Gregorio Paltrinieri became the second fastest 1500m freestyle swimmer in history as arena enjoyed more success at the European Championships in London.
Ruta Meilutyte won the European 100m breaststroke title for the first time despite being already crowned Olympic and world champion while Sarah Sjostrom clinched her second gold medal of the meet as she defended her 100m freestyle gold.
But it was Gregorio who stole the show in his arena POWERSKIN Carbon-Flex VX by slicing 5.89secs off the European record he set on the way to winning the world title in Kazan, Russia, last summer.
His time of 14mins 34.04secs has only been bettered by Sun Yang from China, who has yet to record a time in 2016, and the prospect of the pair doing battle at the big one in the summer is mouthwatering.
“First of all, this time is incredible,” said Gregorio.
“I can’t believe that I was able to swim so fast here as we have been working very hard in training.
“This is good for my confidence because my goal is a gold in Rio.”
Picking up the Silver medal was Italian teammate and fellow arena ambassador Gabriele Detti, who came second with a time of 14mins 48.75secs.
Ruta won the Olympic title in the very same lane of the same pool four years ago and she enjoyed…
