On Day 1 of the IISA 6th World Championship in Molveno, Italy, 29-year-old Alisa Fatum-Böker of Germany comfortably defended her world title with a swift 6:09.58, just off her world record set last year. On Day 2, it was the same – and more.
She swam her best time and dropped her own world record to 2:57.60.
Two young up-and-coming athletes, 20-year-old Emilia Finer of New Zealand and 18-year-old Jessika Robson of Ireland also captured their exact same podium positions in the 250m as they did the cold night before in the 500m freestyle final.
Fatum-Böker’s time of 2:57.06 was especially impressive as she would have captured 7th place overall among the top men with her time.
250m Freestyle Women’s Top 10 Results
- Alisa Fatum-Böker (Germany, 29, IISA bio here) 2:57.60
- Emilia Finer (New Zealand, 20, IISA bio here) 3:01.95
- Jessika Robson (Great Britain, 18, IISA bio here) 3:06.90
- Ezmee Jones (USA, 17, IISA bio here) 3:10.91
- Heidi Winter (New Zealand, IISA bio here) 3:11.72
- Karolina Szalast (Poland, 19, IISA bio here) 3:13.61
- Simona Palazova (Bulgaria, 27, IISA bio here) 3:44.41
- Marie Therese Bartl (Germany, 18, IISA bio here) DNS
Many athletes are doubling and tripling up – and more – during the competition. 17-year-old Ezmee Jones had a very challenging evening tonight with finals in the 50m backstroke (silver medal), the 250m freestyle (fourth), then she raced on the USA 4×50 mixed medley relay (fifth)…all within an hour.
Watch continued live coverage of the IISA 6th World Championship here, organized by Ice Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer Paolo Chiarino (@paolochiarino).
To say it is cold is clearly an understatement with the night air temperature at -1.1°C and the fresh water in the pool between 1.8°C and 2.0°C where the ice shards need to be removed from the pool before the 754 swimmers from 48 countries can compete.
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