Simone Sabbioni

Personal information
Full name	Simone Sabbioni
Nickname	Sabster
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1996-10-03)3 October 1996 (age 28) Rimini, Italy
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	79 kg (174 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke
Medal record World Championships (SC) 2014 Doha 4×50 m mixed medley European Championships (LC) 2016 London 4 x 100 m mixed medley 2020 Budapest 4×100 m mixed medley 2016 London 100 m backstroke European Championships (SC) 2015 Netanya 4×50 m medley 2015 Netanya 4×50 m mixed medley 2017 Copenhagen 50 m backstroke 2015 Netanya 50 m backstroke 2017 Copenhagen 100 m backstroke 2017 Copenhagen 4×50 m medley 2015 Netanya 200 m backstroke European Junior Championships 2014 Dordrecht 50 m backstroke 2013 Poznań 100 m backstroke Youth Olympic Games 2014 Nanjing 100 m backstroke

Simone Sabbioni (born 3 October 1996) is an Italian competitiveswimmer and two-timeOlympian who competed at the2016 Olympics and the2020 Olympics.^[1][2] He is a formerItalian record holder in theshort course 50 metre backstroke, 100 metre backstroke, 200 metre backstroke, 4×50 metre medley relay and thelong course 100 metre backstroke.^[3][4][5][6]

At the2014 Summer Youth Olympics, inNanjing,China in August 2014, Sabbioni won a gold medal in the100 metre backstroke along withEvgeny Rylov ofRussia as they both swam the exact same time of 54.24 seconds in the final.^[7] On 14 April 2015, at the year's Italian Spring National Championships inRiccione, he broke thenational record in thelong course 100 metre backstroke with his time of 53.49, which lowered the record over two tenths of a seconds from the prior record of 53.77 seconds set in 2009 byMirco Di Tora.^[8][9]

In early December, at the2015 European Short Course Swimming Championships inNetanya,Israel, Sabbioni set Italian national records in all three distances of theshort course backstroke events, including two records in the 50 metre backstroke of 23.23 seconds in the semifinals and 23.09 seconds in the final, a record of 50.57 seconds in the 100 metre backstroke, and a record of 1:50.75 in the 200 metre backstroke.^[4] He also helped set an Italian record at 1:31.71 in the 4×50 metre medley relay.^[10] Later in the month, at the 2015 Italian Winter National Championships, he swam a 53.37 in the 100 metre backstroke, setting a new Italian national record in the event.^[6][10][11]

In April 2016, at the Italian Spring National Championships for the year in Riccione, Sabbioni broke his former national record of 53.37 seconds in the 100 metre backstroke with his new time of 53.34 seconds.^[6][11] The following month, he won a bronze medal at the2016 European Aquatics Championships inLondon,England, in the100 metre backstroke with a time of 54.19 seconds.^[12]

At theshort course 2017 Italian Winter National Championships in early December, Sabbioni lowered his Italian records in the 100 metre backstroke, from a 50.57 to a 49.96, and the 50 metre backstroke, from a 23.09 to a 23.06.^[10][13]

2017 European Championships (SC)
	50 m backstroke	23.05 (NR)
	100 m backstroke	49.68 (NR)
	4x50 m medley relay	1:31.91

Later in December, at the2017 European Short Course Swimming Championships inCopenhagen,Denmark, Sabbioni broke his own national record in the 100 metre backstroke again, lowering the mark to 49.68 seconds and winning the silver medal in the event.^[10][14] For the 50 metre backstroke, Sabbioni lowered his national record of 23.06 from earlier in the month by one hundredth of a second to 23.05 in the final, winning thegold medal in the event and finishing two hundredths of a second ahead ofKliment Kolesnikov of Russia who won the silver medal.^[15][3] Speaking toLEN about the race, Sabbioni said, "Before the race I got really angry. This is the feeling you need to win the 50m. It gives you the power, the strength, the speed. I felt my legs after the turns but anger took over again and it lifted my spirit enough to win this race."^[3] In addition to his gold medal and silver medal in individual events, Sabbioni also won a silver medal in the 4×50 meter medley relay, helping the relay finish in a total time of 1:31.91 with his split time of 23.14 seconds for the backstroke leg of the relay.^[10]

At the2018 World Short Course Championships held inHangzhou,China in December, Sabbioni competed on the finals relay of the4×50 metre medley relay, helping the relay achieve a time of 1:31.54, set a new Italian record in the event, and place fourth overall.^[5]

At the2019 World Aquatics Championships inGwangju,South Korea in July 2019, Sabbioni competed in the50 metre backstroke,100 metre backstroke,mixed 4×100 metre medley relay, and4×100 metre medley relay.^[16] Sabbioni was one of two swimmers, the other beingDylan Carter ofTrinidad and Tobago, to have wedge equipment malfunction during his backstroke start in the 100 metre backstroke, and the only swimmer to have the technology fail a second time after officials assured him nothing would happen, this story was picked up and covered by newspapersThe Seattle Times andThe Korea Herald.^[17][18] As officials ruled it was equipment failure on the wedge malfunction each time, Sabbioni was allowed to re-race the event until the equipment worked, at which point he swam a 53.85 for his time in the prelims heats and advanced to the semifinals.^[16][17] In the semifinals, Sabbioni finished with a time of 53.71 seconds, tied for 12th overall withDaniel Martin ofRomania, and did not advance to the final of the event.^[16]

At the2020 Summer Olympics inTokyo,Japan in 2021, Sabbioni ranked 17th in the100 metre backstroke with a time of 53.79 and competed in the first ever swimming of the4×100 metre mixed medley relay event at theOlympic Games, which was the preliminaries of the event on 29 July, where he swam the backstroke leg of the relay and helped qualify for the final ranking fifth overall, where the finals relay went on to place fourth.^[2]

Sabbioni was one of a total of 40 swimmers named to the Italian team in October 2021 to compete at the2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships held in November at theKazan Aquatics Palace located inKazan,Russia.^[19] He went for depth with his events for the Championships, entering to compete in all available distances in backstroke, the 50 metre backstroke, 100 metre backstroke, and 200 metre backstroke.^[20] On the first day of competition, 2 November, he placed third in his prelims heat of the 50 metre backstroke with a time of 23.50 seconds and did not advance to the semifinals.^[21] While his time was faster than some of the swimmers who qualified for the semifinals, includingKristóf Milák ofHungary in the same prelims heat, only the fastest two Italian swimmers advanced, which did not include Sabbioni.^[22] The same day he was officially withdrawn from the 200 metre backstroke, opting not to race the event.^[23] In the prelims heats of the 100-metre backstroke on the third day of competition, Sabbioni swam a 51.98 and did not advance to the semifinals.^[24]

In November 2022, Sabbioni was banned byFINA, nowWorld Aquatics, from their competitions for 20 months (starting 23 March 2022 and continuing through the end of the day on 22 November 2023) after representatives from theWorld Anti-Doping Agency had difficulty ascertaining his whereabouts for testing on three occasions, a case similar toRūta Meilutytė ofLithuania from 2019.^[25][26]

Meet	50 backstroke	100 backstroke	200 backstroke	4×100 freestyle	4×100 medley	4×100 mixed medley
Junior level
EJC 2013	5th		12th
WJC 2013	5th	9th	12th
EJC 2014
YOG 2014			6th
Senior level
WC 2015	12th	10th			9th	6th
EC 2016	13th				DSQ
OG 2016	—	28th			11th	—
MG 2018					DSQ	—
EC 2018	9th	5th
WC 2019	14th	12th			13th	6th
EC 2020	7th	15th				[a]
OG 2020	—	17th				4th[a]

^a Sabbioni swam only in the preliminaries.

Meet	50 backstroke	100 backstroke	200 backstroke	4×50 medley	4×100 medley	4×50 mixed medley
WC 2014	20th	18th	20th			[a]
EC 2015		5th			—
EC 2017			18th		—	8th
WC 2018	6th	9th		4th	9th	5th
EC 2019	11th	4th		4th	—
EC 2021	7th (h)	19th			—

^a Sabbioni swam only in the preliminaries.

Legend:NR –Italian record

• Simone Sabbioni atWorld Aquatics
• Simone Sabbioni at theInternational Swimming League
• Simone Sabbioni atSwimrankings.net
• Simone Sabbioni atOlympics.com
• Simone Sabbioni atOlympedia

• Living people
• Italian male backstroke swimmers
• Italian male medley swimmers
• Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
• European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
• Swimmers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics
• 1996 births
• Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
• Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Olympic swimmers for Italy
• Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy
• Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Italy
• Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming
• Swimmers at the 2018 Mediterranean Games
• Youth Olympic gold medalists for Italy
• 21st-century Italian sportsmen
• Sportspeople from Rimini

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