The 24-year-old has already defended his 50m freestyle S9 gold in Paris and earned silver in the 400m S9, a classification for athletes with significant weakness in one leg. Barlaam's packed schedule in Paris included a sixth-place finish in the 100m backstroke on Tuesday, but he’s now focused on improving his personal best of 58.25 seconds, a time he set while winning the world title last year. 

Reflecting on his recent performance, Barlaam admitted, "It's a shame, I was a little affected by the efforts of the previous days." He added, "I mean I'm looking for a personal best and so that's gonna be interesting."

Born with an impairment in his right lower leg, Barlaam spent part of his childhood in Paris for medical treatment. Growing up in Milan, his connection to France led his family to support the French national team during the 2006 World Cup, despite Italy ultimately winning the tournament in a tense final against France.

As a teenager, Barlaam's family spent a year in Australia, where he honed his swimming skills, training twice a day at a local pool. With his impressive Games record and 18 world championship titles, Barlaam has become a prominent figure in Italian para swimming. However, he’s unfazed by the attention, stating, "I don't really mind that anymore... People don't really care about how many medals or records you set and won in the past, you always restart from zero."

In his downtime, Barlaam, who bears a striking resemblance to his childhood idol, former AC Milan and Brazil footballer Kaka, enjoys scuba diving. Having studied mechanical engineering, he’s explored sites like Nosy Be in Madagascar and has plans to dive in Indonesia and Australia. "That's on the bucket list," he said.

For now, Barlaam is focused on ending his Games on a high note and getting some much-needed rest, even bringing a mattress topper to cushion the cardboard bed in the Athletes' Village. With all his heats so far starting before 10 a.m. and finals over six hours later, he’s eager for some downtime. "I'll sleep on Wednesday morning," Barlaam noted, adding, "I'll definitely loosen up on that... I'll try to do some technique for the races as they come closer."