Rigamonti swims to gold
Swiss swimmer Flavia Rigamonti has won gold at the European swimming championships in the Dutch city of Eindhoven.
In her last season of competitive swimming, the 26-year-old from Ticino won the first ever European championship women’s 1500 freestyle final in 15:58.54.
Erika Villaecija Garcia of Spain collected her second silver of the championships after placing second in the 800 freestyle, and Lotte Friis of Denmark was third.
Garcia started fastest on Sunday but was caught at the 850 mark by Rigamonti, who set her European record last year when she was second to Kate Ziegler of the United States at the world championships in Melbourne, Australia.
“I was not hot on breaking the European record, I just wanted to swim a good race,” Rigamonti said after just failing to better her record. “I’ll definitely retire … after the Olympic Games in Beijing.”
This was Rigamonti’s second world championship gold. She picked up her first over 800 in Helsinki in 2000.
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