The fifth day of the Maria Lenk Trophy meet in Rio de Janeiro brought out 50 butterfly reigning world champion Cesar Cielo in an exciting showdown, while a national record fell and two 50-meter swims rank at the top of the global standings.
Nicholas Santos took down Cielo in tonight’s 50 butterfly final, posting a 22.90 that is now the first swim under 23 seconds in 2015. Santos’s time would have won gold at the 2013 world championships, ahead of Cielo’s 23.01. (Santos was in that 2013 final, placing fourth with a 23.21.) The swim puts Santos within .14 of Cielo’s national record of 22.76 from 2012, and makes him the man to beat in Kazan. Cielo will also swim the 50 fly at worlds, finishing second with a 23.11. But Brazil also set the Brazil Open in December as a qualifying meet for worlds, and Cielo’s 22.91 from that meet will be used for qualification purposes. That gives Brazil the opportunity to go 1-2 in the event, if they can replicate those swims in Russia.
By one hundredth of a second, Etienne Medeiros missed her national record of 27.37 in the 50 backstroke, blistering the competition with a 27.38. Second place Andrea Berrino was two seconds behind with a 29.39. Medeiros is the reigning short course 50 backstroke world champion and world record holder, and will be looking for glory in the long course pool. She’s now the fastest in the world, just ahead of the 27.47 posted just a few days ago by Australia’s Emily Seebohm. Medeiros was a heartbreaking fourth at the 2013 worlds in the 50 back, and the time she posted tonight would have placed second in Barcelona.
Leonardo De Deus is having a stellar meet, having posted a speedy 200 butterfly yesterday and following it up with a Brazilian and South American record in the 400 freestyle tonight. De Deus’ 3:49.62 beat his own national mark of 3:50.37 from last December’s Brazil Open, and took down the continental record of 3:50.01 swum in 2003 by Venezulan Ricardo Monasterio. De Deus will need to drop more time if he is to be competitive at the world championships, where the top eight qualifiers will be in the 3:45 range.
Leonardo De Deus’ record splits
100: 54.84
200: 1:52.13 (57.29)
300: 2:50.38 (58.25)
400: 3:49.62 (59.24)
One of the obvious names missing from tonight’s racing was Thiago Pereira in the 200 individual medley. Pereira did not need to swim the event this week in order to qualify for world championships, as his 1:57.23 from the Brazil Open in December got him on the worlds team. He’ll be joined by Henrique Rodrigues, who also swam fast enough in December to get on the world team with a 1:59.89, but improved on that tonight with a 1:59.28. Rodrigues’ time is 10th in the world. Thiago Simon was second tonight with a strong 2:00.60, unable to keep pace with Rodrigues through the swim.
Joanna Maranhao made it a sweep of the IM events with a 2:12.78. For the third time in three races, Maranhao falls short of a Brazilian record. Her 2:12.12 from the Rome world championship survives another meet, but for Maranhao to approach a time she swam in the high-tech full-body suits of 2009 suggests improvement for the 27-year-old. Virginia Bardach of Argentina led after butterfly, but fell off severely after a few meters of backstroke to place second with a 2:16.58.
Daynara Paula led a trio of sub-27 second swims in the women’s 50 butterfly with a 26.51. Daiene Dias was second with a 26.73, while Bruna Lemos took third with a 26.98.
Manuella Lyrio broke away from Carolina Bilich at the 300-meter mark to win the women’s 400 freestyle by a body length in 4:12.63. That’s just five tenths of a second off her own national record of 4:12.14 from 2012. It won’t get her on the world championship team, but it’s likely she may earn selection to the Pan American Games team for a second opportunity to chase her record. Bilich was in a race with open water star Poliana Okimoto throughout the race, and managed to get to the finish ahead of her with a 4:14.07 to Okimoto’s 4:14.85.
The session rounded out with a 25.19 from national record holder Daniel Orzechowski in the men’s 50 backstroke. The top eight finalists finished within nine tenths of each other, as Gustavo Louzada finished second with a 25.44 and Guilherme Guido took third with a 25.49.
Not too shabby for De Deus considering he had just done his old pr/NR 3:50+ last Decembr.
However, as a loyal Bruin honk I’m putting ALLL my marbles on USC’s Christian Quinter to get that record back @. Kazan in spades, say 3:40 low prelims tand hen a sterling 3:35 @. night.
Mack who? Kosuke who? James who?