2020 Jamor Open
- December 19-20, 2020
- Oeiras, Portugal
- LCM (50 meter pool)
- Results
Portuguese men’s sprinting got a jolt of energy after a breakout weekend by 25-year old Miguel Nascimento in Oeiras, Portugal.
In his first meet since August, and just his second meet since February, Nascimento broke through with new lifetime bests and Portuguese Records in both the 50 and 100 freestyles this weekend.
First, on Friday, he swam 22.16 in the 50 free in long course, which shaves .01 seconds off his previous national record of 22.17 done in April of 2019.
The bigger drop came in the 100 free on Saturday. There, he swam 49.04, which cut half-a-second off his previous best time of 49.56 done in July of 2017.
That 100 free also broke the old National Record of 49.50 that was set at the 2009 World Championships in a now-banned supersuit by Alexandre Aghostino.
Nascimento also swam the 200 free in 1:51.79 this weekend, though that was well short of his National Record in that event of 1:47.97.
Nascimento now holds the Portuguese Records in the 50-100-200-400 freestyles in both long course and short course.
Nascimento was one of 6 male pool swimmers who represented his country at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, though his best finish was 49.98 in the 100 free. He appears to be shifting his focus more-and-more toward the sprints as Tokyo approaches and away from the 200/400 free, which he’s swum internationally before, and that’s paying off for him.
Nascimento already had Olympic “B” cuts in both the 50 and 100 free, but with his weekend swims crept closer to the “A” standards of 22.01 and 48.57, respectively.
He was one of two swimmers to break a Portuguese Record on the weekend: Rafaela Azevedo swam 1:01.17 in the women’s 100 backstroke. That shaved .01 seconds off her previous best time done at last summer’s World Junior Championships. She’s still only 18 years old.
Other Jamor Open Highlights:
- Gabriel Lopes swam 2:00.22 in the men’s 200 IM, which is his best time of 2020. Both he and countrymate Alexis Santos are under the FINA “A” qualifying standard in that event, which makes the country eligible to send both swimmers to Tokyo – much as they did with the 2019 World Championships. That swim also qualifies Lopes for the European Championships.
- 20-year old Jose Lopes swam a new lifetime best of 4:18.38 to win the men’s 400 IM. That took 1.3 seconds off his old best time of 4:19.67 done in this same pool in April of 2019. Joao Vital, who swam this race for Portugal at the 2019 World Championships, raced this weekend but didn’t swim the 400 IM. Vital has been under the Olympic “A” cut, but not during the qualifying period. He still has a better time than Lopes, in the event that they can only send one swimmer.
- Victoria Kaminskaya won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:26.45, which is about a second short of her best time, and the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.95, which is her best time. In the 200 breaststroke, her best event, she placed 12th at the 2019 World Championships, which tied as the best finish by a Portuguese swimmer.
Olympic/European Championships Qualifying
While no new Olympic standards were met at the meet, multiple athletes did qualify for the 2021 European Aquatics Championships that will be held in May in Budapest and the Tokyo2020 Paralympic Games.
Nascimento, Azevedo, Gabriel Lopes, and Ana Catarina Monteiro, who won the women’s 200 fly in 2:11.64, are all now secured for Budapest.
David Grachat (S9) and Marco Meneses (S11) confirmed their qualifications for the Tokyo2020 Paralympic Games in the 400 freestyle.