Carlos D’Ambrosio Powers Italian Relay to Silver at World Juniors; Big Meet Seems Likely
It looks like Italian rising star Carlos D’Ambrosio is set for a big week.
As the World Junior Championships opened in Otopeni, Romania on Tuesday, the 18-year-old rallied Italy to the silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay. D’Ambrosio handled the anchor leg in a field-best mark of 47.20 and the Italian squad finished second to Russia, which established a world junior record of 3:15.38. Italy recorded a time of 3:16.03.
When D’Ambrosio entered the water, Italy sat in fifth place, but he quickly pulled the Italians ahead of Brazil, Great Britain and the United States. D’Ambrosio was more than a second faster than anyone else in the field, his effort suggesting impressive performances await in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle.
D’Ambrosio is coming off a strong showing at the World Championships in Singapore. While he failed to advance out of the preliminaries of the 100 freestyle, D’Ambrosio finished sixth in the final of the 200 freestyle, going 1:45.27. He was faster in the semifinals, where his swim of 1:45.23 was good for a national record.
At World Juniors, D’Ambrosio is the top seed in the 200 freestyle and seeded just behind Great Britain’s Jacob Mills in the 100 freestyle. Mills clocked 48.27 on the leadoff leg of Great Britain’s 400 freestyle relay, which finished in fifth place.
