Star swimmer Rocco Giustiniani won gold in both the 100m and 200m butterfly finals in Swim England’s Summer Meet at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge complex.
Rocco, who enters Year 13 next month, battled hard to win the shorter race, while in the 200m, he not only led from the start, but also achieved an emphatic personal best (PB).
Director of Sport Jonathan Hart said: “Many congratulations to Rocco on these impressive performances, which I know reflect a great deal of hard work in training.”
Rocco, who swims for London’s long-established Anaconda Swim Club, reached the final of the 17-year-olds’ 100m competition after performing strongly in the heats, where he was just outside his PB for that distance.
Placed in lane 4 for the final, he was behind at the halfway stage, but fought back hard to take gold with a time of 57.74 seconds, ahead of the second-placed swimmer on 58.04.
In the 200m final, he led all the way in lane 5, getting off very quickly and swimming the first leg in an impressive 27.88s. By the halfway stage, he was a full second clear of the field – an advantage he retained to the end, completing the race with a time of 2.09.53.
Last year Rocco was selected for the Sport England-funded Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme.
The selection was a confirmation of several years of success in the pool.
In the 2021–2022 season, he built on his pre-pandemic successes by winning the 100m butterfly London regional title. He qualified for the summer 2022 national championships, where he finished seventh.
His rise continued last summer when he smashed his PB in the nationals and took bronze in the 200m final.
Rocco’s accomplishments were recognised recently by his QE classmates, when they nominated him for a DVS Award.
The award for ‘independence’ was presented by Old Elizabethan (1991–1998) Priyan Shah, of the DVS Foundation in a special assembly. The citation spoke of his “working exceptionally hard at School, whilst maintaining a rigorous schedule of competitive swimming outside of School”.