With a gold medal and the world record obtained at the European short-course swimming championships of Netanya in 2015, he takes his place on the starting blocks for the 1500 meters race as the favourite. But ‘Greg’, still to turn 22, has already made history: in August 2015, he became the first Italian world champion in this sport. Four months later he made a record breaking performance clocking at 14’08’’06, two seconds less than the historic record established by his idol, Grant Hackett: the only record breaker who resisted the polyurethane “full length swimwear” fashion. Relaxed and humble, a native of Carpi (and therefore a great fan of his hometown’s football team) he has a passion for history of art and, if he hadn’t become a swimmer, he would be an architect. He loves basketball (he knows everything about the NBA) and rap music and does not hesitate to reply in kind to his adversaries.