The Spanish Fernando Diaz del Rio He made history at the European Championships in Rome after winning the silver medal this Friday in the technical-only final of the men’s category, which debuted in the Italian capital in the official program of the absolute European Championships.
A medal that the young Canarian swimmer, from 19 yearsI had already insured before jumping into the Foro Italico pool since this first men’s solo continental final had only three participants.
A circumstance that did not prevent Díaz del Río, who this year has already won gold in both the technical and free routines in the Superfinal of the FINA World Series disputed last May in Athens, show the best of their repertoire.
Under the chords of the song “Dream On” From Aerosmith the swimmer from CN Las Palmas signed a brilliant exercise in which the elements of strength were perfectly mixed with moments in which the Spaniard was able to bring out all his interpretive capacity.
And it is that today, as the lyrics of the American group say, was a day to dream, seeing the possibility of seeing, for the first time, men fight for the medals in the individual modality in a great international competition.
Perhaps that is why Fernando Díaz del Río could not hide his emotion upon hearing the verdict of the judges, who rated the Canary Islander’s performance with a score of 79,4951.
Insufficient note to overcome the Italian Giorgio Minisini who, with a score of 85.7033 points, became the first continental champion in the men’s singles category.
The transalpine swimmer, who has already won two gold medals in the mixed category in the past World Cups in Budapest Forming a couple with Lucrezia Ruggiero, he captivated the spectators and judges with an emotional exercise with which he tried to raise awareness of the need to preserve marine ecosystems.
The bronze medal went to the Serbian Ivan Martinovic who with a score of 58.8834 completed a podium that is already the history of artistic swimming.
Podium that Fernando Díaz del Río will try to climb again next Saturday in the final of the free routine in which a new competitor will be added, the French Quentin Rakotomalala.
One more step towards the full integration of men in the artistic swimminga sport that made it clear this Friday in the Italian capital that it does not understand gender.
