Last November we reported how Brazilian sprinting mainstay Bruno Fratus had parted with long-time coach Brett Hawke. At the time, the 30-year-old 50m freestyle specialist would continue his training program under his wife, Michelle Lenhardt, a former freestyle ace for Brazil herself.
A few months later, however, we know even more about Fratus’ coaching team structure leading into this year’s Summer Olympic Games, as his former coach Arilson Silva has rejoined the fold.
Silva, former coach of World Record holder Cesar Cielo, as well as current coach of World Record holder Andrii Govorov, trained Fratus previously in his career, helping guide him to his first Olympic Games and World Championships.
The pair have been working together since Fratus’ split with Hawke, but Silva is just one piece of a comprehensive coaching puzzle.
Silva serves as the supervisor of the 2019 World Championships silver medalist’s training program, while Lenhardt continues to be Fratus’ daily coach. Helvio Affonso is the physiologist, while Carla Di Pierro is the psychologist component of the collaborative coaching effort.
Silva tells SwimSwam that the coaching dynamic has the full support of the Brazilian Olympic Committee. Fratus also confirmes that he and Michelle will return to Coral Springs, Florida after their current training camp in Rio.
“The team has full communication with eachother to make decisions to bring Bruno to his best shape in Tokyo 2020,” says Silva.
Fratus currently ranks 3rd in the world in the men’s 50m freestyle, holding a season-best mark of 21.59 from the U.S. Winter Nationals last December.
Men’s 50 Freestyle Top 5 Performers 2019/20 Season:
- 21.50 Vlad Morozov (RUS) FINA Swimming World Cup Budapest 04/10/2019
- 21.56 Florent Manaudou (FRA) Luxembourg Euro Meet Luxembourg 24/01/2020
- 21.59 Bruno Fratus (BRA) Winter National Championships Atlanta 05/12/2019
- 21.81 Zach Apple (USA) Winter National Championships Atlanta 05/12/2019
- 21.86 Kristian Gkolomeev (GRE) FINA Champions Series Beijing 18/01/2020
Hope he can help Bruno with his start because the man needs some desperate improvement.
Looking like Tokyo will be one of the strongest Olympic 50 free fields in a while!
Honestly I think it will be the strongest field ever. It will probably take a 21.1/21.2 for bronze and sub 21 for gold(Dressel)
Usually, the Olympics is a strange beast. Not uncommon to have a winner with weak times. And sometimes, the big favorites come out with minor medals(In the last two: Cielo Bronze in 2012, Manaudou silver in 2016).
Hayden**