Background
Magnini was born in Pesaro, Marche.
Magnini was born in Pesaro, Marche.
As a youth he played basketball, soccer, beach volleyball and tennis, but shifted to swimming at the age of ten. His first cap with Italian Swimming National Team was in 1998. Magnini gained his first international honour in 2003, with a silver medal in 100 m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships (short course) in Dublin.
Magnini"s nickname is "Superpippo".
Pippo is the normal Italian nickname of Filippo but also of Goofy"s Italian version, and therefore the complete nickname refers to the funny superhero in which the comics character transforms sometimes in his Italian edition From August 2011 has a romance with fellow swimmer Federica Pellegrini.
At the 2012 Olympics Magnini failed to qualify for the finals in all the events he was competing in. After these disappointing performances he blamed the coach and the swimming team leaders for poor training management of the whole Italian team, spurring a strong media reaction for what was judged as an immature and irresponsible behavior.
In long-course swim pools Magnini"s personal bests are:
100 m freestyle: 48.04 (4652 in short course)
200 m freestyle: 1:47.20 (1:4289 in short course).
The following year, he defended his world championship gold medal in the 100 m, when he tied for first place with Canadian Brent Hayden in a time of 48.43, resulting in joint gold.