It was a great pleasure to have a conversation with Italian world-class swimmer Ilaria Bianchi, on the first ever episode of Swimvenue podcast. We spoke about her beginnings to the sport of swimming (01:28 ), about Ilaria's way to Tokyo 2021 (03:20 ), we discussed the current situation in the world (05:12 ), Ilaria spoke about individual, who has been the most inspiring for her (08:06 ), about motivation to swim on a world-class level for such a long time (09:00 ), her insights of ISL experience (11:27 ), how has her training changed since junior years (12:59 ), dealing with pre-race pressure (13:59 ), what does she love the most about swimming (15:15 ), what has been the most memorable race (15:35 ), the story behind her world champion title (16:53 ), transition from junior to adults (18:46 ), experience of the Beijing Olympics (19:57 ), what is the key to success in butterfly (20:54 ), how is it to compete against Sarah Sjostrom (23:53 ), favorite training and competition pool (26:08 ), what is the fastest pool in the world (27:34 ), Ilaria's favorite activity outside of a pool (29:13 ) and what is her dream travel destination (32:13 ). Let's connect I Ilaria on instagram: @iaiabianchi_ I Swimvenue on instagram: @swimvenue I Thank you for listening. If you love the episode, please leave a review on your favorite platform. Message me anytime and let me know what you think.