D’Artagnan Dias contributed to this report.
The first day of the Maria Lenk Trophy, Brazil’s long course national championships, saw Larissa Martins Oliveira break the continental record in the 200 free.
Oliveira opened the meet with her record-breaking swim, going 1:58.53 to become the first South American woman ever under 1:59 in the event. The previous record was a 1:59.52 set by Manuella Lyrio back in 2013. Lyrio was second in this race, going 1:58.74 and becoming the second woman ever under 1:59.
Another notable finish in that event was 14-year-old Rafaela Raurich, who won the B final with a 2:01.44. Raurich qualified for the Junior World Championships with her prelims swim, and bettered her personal best by a good second in the final. Raurich is the fastest 14-year-old in the event in South American history.
The men’s 200 free saw Nicolas Oliveira take the win in 1:47.45. That got him within a second of the continental record set by Thiago Pereira, who skipped this event today in favor of the 100 back.
Joao de Lucca was second, going 1:48.17.
Etiene Medeiros won the women’s 100 back, going 1:00.61. That took a tenth off her prelims swim, and inched her closer to the South American record of 1:00.07. She won the race by a good second and a half over the field.
The men’s 100 back went to Guilherme Guido, who already owns the South American record. Guido was 54.56, more than a second off his best, but enough to beat Pereira (54.92), Henrique Machado (55.00) and Vitor Guaraldo (55.00) for the win.
The women’s 1500 free was a 3-way battle between open water star Poliana Okimoto, Samantha Salinas and Bettina Lorcheitter until the 800-mark. After that, Salinas increased her tempo and shook the other two, cruising in for the win in 16:33.35. Okimoto was 16:39.23 for second and Ana Marcela Cunha made a late charge to earn third witha 16:51.48.
The night closed with the 4×50 free relays. Lorrane Ferreira led off in 25.43 for Minas, just eking out the top split over GNU’s Graciele Hermann‘s 25.45. But SESI got a huge 24.09 from Etiene Medeiros to take the lead on the second leg, and the team never looked back, finishing in 1:41.03. Minas held on for second (1:43.06) and Pinheiros was third (1:43.06).
SwimSwam’s Brazilian correspondent D’Artagnan Dias reports that there was a stiff wind driving against the starting blocks during the relay, suggesting we’ll probably see some quicker times in the individual 50 free.
Bruno Fratus led off the men’s Pinheiros relay in 22.22, and his squad led until the third split. That was when Cesar Cielo stepped up for Minas and went 21.36 to stake his team to a big lead. Cielo, not fully rested for this meet, helped his team win in 1:27.61, with Italo Duarte anchoring in 21.65.
Pinheiros was second in 1:28.28. A couple notable splits: GNU’s Guilherme Roth was 21.75 and Unisanta’s Matheus Santana split 21.77.
Team Scores
- Pinheiros – 469
- Minas – 298
- Unisanta – 216
- Corinthians – 214
- SESI – 197
Main results from prelims.. a Better day than yesterday! Even raining a lot!
200 Men Breast: Thiago Pereira 2:11:54, won´t swim final because this was an “extra” event for him.. near his lifetime best of 2:10:79, Tiago Simon, who already has 2:10 took it easy with a 2:20. Also to notice Big PB for França 2:11:56 (He was 2:13:33 last year) and Mickosz (2:12:46 Old PB: 2:14:07)
200 Women Breast.. Probably the weakest even now on Brazil..
100 Men fly: Mendes got Kazan time with 52:35, 6 guys under 53, hope to see a 51 at night.
100 women fly: Etiene Got Kazan time with 58:52, but she is still third for Kazan behind Daiene and Dainara. Hope to… Read more »
Vai Minas!
Even not giving it all now no one would take a guy who can split 47 low from the relay.
Rafael, You may be right! I certainly don’t know enough about Brazilian swimming to argue. But if I were Cielo I’d want to be SURE I was Brazil’s fastest 100 free swimmer so I’d be chosen to anchor that relay. People who don’t know about swimming (90% of the country) will think whoever is chosen as anchor and whoever wins the most medals is the best swimmer/athlete. The home team often rises above their usual level of athletic achievement at a home Olympics; maybe Brazil’s medley will do something extraordinary….
Dan,
although 4x100free can win a medal(at least, has a nice chance to be top 5), i don’t think 4x100medley can.It s too much time to dig in fly and back legs.In fly, besides the retired Mangabeira, the only guy i saw doing steady 51´s in a medley relay was… Cielo!
Pereira went a 51 fly leg on Pan pacs didn´t he? But without a consistent 53 back it is impossible to medal..
If Cseh can put together a fast fly leg for Hungary, Pereira can for Brazil! And who knows, maybe Guido will have the best year of his life in ’16, or a young backstroke phenom will emerge at Trials. It doesn’t hurt to dream folks!
Regardless, if I were Cielo, I’d want to the “fastest swimmer in my country” chosen to anchor the medley relay on the last day of the swimming competition. Then, after the race I would he interviewed by the media and I could say, “Thank you, Brazil, for these wonderful Olympic games”
and the last thing Brazilians would see when they think of swimming would be my face! It’s all about marketing, my friends! 😉
OK, If he only wants a spot on the 4×100 free relay, but he might be missing a spot anchoring the medley relay too! I agree he doesn’t have a chance for an individual 100 free medal, but if I were him I’d want to have the largest medal haul possible. I suppose the medley relay would be a longshot too, but…
Danjohnrob,
i would be shocked seeing anyone(besides Fratus) under Cielo mark(21.6) in 50free.Totally unlikely.Santana is a 100free guy who uses 50 to improve his(bad) start.About 100free:It will need FIVE guys under 48.58 to knock Cielo out of 4x100free relay.
On 50 free cant see anyone beating him. On 100 he wants only the relay swim
I know the article states that the Maria Lenk Trophy is the Brazilian LCM Championship, but is it also their World Championship Trials? If so, does that mean the athletes named above will be swimming the 200 free and 100 back in Kazan?
Also, the article says Cielo is not fully rested for this meet. Is that because he’s confident he’ll make the events he wants without resting or because his selection for Worlds does not depend on his performance in this meet? Brazil has a number of fast men’s 50/100 freestylers, and I would think they would be fighting for those precious individual and relay spots on their team the year before Rio.
There are 2 Meets selectin for Worlds.. Maria Lenk and Open.. Cielo already have a 21,6 from Open, a 48,5 and a 23 low 50 fly, which is probably more than enough for what he wants (50 free/fly and the relays)
The athletes who will swim world will be the one with the fastest times of any of the 2 trials..
Even having fast sprinters..apart from Cielo and Fratus I can´t see anyone going lower than 21 high 22 flat.. same for 100 free.. they will take 6 swimmers for the relay.. hard to think 6 guys will go faster than 48,6
Thanks, Rafael! It doesn’t seem like the conditions are great for fast times with the wind. I think I read somewhere it was raining there too. I’m not sure about the air temperature.
It didn’t seem like many of the athletes were swimming great times, and I expected them to swim fast for their Trials.
I am here, in Rio de Janeiro.The rain is not very strong but the wind burst is terrible.
Danjohnrob,
besides what Rafael talked(Cielo already have 21.6/22.9 in 50free/fly and 48.58 from Open Tournament), he is with a new training team since February, and trying new things. Cielo likes experimenting.Sometimes works, others don t.
Thanks, DDias, Swimming under windy/rainy conditions in an outdoor pool can affect results, especially if it is also cold; we saw that during the Pan Pac’s last year.
Do you know what the second best times are for Brazil in the 50 free/fly and 100 free?
In 50 free and 100free, Cielo is second(right now). Bruno Fratus is first with 21.41 and 48.57, both made in Open Tournament.In 50fly, Nicholas dos Santos is second with 23.01.
That’s why I asked! Doesn’t he care that another Brazilian could knock him out of the 50/100 free? Didn’t that young man (Matteus Santana?) swim faster than that in the 100 last year? Well, I wish him good luck.
Wind or not, that is just plain slow!