Brazilian Olympian Caio Pumputis Undergoes Shoulder Surgery, Out of 2023 Worlds

2023 Brazil Trophy

• May 30 – June 3, 2023
• Santos Dumont Park and Sports Center, Recife, Brazil
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Start List

Brazil will be without one of its top male swimmers this summer at the World Championships.

Tokyo Olympian Caio Pumputis, Brazil’s top male swimmer in the 200 breaststroke and 200 IM over the last number of years, recently underwent shoulder surgery in Sao Paulo, as reported by Best Swimming‘s Alex Pussieldi.

 

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The surgery will knock Pumputis out of the 2023 Brazil Trophy, the country’s qualification meet for the World Championships, which kicks off on May 30 in the city of Recife.

Pussieldi reports that Pumputis has not competed this year, with his most recent showing coming at the 2022 Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, where he was a finalist in the men’s 200 breaststroke and also made semi-final appearances in the 100 breast and 100 IM.

The 24-year-old is expected to return to training in the second half of the year and begin his pursuit of a second straight Olympic appearance in Paris.

Pumputis is not the only top Brazilian swimmer to have a shoulder injury sideline him for the 2023 Worlds, as sprinter Bruno Fratus underwent surgery last year and will also miss the Brazil Trophy.

Pumputis returned to train in Brazil last year after a successful collegiate career at Georgia Tech, swimming five years for the Yellow Jackets and earning First Team All-American status six times.

Internationally, Pumputis made his LC World Championship debut in 2019, and then broke through to make his first Olympic team in 2021, placing 19th in the men’s 200 IM and 34th in the 100 breast in Tokyo.

In his absence, Vini Lanza holds the top seed in the men’s 200 IM at the Brazil Trophy, while Felipe Ribeiro Goncalves leads the field in the 200 breast.