Alessia Filippi, the Italian medley ace formerly coached by Andrea Palloni and now with Cesare Butini, cruised inside the European 1,500m free record with a 15:52.84 at Italian nationals in Treviso tonight. The standard had stood to Flavia Rigamonti (SUI) since she took silver in 15:55.38 behind Kate Ziegler (USA) at Melbourne 2007.

Filippi's splits: 1:02.80; 2:07.21; 3:12.20; 4:16.98; 5:21.47; 6:25.63; 7:29.20; 8:32.91; 9:36.65; 10:40.57; 11:43.72; 12:46.74; 13:49.42; 14:52.03; 15:52.84.

The time is third-fastest ever behind Ziegler, on 15:42.54, and the 15:52.10 at which Janet Evans (USA) held the world record between 1988 and 2007. The Italian record had stood to Roberta Ioppa at 16:28.02. At nationals, the former champion finished back in fifth, 8sec down on best. Also inside previous national record time was Irene De Biasi, second on 16:26.29.

The men's 800m free went to 1,500m medal hope in Beijing, Federico Colbertaldo, in 7:52.29, ahead of Samuel Pizzetti, on 7:58.45.

The nationals end on Sunday.