Cesar Cielo Wins 50 Free, Hints at Pending Retirement, at Jose Finkel

2018 JOSE FINKEL TROPHY (BRAZIL’S SHORT COURSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MEET)

• August 24th-28th, 2018
• Esporte Clube Pinheiros, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• 25m (SCM) pool
• Schedule
• Psych Sheet
• Live Steam + Race Videos
• Results

On Sunday, the final day of the 2018 Jose Finkel Trophy in Sao Paulo, Pinheiros finalized the team championship, while Caio Pumputis won 2 events and broke a South American Record.

Pumpitus’ first win of the finals session came in the first men’s event: the 200 meter breaststroke, where he swam a 2:03.27 to clear the standard for Short Course Worlds and win by three-and-a-half seconds. The 19-year old took most of that margin in the first 100 meters of the race.

Later in the evening, in the last individual event of the meet, Pumputis won again, this time in the 100 IM. He swam a 51.88, which beat out Vini Lanza, winner of the 200 IM, by .34 seconds. That was another swim for Pumputis under the qualifying standard.

In the prelims of that 100 IM, Pumputis broke the Brazilian and South American Records in the event by swimming 51.88. The old record of 52.20 was set by Henrique Rodrigues in 2014.

He wasn’t the only swimmer to add their name to the Brazilian roster for Short Course Worlds on Sunday, however. The biggest news was the clocking of a 20.98 by 31-year old sprinting legend Cesar Cielo, which was under the standard to qualify for Hangzhou. Cielo, who skipped Pan Pacs to focus on Short Course Worlds, didn’t overtly announce his pending retirement after the race, but he did give strong overtones that this was his last 50 free in Brazil, saying that “now he’s only watching by YouTube.”

Other Day 5 Winners:

• The Pinheiros club relay has broken a Brazilian National Record. This time, the swim was the 400 medley relay, where Maria Pessanha, Jhennifer Conceicao, Giovanna Diamante, and Larissa Oliveira combined for a 3:58.07. The Championship and National Records turned the win into a 100 point victory, which was an emphatic finish to their team title over Minas.
• The Minas men took down a Championship Record, but not Brazilian Record, in the men’s 40 medley with a 3:23.89. That included a 49.65 fly split from Vini Lanza, which Minas needed to hold off a rejuvenated 49.95 anchor fro mPinheiros’ Cesar Cielo, declaring his fitness (after winning the individual 100) for a Brazilian 400 free relay at SC Worlds.
• Argentina’s Julia Sebastian won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:21.31, setting a new Championship Record in the event.
• Larissa Oliveira, after setting new South American Records in the 100 and 200 freestyles earlier in the meet, won the 50 free in 24.08. That was good enough to beat the South American Record holder Etiene Medeiros, who was 2nd in 24.10, but not enough to beat her record of 23.88 set at this meet in 2016.
• Viviane Jungblut came up well-short of Worlds qualification in her last try when she won the women’s 800 free in 8:25.32. That was almost 6 seconds slower than what she swam at this meet in 2016, which is the Brazilian Record.
• Guilherme Costa won the men’s 1500 free in 14:45.59, which didn’t get him under the world standard, but, because of a bit of a fluke in World Rankings (not many men take on the 1500 in SCM), he earned an invite anyway.
• Andressa Cholodovskis, based out of the University of Nevada in the USA, won the women’s 100 IM in 1:00.74.

Top 10 Teams:

1. Pinheiros – 3472.50
2. Minas – 2382
3. UNISANTA – 1098
4. Corinthians – 916
5. Flamengo – 808.50
6. SESI – 632.50
7. Curitibano – 369
8. GNU – 346
9. Fluminese – 178
10. ASBAC – 120