Brazil packed a 1-2 punch in tonight’s 100m breaststroke final, with Felipe França Da Silva zooming to the wall ahead of the entire field in yet another sub-minute time. Da Silva’s 59.21 performance in finals earned the 28-year the gold medal and also lowered his own previous meet record of 59.84 set in prelims. Brazilian Teammate Felipe Lima earned silver in tonight’s race, touching in a solid 1:00.01.
Splits between Da Silva’s two swims show a different strategy from morning to night. His prelims outing had him opening with a time of 27.39 and coming home in 32.45. In the final, however, Da Silva was just a tad slower, 27.41, but fired up the engines on the back half to go sub-32 (31.80), which rendered the big time drop.
Brazilians Da Silva and Lima finished in this same 1-2 order at the 2011 edition of the games, but both men have speedier scores this time around. In 2011, Da Silva earned gold in 1:00.34, with Lima nabbing silver in 1:00.99.
Henrique Barbosa holds the Brazilian 100m breaststroke national record of 59.03 from 2009 and Da Silva’s swimming streak certainly is putting that record on notice.