Pellegrini splits with coach

Paris - Italy's former Olympic swimming champion Federica Pellegrini announced on Tuesday that she has parted ways with her French coach Philippe Lucas.

The 26-year-old 200m freestyle world record holder over long and short course, won Olympic gold over the distance in 2008.

"After careful analysis of the various options open to us, we took a joint decision not to continue the adventure together," said Pellegrini, who won the European title over 200m freestyle in August.

"I sincerely thank Philippe for all the work and for the excellent results achieved together."

For his part, Lucas added: "If in the future, Federica still needs me, the door is always open because our cooperation has been successful on the sporting front and rich in human terms."

Pellegrini teamed up with Lucas in February 2011 and successfully defended her 200m and 400m freestyle world titles several months later.

Lucas previously coached former French Olympic champion Laure Manaudou.