Marco Formentini

Marco Formentini was one of the greatest long-distance swimmers. He was a member of the Chiavari Nuoto club before moving to the military group of Carabinieri. Formentini had excellent results in the early days of his career. He was the 1993 Italian indoor 200m butterfly champion and the 1500m outdoor champion, an event in which that same year he won silver at the Buffalo Summer Universiade. Formentini came close to the podium at the 1995 Vienna European Championships, again in the 1500m, but was eliminated in the heats at the Atlanta Olympics. In 1997 and 1998 Formentini was national the 1500m champion and won the silver medal at the Mediterranean Games, as well as the Summer Universiade in Sicily.

In 1999 Formentini switched to open water swimming with a fifth place at the Istanbul European Championships. In 2000 he won over 5K in Hawai and was third over 10K. At the end of the year Formentini was second in the LEN Cup, a challenging series for the best open water swimmers in Europe. Going into the 2000s, Formentini won medals in Fukuoka, Montréal, and Melbourne. After his sporting career, Formentini returned to his first club, Chiavari Nuoto, as coach.