2019 Spanish Short Course Swimming Championships
- November 14th-17th, 2019
- Gijón, Spain
- 25m (SCM), prelims/finals
- Official Website (with streaming links)
- Start Lists
- Results
The northern coastal city of Gijón, Spain will host this week’s Spanish Short Course Championships.
The meet is the country’s official selection event for the 2019 European Short Course Championships, which will be held from December 4th-8th in Glasgow, Scotland. While official time standards can only be achieved at this meet, up to 4 per event with the exception of the 800 and 1500 freestyles where the limit is 2, the RFEN does maintain a discretion to add other swimmers in the “best interests of the team.”
- Libre = freestyle
- Espalda = backstroke
- Braza = breaststroke
- Mariposa = butterfly
- Estilos I. = IM
- Estilos = medley
The big news is the absence of Mireia Belmonte from the start lists. The 29-year old Belmonte is a 7-time World Champion in short course meters, including one of the all-time great individual performances in 2014, and has a further 9 European Short Course Championships. She hasn’t raced at the European SC Championships since 2013 in Herning, Denmark or the World Championships since 2016 in Windsor, Canada. A number of ongoing health issues have plagued her over the last 2 years, and at last summer’s long course World Championships, in 6 individual events her best finish was 8th (in both the 800 and 1500 free).
Most of the other big Spanish names will be in attendance, including Jessica Vall, who won both of Spain’s medals at the last edition of the European Short Course Championships in 2017. She’s entered in 5 races: the 100 free, 200 fly, and her primary events the 50, 100, and 200 meter breaststrokes. In 2017 she took a bronze medal in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.80) and a gold medal in the 200 breaststroke (2:18.41) – both of which were new National Records.
The meet will also feature Cesar Castro and Lidon Munoz, the country’s two most recent National Record breakers in short course meters. Castro will race the 50, 100, 200, and 400 freestyles. The 200 is where his record-setting swim came at this meet last year, where he swam 1:43.94. Munoz’s 2 National Records from late last year began with the 50 free, where she hit a 24.27 on a relay leadoff at these Spanish Championships. A few weeks later, at the World Short Course Championships, she took out the National Record in the 100 IM as well in 1:00.69.
This week, she’s the top seed in 5 different races: the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 50 fly, and 100 IM.