Rigamonti qualifies for 800m crawl final
Swiss swimmer Flavia Rigamonti has qualified for the 800m crawl final at the world championships currently underway in Fukuoka, Japan.
Rigamonti, who hails from canton Ticino, clocked a time of 8:40.33 in her qualifying heat and thus scraped through as the last of the fastest eight qualifiers to enter Monday’s final.
The Ticinese 20-year-old will be looking to prove herself once again in Japan, after she won the 800m gold at last year’s European Championships in Helsinki.
Chantal Strasser, another member of the Swiss swimming squad who also entered in the 800m, could only manage 14th place and missed out on a place in the final.
There was cause for celebration and commiseration for the Swiss 4x100m crawl relay team in Fukuoka, when Christoph Bühler, Karel Novy, Philipp Gilgen and Lorenzo Liechti smashed the existing Swiss record with a time of 3:24.10. The previous record, set in 1987, stood at 3:25.24.
Despite their record-breaking performance, the Swiss team of four only managed tenth place in the qualifying round and missed out on a place in the final by just 2.4 seconds.
Elsewhere in the indoor events Swiss competitors fared less well. Carmela Schlegel and Agata Czaplicki, both entered in the 100m breast stroke, were eliminated after the qualifying heats, as were 50m crawl specialists Novy and Bühler.
swissinfo with agencies
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