competition and in particular those who might have been the favorites on the eve of the event: the Russian under neutral flag Kirill Prigoda second in 26″62 and especially China–s Qin Haiyang – gold in Fukuoka 2023 – who after leading from the first round, in the final act does not go beyond bronze in 26″67.

Italian water polo updates the chapter of its history, as it remains on the rainbow podium after Nicolò Martinenghi’s silver in Doha 2024 but celebrates the first gold in the specialty, which in 2028 will be included in the Olympic program, as well as fifth overall medal in the 50 breaststroke (1-3-1).

Chiara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro, on the other hand, beat China’s Zilong Chen and Yajie Li to win the world final of the mixed springboard synchro and make history. The Azzurri but among themselves they consider themselves brothers because they grew up together lead a perfect final and triumph with 308.13; stronger than the Australian defending champions Cassiel Rousseau and Maddison Keeney silver with 307.26 and especially the Chinese who do not go beyond 305.70.