After just a single (albeit eventful) race was swam last night, the 2014 Spanish National Championships kicked into high gear today with a full slate of nine events. Mireia Belmonte Garcia opened the evening in dominant fashion in the women’s 800 meter freestyle, touching in 8:26.74, more than five seconds ahead of the next closest finisher, and a full ten seconds under the previous meet record. That’s around three seconds off the season best time from the defending Olympic silver medalist, but a very good time for Belmonte Garcia as she ramps up for the European Championships this fall.
Later in the session, in a battle between a pair of the world’s top 200 butterflyers, Judit Ignacio Sorribes and Belmonte Garcia (currently #3 and #2 in the world, respectively) finished 1-2 in the 200 meter butterfly. Ignacio Sorribes finished first in 2:08.38, a half second under the previous meet record, while Garcia touched behind in 2:09.33.
Federico Grabich of Argentina took the first men’s event of the session, narrowly clipping Konrad Cerniak of Poland in the men’s 50 free. Grabich finished in 22.58, just 0.06 ahead of Cerniak, who touched in 22.64. Grabich doubled up later in the session, taking the men’s 100 backstroke in 55.32. In the women’s version of the splash-and-dash, Fatima Gallardo broke the meet record, winning by over a half second. Her final time of 25.54 took down the previous record of 25.70 from 2007 from Tatiana Rouba.
The meet record momentum continued in the men’s 400 IM, with Alejandro Garcia Martin winning going away in 4:16.61, well under the previous standard of 4:17.21 from Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez. National record holder Marc Sanchez Torrens was a distant second 4:21.97.
Carlos Peralta Gallego and Duane Da Rocha were the other winners on the evening. Peralta Gallego, national record holder in the 200 butterfly, crushed the field en route to his victory in 1:58.16. Da Rocha took down her own meet record in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 1:01.32.