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Young Talents Impress at Spanish Meet in Mallorca

XII Cto. España de Natación por Federaciones Autonomicas

  • Jan. 19-21, 2024
  • Palma de Mallorca
  • LCM (50 meters)

Several up-and-coming international swimmers showed glimpses of their potential at a Spanish meet in Mallorca earlier this month.

A pair of Frenchmen, 17-year-old Rafael Fente Damers and 15-year-old Luca Hoek Le Guenedal, faced off for an exciting 100-meter freestyle showdown. Fente Damers reached the wall in 50.13, about half a second ahead of Hoek Le Guenedal’s personal-best 50.66.

Fente Damers has been as fast as 49.63, which is only about a second shy of the Spanish national record (48.41). For reference, his lifetime best would rank 37th in the U.S. boys’ 17-18 national age group (NAG) rankings. Fente Damers also triumphed in the 50 free (23.00), within a tenth of his personal-best 22.92 from last July.

Pablo Nevado Ruiz swept the 200 free (1:51.56) and 400 free (3:58.59), both in best times. The 17-year-old knocked more than a second off his best 200 free time and shaved almost two seconds off his best 400 free time.

Cristobal Vargas Trujillo cruised to victory in the 1500 free with a winning time of 15:46.19. The 16-year-old sliced more than 15 seconds off his previous-best 16:01.69 from last March.

Nil Cadevall Micolau captured the 200 IM crown in 2:04.12, not far off his personal-best 2:03.76 from European Juniors last July. He placed 8th in the 100 breast (1:02.24) at World Juniors last September.

University of Pacific commit Javier Lopez Guillen took the 100 fly title in 54.25, faster than his 16th-place finish from World Juniors (54.40).

Women’s Recap

Two-time World Juniors finalist Jimena Ruiz Sanchez swept the 100 breast (1:08.51) and 200 breast (2:31.62), close to her lifetime bests of 1:07.25 and 2:30.88, respectively. Her impressive resume last year also included placing 4th in the 100 breast (1:08.59) and 5th in the 50 breast (31.56) at European Juniors.

Sara Costa de Vicente posted a new personal best in the 50 back (29.20), taking almost half a second off her previous-best 29.66 from last month’s Rotterdam Qualification Meet. She also hit a new lifetime best in the 100 back (1:02.35), shaving more than half a second off her previous-best 1:02.89 from last month.

Noa Martin Argente swept the 400 free (4:17.53) and 800 free (8:47.70), both in personal-best times. She dropped more than four seconds in the 800 free and just a few tenths in the 400.

The 200 free came down to the wire as Irene Pera Villalain (2:03.34) edged Julia Munoz Armengou (2:03.37). Villalain shaved more than two seconds off her previous best from last March while Armengou just missed her personal-best 2:02.79 from last March.

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swimswammer
9 months ago

First!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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