According to a press release from the Dominican Republic Swimming Federation, Krystal Lara and Josué Domínguez have been invited to represent their country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Lara will race the women’s 100 and 200 backstrokes while Domínguez will swim the men’s 100 and 200 breaststrokes.
The official release states that Lara received her invitation based on her recent swims of 1:02.41 in the 100 backstroke and 2:13.11 in the 200. That 100 time for Lara is a bit off the 1:02.06 FINA B standard while her 200 sits in between the FINA B cut of 2:14.30 and the FINA A of 2:10.39.
Lara swam collegiately for Northwestern University from 2016 until 2020 and has also raced internationally previously for the Dominican Republic. Lara represented the Dominican Republic at the 2019 World Championships where she posted a 1:02.71 in the women’s 100 backstroke with a 1:02.71. Lara currently holds the Dominican Republic record in the event at a 1:01.39 which she set at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games to pull off a third place finish.
Lara also holds the national record in the women’s 200 meter backstroke at a 2:13.11 which she set at the 2020 Pro Swim Series in Des Moines. Lara also holds the Dominican Republic records in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles (26.44/56.67/2:06.03), along with the 100 butterfly (1:00.48), though she won’t race those events in Tokyo.
Lara’s co-Olympian Josue Dominguez also holds a number of national records including the long course 50, 100, and 200 breaststrokes. He lowered all 3 of the marks recently in April 2021 when he hit a 1:00.68 100 and 2:15.14 200 breast at the 2021 Dominican Republic International Open and a 27.98 at the 2021 UANA Tokyo Qualifier.
Those times for Dominguez are an improvement upon his swims at the 2019 World Swimming Championships where he swam a 28.50 in the 50 for 45th place overall and 2:23.21 in the 200 for 49th.
Dominguez has been swimming collegiately at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah since 2018 and has been an important member of the Division 1 team. As a junior this season, Dominguez was BYU’s only entrant at the 2021 NCAA Championships. Dominguez nearly got into the B final of the men’s 100 yard breaststroke, placing 18th overall with a 52.26. In the 200 yard breaststroke, he finished 43rd in 1:58.65. That was slower than his 1:55.97 from 2019.
No swimmers from the Dominican Republic have ever made it past the prelims at the Olympic Games. At the most recent Games in 2016, Jhonny Peréz and Dorian McMenemy represented the nation in the men’s 100 freestyle and women’s 50 freestyle, respectively. Peréz placed 52nd in his event with a 51.50 and McMenemy was 55th in a 27.37.