Ceccon took silver in the 100-meter backstroke. Thomas was disappointed: "I didn't think they'd be this fast."

Thomas Ceccon won the silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore with a time of 51.90. South Africa's Pieter Coetze took the gold medal in 51.85, and France's Yohann Ndoye-Brouard took bronze in 51.92. It was a disappointment for the Italian , who is the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder. Ceccon dropped to eighth and last place at 50 meters, and his comeback was missed by just five hundredths of a second.

Ceccon: "A 50-meter pass was too slow."

After the race, Ceccon didn't hide his disappointment to Rai's microphones: "Maybe I started a little slow, but I wanted to try and play on the return leg. I didn't see Coetze, who was very strong. I'm happy for him, Ndoye-Brouard was also quite strong, you can see that something is moving in this race. I said I came here to win, and I didn't win. That's fine, though, even if that 'fine' should be taken with a pinch of salt. It's a time under 52 minutes, and I haven't done that in three years, so I'm satisfied. I didn't think the others would be so fast, I was surprised, congratulations to them for being so good. I think I can sharpen up a bit for the relay, although today I enjoyed myself because I decided how to race. In Paris, I forced the transition a bit, today I did what I wanted. But in Paris I won, but not here."

Ceccon and the tactic that didn't work

Ceccon 's tactical choice was what penalized him most. It didn't work. The Italian swimmer had relied on a slow start, then gave it his all in the final 50 meters. It only worked halfway. While the second 50 meters were absolutely perfect, with a comeback from eighth to second place, he finished the first 50 meters with a time that was too fast. He himself admitted that he had prepared for the race this way. But his very fast opponents thwarted his carefully planned strategy. Thus, he lost, even if only by 5 hundredths of a second.