Belmonte Wins 5th Gold, 3 Jr Champ. Records Down at Spanish Open

2019 Spanish Open Swimming Championship

• April 6th-10th, 2019
• Sabadell, Spain
• Long Course (50m)
• Meet Site
• Results/Psychs
• Prelims at 3:30am ET, Finals at 11:30am ET (9:30am/5:30pm in Spain)

Olympic champion Mireia Belmonte achieved her 5th title at this year’s Spanish Open. Belmonte won the 200 IM with a time of 2:14.41, defeating semi-finals leader Catalina Corro (2:15.93). Previously, Belmonte won golds in the 800 free, 400 free, 200 IM, and 1500 free.

Tying in second with Corro was 17-year-old Alba Vazquez, who swam under the 5-year-old 200 IM Junior championship record with a 2:15.93. Vasquez dropped nearly 3 seconds from her semi-final swim of 2:18.57 and crushed Africa Zamorano‘s mark of 2:17.15.

Tomorrow, Belmonte, Corro, and Vazquez will face off once again in the women’s 400 IM.

In prelims of the women’s 100 back, 17-year-old Paula Rodriguez set a new Junior championship record of 1:02.30. In the semi-finals, Rodriguez swam a 1:02.35 and qualified 4th into tomorrow’s final. Leading the seeds tomorrow is Africa Zamorano (1:01.89).

The third Junior championship record of the meet was Carles Coll, who took down the 2017 mark of 1:03.92 in the men’s 100 breast with a 1:02.82. In prelims, Call finished in 8th with a 1:04.57. His semi-finals time is now the 2nd seed heading into the 100 breast final, behind top seed Joan Ballester (1:02.57).

After day 4, there are still 3 qualifiers for the World Championships.

More Day 4 Highlights:

• Miguel Duran won his second distance free event during the timed final of the 800 free. Duran’s winning time of 8:00.92 is just outside of the top 25 times in the world this year. Duran is also the top seed going into the final of the men’s 200 free, leading with a 1:49.63.
• Hugo Gonzalez took home his third title of the meet as well, this time in the 200 back (1:58.62). Earlier in the meet, Gonzalez won the 100 back (55.39) and 200 IM (2:02.29).
• Despite leading the women’s 100 breast semi-finals, national record-holder Jessica Vall failed to qualify for the World championships later this July. Her leading time of 1:07.93 fell short of the 1:07.07 semi-final standard. In prelims, Vall lead the times with a 1:07.40, which was under the prelims qualifying time of 1:07.69.
• Lidon Munoz swept the women’s sprint free events with her 50 free win of 25.49. On day 2, Munoz won the 100 free with a 55.23. Belgium-native Juliette Dumont was runner-up both times behind Munoz in both the 50 free (25.73) and 100 free (55.87).