Photo by Joao Marc Bosch
MESA, Arizona, September 25. CESAR Cielo is back in Arizona in the final stages of preparation for the short course world championships, and he’ll get in some racing this weekend at the Jamina Winston Memorial Invite. The short course meters meet will mark his debut into Masters swimming, and the record book will undergo a major rewrite after the one-day meet.
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Cielo is scheduled to swim the 50 and 100 freestyles, according to the psych sheet released today by host Mesa Aquatics. That’s where Cielo is training with head coach Scott Goodrich as the two continue their working relationship that led to two golds last summer at the world championships.
Cielo is not expected to approach his lifetime bests of 20.51 and 45.74 this Saturday, but we’ll see how close he can get to the times he posted earlier this month at the Jose Finkel meet to land on Brazil’s world championship roster. At that meet, his fastest 50 free came in prelims with a 20.68, and he won the 100 free with a 46.08.
It should be noted that the Masters world records for the 25-29 age group in the sprint freestyle events belong to Darian Townsend, who posted times of 22.08 and 48.29 last year. The 27-year-old Cielo is bound to obliterate those marks.
Townsend will be racing in multiple events in Mesa Saturday, making his short course meters debut in the 30-34 age group. Townsend is scheduled to swim the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles as well as the 100 IM and 100 fly. He’ll have a tough time with the 50 free, as Nick Brunelli owns the world record with a 21.98.
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