With contributions from D’Artagnan Dias
Guilherme Guido set a new South American record (and a new Brazilian record) in the 100 backstroke at the 2015 Brazil Open finals tonight, speeding up his FINA ‘A’ qualifying swim from this morning by dropping over three-tenths from 53.41 to 53.09. The previous record was also held by Guido, a 53.12 relay lead-off from this summer’s Pan Am Games. He is now the fourth-fastest 100 backstroker in the world this season, bumping Japan’s Ryosuke Irie down to fifth.
2015-2016 LCM Men 100 BACK
MURPHY
51.85*WR*OR
| 2 | Mitchell LARKIN | AUS | 52.11 | 11/06 |
| 3 | David PLUMMER | USA | 52.12 | 06/27 |
| 4 | Jiayu XU | CHN | 52.31 | 08/08 |
| 5 | Matt GREVERS | USA | 52.54 | 12/03 |
Guido pushed well ahead of the field from his first breakout off the start. He split a 25.9 at the wall and never looked back.
Guido’s FINA ‘A’ cut means that he will most likely be able to represent Brazil at his home Olympics in Rio next year. The 2015 Brazil Open is one of two meets where Brazilian swimmers can qualify for their Olympic team. Unless two more swimmers hit ‘A’ cuts at the Maria Lenk Trophy in April and swim faster than Guido’s time, he is a shoe-in for the team. (Look here for more details on the Brazilian Olympic qualifying process.)
Following Guido but just missing the ‘A’ cut were Daniel Orzechowski (54.59) and Henrique Machado (54.90).