20 Facts About Gregorio Paltrinieri

Gregorio Paltrinieri is a former world record holder in the short course 1500-meter freestyle.

Gregorio Paltrinieri holds the European record in the long course 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle events with times of 7:39.27 and 14:32.80, respectively.

Gregorio Paltrinieri started swimming at a very young age, and until the age of 12, he specialized in breaststroke.

In March 2012 Gregorio Paltrinieri won the Italian 800-meter freestyle title, and two months later, he left everyone in his wake at the European Championships in Debrecen, defeating renowned Hungarians Gergo Kis and Gergely Gyurta in the 1500-meter.

Gregorio Paltrinieri reached his first 800-meter freestyle final at a long course world championship event finishing sixth in 7:50.29.

Three days later Gregorio Paltrinieri established a new national record of 14:44.50 in the 1500-meter freestyle event.

At the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships in Doha, Gregorio Paltrinieri became World champion for the first time with the new European record of 14:16.10, which was the second fastest time ever swum behind Grant Hackett's world record.

At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, in Kazan, Gregorio Paltrinieri won the silver medal in the 800-meter, losing to Sun Yang.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Gregorio Paltrinieri won the gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle in a time of 14:34.57, after qualifying for the final ranking first in the preliminaries with a time of 14:44.51.

Gregorio Paltrinieri shared the podium with fellow Italian Gabriele Detti, who won the bronze medal with a 14:40.86 to finish less than seven seconds behind Paltrinieri.

In 2017, Gregorio Paltrinieri confirmed his World Championship gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships held in Budapest.

Gregorio Paltrinieri won a bronze medal in the 800-meter race, won by teammate Gabriele Detti.

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, Gregorio Paltrinieri won the gold medal in the 800-meter, setting the new European record in 7:39.27.

At the European Championships in Budapest 2020, held in May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gregorio Paltrinieri won three gold medals in the three races in which he participated in the open water, the 5 and 10 km and the team race.

In mid-June, with the 2020 Summer Olympics just one month away, Gregorio Paltrinieri contracted mononucleosis and reduced significantly his pool training.

Gregorio Paltrinieri participated in a beach clean-up at Al Bahia Beach the week of World Championships competition to help protect the natural habitat of the hawksbill sea turtle.

Ten days after he concluded his competition at the World Championships, Gregorio Paltrinieri won the 10 km swim with a time of 1:51:37.85 at the second leg of the 2022 Marathon Swim World Series, held at Parc de la Villette in Paris, France.

Day two of the 2022 European Aquatics Championships, held in Rome in August, Gregorio Paltrinieri ranked third in the preliminaries of the 800-meter freestyle, qualifying for the final with a time of 7:48.91.

Gregorio Paltrinieri finished in a time of 14:39.79 in the final to win the silver medal.

Gregorio Paltrinieri has won the following medals at Marathon Swim World Series circuits.