The Royal Swimming Spanish Federation (RFEN) has released the official roster that will compete in the pool events at the 2019 World Championships, which will be held from July 21 to 28 in Gwangju (South Korea).
There will be 9 swimmers representing Spain at the World Champs. Lidón Muñoz and Joan Lluis Pons have been added to the team after having achieved the “FINA A” qualifying marks last weekend at the Ciutat de Barcelona Trophy (Mare Nostrum). A team of 7 was already qualified since the Spanish Championships “Open” in April, which was originally the only qualifying competition for Worlds.
Olympic champion Mireia Belmonte leads the team and will race in the 6 events she always swims. The 28-year-old star will defend the world crown that she won two years ago in Budapest in the 200m butterfly, her signature event. However, Belmonte was still not able to achieve the “FINA A” qualification standard in this event this season, being the 2:11.04 she swam at the Spanish Championships in April her season best so far. The world champion started to fully train in January after a long break in 2018 caused by several health issues.
All the swimmers added to their Worlds calendar some events for which they were not qualified, what will be a good warm up for their main events. This is the case, for instance, of Marina García in the 100 breaststroke and África Zamorano in the 100 backstroke.
These is the list of swimmers and their events:
| Swimmer | CLUB | Events |
| Mireia Belmonte | UCAM Fuensanta | 400/800/1500 freestyle, 200/400 IM, 200 butterfly |
| Marina García | CN Sabadell | 100/200 breaststroke |
| Lidón Muñoz | CN Sant Andreu | 50/100 freestyle |
| Jimena Pérez | CN Gredos San Diego | 800/1500 freestyle, 400 IM |
| Jessica Vall | CN Sant Andreu | 50/100/200 breaststroke |
| África Zamorano | CN Sant Andreu | 100/200 backstroke |
| Hugo González | Real Canoe | 100/200 backstroke, 200 IM |
| Juan Francisco Segura | Real Canoe | 50/100 backstroke |
| Joan Lluis Pons | CN Sant Andreu | 200 butterfly, 400 IM |
As in 2017, Spain won’t bring any relays to Gwangju; hence there will be no chance to qualify any relays for the 2020 Olympics. The RFEN also did not show any flexibility when deciding the team that will race at Worlds. They will leave at home, for instance, Bruno Ortiz, who broke the Spanish record in 50 breaststroke at the Ciutat de Barcelona Trophy in a time of 27.42, missing the “FINA A” cut by just 3 hundreds of a second.
Spain will send a reduced roster for the second World Championships in a row, after sending 8 swimmers in 2017. In 2015, they sent 13 swimmers and in 2013 at Worlds in Barcelona, they sent 20 swimmers.
How can Vall and Garcia both swim 100 breast? Only Vall has FINA A cut.
Actually I was thinking the same. García swam 1:07.48 last summer, but it is still not enough to make the FINA A cut. Can a federation register one swimmer with FINA A time and one with FINA B time?
No.
I don’t expect anything from Mireia at Worlds… except by a miracle 🙂
If Belmonte didn’t hit an “A” standard for the 200 fly, how is she still swimming it?
You dont have to have swum the A standard to enter an event a B time is enough only there cant be another swimmer from the same country swimming the same event with just a B qualifying time.
Greg – you’re close on the requirements, with one caveat. You’ve said “only there can’t be another swimmer from the same country swimming the same event with just a B qualifying time” – in fact, there can’t be another swimmer from the same country swimming the same event with an A qualifying time either. Only way to enter 2 is if BOTH have an A time.