Noè Ponti Rattles 50 Fly WR & Records Fall On Final Day Of Swiss s/c Championships
Noè Ponti was within sight of the 50 fly world record with a 21.65 prelims blast to go top of the rankings at the Swiss s/c Championships in Uster.
Ponti set the WR of 21.32 en-route to the short-course world title last December in Budapest and he came within 0.33 of that in the final morning session of the three-day meet.
It was the sixth-fastest time of his career and the seventh overall with Nyls Korstanje of the Netherlands having posted 21.62 in Budapest in December 2024. It elevated Ponti to the top of the 2025 rankings ahead of Ilya Kharun who clocked 21.69 at the World Cup.
Ponti returned in the afternoon to post 21.99 as he secured his fourth title of the meet following the 50 free, 50 back and 200 free and added another race to his programme at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin, Poland next month.
Roman Mityukov set a Swiss record of 1:50.66 in the 200 back as he cut 0.80 from his own standard of 1:51.46 set back in 2023 as he added another race in Lublin with Flavio Bucca, who’d booked his trip to Poland in prelims, second in 1:53.73. Gaia Rasmussen triumphed in the women’s race in 2:08.24 and was inside the European Championship cut.
Paul Niederberger cut five seconds off the Swiss 800 free record he set on Saturday as he finished in 7:49.61 while Vanna Djokovic rewrote the national 1500 standard in 16:19.47 as she lowered Swann Oberson’s mark that had stood since 2008.
Gian-Luca Gartmann (1:55.74) and Julien Niederberger (1:58.40) were both inside the QT in the 200IM with Angelina Patt continuing her fine meet as she extended her programme with a 2:11.40 win in the women’s event.
Patt returned for the 4×50 medley relay where she became the first Swiss woman through the 27sec barrier over 50 back, clocking 26.97 on leadoff to lower the national record she set on the opening day.
