2021 Argentina National Championships/Selection Meet
- May 19-21, 2021
- CeNARD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Long Course Meters (50 meters), prelims/finals
- Results
Argentina hosted its third selection meet of the year last week, selecting athletes to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2021 Junior World Cup, and 2021 Junior Pan American Games. The meet was swum across three sessions on each day, with youth competing in the first, men in the second, and finally women in the third.
There were no new Olympic “A” cuts at the event, which is its primary goal, but there was a new Olympic “B” cut, in the women’s 1500 free, by Delfina Dini.
That likely won’t be enough to earn her an invite to Tokyo with Delfina Pignatiello having an “A” cut in front of her. For a country to send two swimmers in an event to the Olympic Games, both must have “A” cuts. If Pignatiello declines her spot in the 1500, however, then Dini would be in line for an invite.
The meet was originally scheduled for May 19-22, but those races were rescheduled because of new COVID-19 safety measures. The races from Saturday, the final day of the meet, were redistributed into Thursday’s and Friday’s sessions.
On the first day of the meet, the country’s record holder in the 100 free, Federico Grabich, climbed to the top of the podium in the event, securing an Olympic B standard with his time of 49.92. Grabich has extensive international experience for Argentina, having represented the nation at multiple World Championships, as well as the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016. At the 2016 Games in Rio his top finishes came in the 100 and 200 freestyles, where he took 38th in prelims of both.
The first day also saw a slew of athletes achieve qualifying standards for the first-ever Junior Pan American Games, currently slated to take place at the end of November following a two-month postponement. Delfina Dini, Candela Giordanino, and Guillermina Ruggiero all hit an A-standard for the meet that will be held in Cali, Columbia.
The men’s 100 breaststroke was won by Gabriel Morelli, who is coming off of a 2021 South American Championships meet where he claimed a medal in all three breaststroke events. The 27-year old touched in 1:01.58, less than .2 off of the Argentine record set by Miquelena Facundo in 2014. The following day of the meet, he picked up an Olympic B standard in the 200 breast, winning the event in 2:12.96. Morelli was only just off of his best time in the event, a 2:12.56 that stands as the Argentine national record. With his swim, he now has moved into the top-100 performers in the world this year.
The second day of racing also saw another woman, Lucia Guana, pick up her first A-Standard for the Junior Pan American Games. Guana’s first standard came in the 200 free, where she finished in 2:03.01, over two seconds under the standard for the event.
Guana, allow with Ruggiero, were both a part of Argentina’s relay squads at the South American Championships earlier this year. Together, they helped the country to a gold medal in the 400 free relay, while Guana also anchored the 400 medlay relay to gold and led off their silver medal-winning 800 free relay.
After picking up a Junior Pan American Games A Standard on the first day of racing, Delfina Dini dipped below the B Standard for the Olympic Games for the second time this year on the final day of the competition in the 1500 free. Her best time in the event is from just two months ago, when she swam to a time of 16:40.88 at the South American Championships. That time, which currently ranks her 87th in the world this year, was good for bronze in the event. Fellow Argentine and national record holder Delfina Pignatiello claimed silver at that meet.
Claiming the top time in the women’s 50 free on the final day of competition was six-time South American Championships bronze medalist Andrea Berrino. After claiming bronze in both the 50 and 100 free, silver in the 50 back, and gold in the 200 back, 400 free relay, and 400 medley relay at that meet, she finished with the top time of 26.77. Berrino holds the national record in the event with a time of 25.56 from 2017.
Standards for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
-1500 free: Delfina Dini – Mark B 16: 47.45
Standards for the 2021 Cali Pan American Junior Games
WOMEN
-1500 free: Delfina Dini – Brand A 16: 47.45
-1500 free: Candela Giordanino – Brand B 17: 06.07
-1500 free: Belén Lahoz – Brand B 17: 53.98
-1500 free: Paloma Lorenzo – Brand B 18: 02.56
-100 butterfly: Sol Theuler – Brand B 1: 02.94
-100 butterfly: Emma Bertotto – Brand B 1: 03.53
-100 butterfly: Valentina Paladino – Brand B 1: 03.75
-100 butterfly: Sofia Ehrlich – Brand B 1: 05.15
-100 butterfly: Juana Potenza Baudou – Brand B 1: 05.21
-100 butterfly: Guadalupe Bustos – Brand B 1: 05.45
-100 butterfly: Catalina Ghiretti – Brand B 1: 05.84
-200 back: Candela Raviola – Brand B 2: 20.60
-200 back: Magdalena Portela – Brand B 2: 24.38
-200 back: Daniela Miramonti – Brand B 2: 24.64
-200 back: Julieta Rosenstein – Brand B 2: 26.44
-200 back: Juana Ortíz – Brand B 2: 26.46
-200 back: Valentina Castro – Brand B 2: 27.72
-50 free: Lucía Gauna – Brand B 26.99
-50 free: María Guillermina Ruggiero – Brand B 27.08
-50 free: Jimena Odonne – Brand B 27.28
-400 free: Candela Giordanino – Brand B 4: 24.98
-400 free: Mainque Mujica – Brand B 4: 26.61
-400 free: Milagros Amione – Brand B 4: 30.84
-400 free: Sofía Vivaldi – Brand B 4: 31.00
-400 free: Emma Bertotto – Brand B 4: 31.83
MENS
-1500 free: Gian Franco Turco – Brand A 15: 51.84
-1500 free: Valentín De Frutos – Brand B 16: 24.14
-1500 free: Pablo Duarte – Brand B 16: 44.57
-100 butterfly: Valentín Almada – Brand B 56.71
-100 butterfly: Sebastián Segura – Brand B 57.46
-100 butterfly: Nicolás Sardi – Brand B 57.61
-200 back: Tomás Di Paolo – Brand B 2: 06.87
-200 back: Luciano Molina – Brand B 2: 08.17
-200 back: Benjamín Ghione – Brand B 2: 09.44
-200 back: Tomás Martínez – Brand B 2: 11.61
-200 back: Marcos D´Aurizio – Brand B 2: 11.65
-200 back: José Antonio Materano Martínez – Brand B 2: 11.90
-50 free: Sebastián Méndez Brant – Mark B 23.78
-50 free: Matías Santiso – Mark B 23.80
-50 free: Nahuel Martín – Brand B 23.98
-50 free: Felix Mayer – Brand B 24.07
-400 free: Gian Franco Turco – Brand B 4: 04.75
-400 free: León Driussi – Brand B 4: 07.90