Spanish record falls to Jessica Vall in fast 100 breast race to open Spanish Nationals

Jessica Vall rolled to a national record on the first day of Spanish Nationals, going 1:06.81 to break Marina Garcia‘s mark from last summer.

Garcia took second in the race, putting up a 1:07.87, a definite uptick in speed compared to her lackluster college season in the United States.

In addition to the national record, Vall moves into 3rd place in our world rankings for 2014.

Mireia Belmonte Garcia picked up a pair of wins on the day. The international star went 2:06.33 to win the 200 fly, a time that ranks #1 in the world this year. This event was very fast at the top, with second-place Judit Ignacio putting up the world’s second-fastest time at 2:06.79.

Belmonte Garcia returned to win the 800 free, going 8:25.83 to jump to 5th in the world in that race.

Miguel Ortiz won the men’s 50 free, going 22.36. Rafael Munoz was 22.69 for second before Ortiz’s younger brother and former Michigan teammate Bruno finished. Bruno Ortiz was 22.72 for third place.

In the women’s sprint race, Fatima Gallardo went 25.61 to run away from the field for a half-second margin of victory.

Eduardo Solaeche went 1:01.56 to win the men’s 100 breast, fresh off his collegiate season with Florida. Solaeche topped Melquiades Alvarez by six tenths for that victory.

In the men’s 200 fly, Carlos Peralta roared out to an early lead and never looked back, going 1:58.13 for the national championship.

Former Louisville star Pedro Oliveira won the men’s 200 back. Oliveira went 1:59.91 to cruise away from the field by 3 seconds.

The women’s version of that event was the closest finish of the night, with Duane da Rocha touching out Melanie Costa 2:11.73 to 2:11.79. That was a come-from-behind win for da Rocha, who trailed by about half a second the whole way but made up ground on the homestretch.

The men’s distance race went to Marc Sanchez. He paced the 1500 in 15:13.81, a solid six seconds ahead of second-place Antonio Arroyo.

Full results in their original Spanish are available here.