NEWS

Rotterdam Qualification Meet: three crazy days

Coming back after almost a year to international competition in the long course was the first reason to be happy to participate in the Rotterdam Qualification Meet. To be able to meet swimmers from all over Europe again in an atmosphere of healthy competition, to test what I have done in months of training and, above all, to finally compete for an important goal, are all things that generate irreplaceable feelings and emotions, which I had missed a lot and which represent an essential element for my motivations.
The race in the 100 butterfly on Friday in heats projected me into a state of euphoria that I have rarely, perhaps never felt. 51.24, then retouched in an incredible 51.15 in the afternoon final, from whatever perspective you look at it, it represents a time of world level, an high level, it is useless to pretend not to give it much weight: it is simply crazy and changes every perspective in my competitive growth and in my sporting goals. If we add that with this time I practically grabbed the qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo well in advance, breaking the previous Swiss record, you can perhaps well understand the emotions that I experienced and that, for a moment, risked overwhelming me.
In light of all this, I think that the second Swiss record obtained on Saturday in the 200 butterfly, which with 1.56.48 also gave me the second Olympic pass, is to be considered equally positive: it was not easy to manage the events of the previous day and return to focus on the race.
I closed this fantastic three days on Sunday with the 200 IM: the sixth time in 3 days I went down to the pool, after all the emotions I had to manage, the time obtained in the final (1.59.72), only 5 cents from another limit for Tokyo, leaves me satisfied and with excellent feelings for the future also in this race.
Now I just have to go back to work hard, in my daily life, with further amplified motivations, not only to confirm myself at these levels, but to try to further improve myself, with the help of all my team, which I want to thank once again.