Costa Drops 800 Free South American Record at Brazil Trophy – Day 2

2018 Brazil TROPHY (Maria Lenk)

• Tuesday, April 17th – Saturday, April 21st
• Maria Lenk Aquatic Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Prelims: 9:30 AM Rio time / 8:30 AM EST 
• Finals: 6:00 PM Rio time / 5:00 PM EST 
• Long Course (50m)
• Brazilian Selection Meet for 2018 Pan Pacific Championships
• Live Stream
• Psych Sheet
• Meet Central / Results

Night two of the 2018 Brazil Trophy, formerly known as the Maria Lenk Trophy, featured finals for thewomen’s 1500 free, men’s 800 free, and men’s and women’s 200 IM, 200 back, and 800 free relay.

Unisanta’s Gabrielle Roncatto kicked off the night with a win in the women’s 200 IM, going 2:15.45. Out of lane 1, Corinthians’ Virginia Martin took second in 2:15.96, followed by Flamengo’s Nathalia Almeida in 2:16.25. Minas’ Vini Lanza, who swims for Indiana University and won the 100 fly yesterday, continued his hot streak, dropping over two seconds to win the men’s race in 1:58.10 (#8 in the world this year). Pinheiros’ Leonardo Santos took second in 1:59.66, followed by his teammate Caio Pumputis in 2:01.02.

Open water 10K runner-up and 400 free champion Viviane Jungblut, of GNU, took gold in the women’s 1500 with a time of 16:28.56. Unisanta’s 10K champion Ana Cunha took second in 16:43.72. Minas’ Gabriela Ferreira was third in 16:49.61.

In the men’s 800, Pinheiros’ Guilherme Costa set a new South American record. He finished in 7:52.54, breaking his own record of 7:56.19. He split 27.55/29.09/29.50/29.69/29.75/29.68/29.92/30.06/30.06/29.87/30.09/30.02/29.94/29.72/29.43/28.17 en route to the win, which earned 85 points (instead of the usual 35) for his team. His time was the 6th-fastest in the world this year. Minas’ Miguel Valente was also under the previous record, taking second in 7:56.18. Corinthians’ Bruce Almeida was third in 7:59.59.

In the women’s 200 back, Unisanta’s Andrea Berrino took first, going 2:13.20. In second was Curitiba’s Fernanda Goeij in 2:13.35, and in third was Dutch swimmer Kira Toussaint (representing Minas) in 2:13.78. Out of 4th place, Fluminense’s Alexia Assuncao set a new junior 2 category record in 2:14.62. Leonardo de Deus won the men’s race in 1:59.27, good for his 18th all-time Brazil Trophy/Maria Lenk win, passing Cesar Cielo (17 wins) to become the winningest active male swimmer. Minas’ Nathan Bighetti took second in 2:00.60, and Corinthians’ Brandonn Almeida was third in 2:01.26.

In the women’s 800 free relay, Pinheiros was golden in 8:06.74, followed by Minas in 8:10.95, and Unisanta in 8:16.25. On the men’s side, Minas took the win in 7:13.34, a new meet record. The win earned 10 extra points (80 total) for Minas. Pinheiros was second in 7:15.09, and Flamengo was third in 7:24.49. Pinheiros was body lengths ahead of Minas after the first two swimmers, but newly-minted 400 free South American record holder Fernando Scheffer dropped a 1:44.84 on the third leg, claiming the lead for good. Scheffer will challenge Joao de Lucca‘s 200 free record of 1:46.42 later in the meet.

Team Scores

Note that Guilherme Costa earned an additional 50 points for Pinheiros with his South American record in the 800 free, and the Minas men’s 800 free relay team earned a bonus ten points for its meet record. After day 1, Minas led the point-scoring with 470 points, followed by Pinheiros with 387 and Unisanta with 237.

Top 3 Teams after Day 2

1. Minas 1,024
2. Pinheiros 975
3. Unisanta 628