Carli Cronk, Viola Scotto Di Carlo Lead Deaflympics Record Blitz
American Carli Cronk and Viola Scotto Di Carlo of Italy lead a wholesale rewriting of the deaf world record at the 2025 Deaflympics in Tokyo.
Cronk and Di Carlo set four world records each, Cronk adding two on American mixed medley relays. Three men’s world records went down, via Ukraine’s Illia Sultanov in the 50 freestyle and 50 butterfly and American veteran Matt Klotz in the 50 backstroke.
Cronk finished with seven gold medals (five individual), plus a silver and a bronze. Scotto di Carlo, a Paris Olympian for Italy, picked up five gold (four individual), four silver and two relay bronze.
The pinnacle of the two standout women’s racers may have been on the meet’s first day. The 100 fly entered the meet with a recognized world record of 1:03.69, owned by South Africa’s Peggy de Villiers since 2015 (though Cronk had an unratified performance of 1:01.31). Cronk set the world record in prelims at 1:01.35. A heat later, Scotto Di Carlo went 59.90 to destroy that.
In finals that night, Cronk won the race in 59.13 to take home the world mark. Scotto Di Carlo was second in 59.58.
Cronk set the world record in the 400 free at 4:18.39, with Scotto Di Carlo also under the old mark at 4:20.64. In the same session, Cronk beat Scotto Di Carlo with a world record in the 200 fly in 2:10.84, then won the 400 IM in a Deaflympics record 4:55.47. Cronk was nearly three seconds quicker than the world record in the 200 free by going 2:01.77, a mark that had stood since 2017 (by fourth-place finisher Viktoriia Terenteva). Scotto Di Carlo was second in that event.
The American mixed medley relay of Klotz, Marcus Titus, Cronk and Brooke Thompson dashed 3.4 seconds off the mixed medley relay world record in 3:58.57. The same quartet in the mixed 400 free relay went 3:39.66, nearly seven seconds ahead of the field and 1.5 ticks under the world record.
Thanks to Cronk, the U.S. won the gold medal tally with 12 of 42. It tied Ukraine for 23 total medals, Ukraine having eight golds. Italy was third in gold medals (seven) and total pieces of hardware (16).
Scotto Di Carlo outdueled Cronk in the 50 fly, taking the world record of 26.49 to undercut the meet record Cronk had set in prelims. Cronk was under the WR in 27.10 for silver. Scotto di Carlo also set the world record in the 50 free at 25.28 in the same session. She topped Charlotte Gower of Great Britain with a world record of 29.28 in the 50 back and a world record of 56.29 in the 100 free in the same session.
Gower won the 200 individual medley in 2:21.95, 0.6 seconds off the world record. She went 2:17.72 to win the 200 back and 1:04.19 to win the 100 back. She was second to Scotto Di Carlo in 50 back and 100 free, third in the 200 free and women’s medley relay silver for her seventh medal.
Britain’s Kathy Wun won the 800 free and 1,500 free and was third in the 400 free. Aksana Petrushenka, swimming as a neutral athlete, won the 100 and 200 breast over Imogen Nolan of Australia, who had claimed the 50 breast.
Hungary’s Tamara Boros won four silver medals and a bronze. Thompson, a Rutgers swimmer, nabbed two relay golds and four bronze medals.
Ukraine’s contingent shined on the men’s side, led by Sultanov and Denys Nakonechnyi. They traded the world record in the 50 fly on the first day of the meet, Sultanov going 24.64, Nakonechnyi 24.48, then in finals Sultanov winning in 24.13 to Nakonechnyi’s 24.32.
Nakonechnyi got revenge with a win in the 100 free with a time of 50.93 that was .05 short of Sultanov’s world record, Sultanov taking silver. Sultanov won the 50 free in 23.00. Both were part of winning Ukrainian 800 free and 400 free relays.
Sultanov tallied four gold and four silver medals. Nakonechnyi tallied three gold medals and seven silvers (including all three breaststroke events). Ukraine got all eight of its golds on the men’s side, with Vladyslav Kremliakov (200 back) and Oleksii Kolomiiets (200 breast) chipping in.
Klotz set a world record in the men’s 50 backstroke at 25.94. He also won the 100 back in 57.54 and was third in the 200 back and 50 fly as well as .05 seconds off Sultanov in the 50 free in 23.05. He tallied five gold medals, including the men’s medley relay, two silvers and three bronze.
Also on the medley relay was Titus, who tallied two individual gold among his seven total medals. He set meet records in both the 50 breast (28.24) and 100 breast (1:02.51).
Italy’s Federico Tamborrino won the 800 free and 1,500 free. Ryutaro Ibara of Japan won the 200 free, was second in the 400 free and did the IM double to go with silvers in the 100 fly and 200 fly. He collected three gold, three silver and a bronze medal total. Neutral athlete Stepan Skosyrskii won the 100 fly and 200 fly to go with 200 IM silver and 400 IM bronze.