20 years ago, Egor Tropeano (Italy, 32, IISA bio here, @egortropeano) was a young and up-and-coming national level swimmer from Italy. Back in 2005, he competed at the 11-12 year old Italian National Age Group Championships in the 50m pool in Molveno, Italy.

He swam for Cosenza Nuoto; his coach’s name was Savio Celso.

Tonight, the 32-year-old Tropeano made an incredible, unlikely comeback in the same Molveno pool. “It is amazing to come back to Molveno 20 years later at the IISA 6th World Championship. I originally quit swimming in 2012, and did not swim at all for 11 years.“

But he eventually met his wife, Bengisu Avci (Turkey, 28, IISA bio here, @bengisuavci). Together, they made a life in Çanakkale, Turkey as Avci was developing into a world-class marathon swimmer. He explains his comeback, “I was so inspired by her dream to complete the Oceans Seven that I started training after an 11-year hiatus.“

Even though Tropeano is a 200m breaststroke specialist, he finished sixth in last night’s 200m individual medley (breaking the existing world record and setting an age group world record). The comeback to Molveno is remarkable and highly unexpected, especially considering that he was competing in Mixed Martial Arts and JiuJitsu at the national level as recently as three years ago.

But training together with his wife as his own coach and with Red Top Swimming Club with Tim Denyer, Tropeano is now swimming the times he was swimming at his prime when I was 18.

“We are so happy; it is an amazing result as we are self-trained. I can’t wait until the 200m breaststroke is added to the IISA World Championship schedule,” he said especially after Avci finished third in the 100m butterfly tonight, making the Italian-Turkish duo the only husband-and-wife team to both get on the overall podium in Molveno.

100m Breaststroke Men’s Top Results

1. Egor Tropeano (Italy, 32, IISA bio here) 1:10.87
2. Théo Goyeaud (France, 24, IISA bio here) 1:11.88
3. Adrian Nae (Romania, 19, IISA bio here) 1:12.06
4. Vladimir Romaniuc (Romania, 19, IISA bio here) 1:13.07
5. Markus Rogan (Austria, 42, IISA bio here) 1:15.39
6. Francois Xavier Filias (France, 44, IISA bio here) 1:18.38
7. Michal Perl (Poland, 28, IISA bio here) 1:16.75
8. Jonas Coene (Belgium, 33, IISA bio here) 1:23.25

Age group world records were set by the following swimmers:

• Gaetan Beysard (Switzerland, 70, IISA bio here, shown below on left) 1:35.38
• Markus Rogan (Austria, 42, IISA bio here, shown below on right) 1:15.39

Watch the remaining live coverage of the IISA 6th World Championship on Daily Motion here, organized by Ice Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer  Paolo Chiarino (@paolochiarino).

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