Belmonte Posts World’s Second Fastest Time in the 400 IM

2016 XVII CTO. DE ESPAÑA “OPEN” ABSOLUTO DE PRIMAVERA (SPANISH OLYMPIC TRIALS)

• Saturday, March 19th – Tuesday, March 22nd
• Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
• Prelims at 10am local/Finals at 5:30pm local
• Meet Schedule
• Psych Sheets
• Results

After winning the 200 butterfly and 800 freestyle on the first day of the Spanish Championships Mireia Belmonte started off the second day in Barcelona with another impressive swim. Belmonte won the women’s 400 IM in a time of 4:33.42.

Her time places her in the second position in the world’s rankings behind Katinka Hosszu who posted a 4:29.89 at the Golden Tour only two weeks ago. Her time was also not far off her lifetime best of 4:31.21 and is the fourth fastest time she has ever put up.

Belmonte was not the only woman under the FINA A standard of 4:43.46. Maria Vilas finished second in a time of 4:38.81, punching her ticket to Rio, while Africa Zamorano posted a 4:41.39. American Katherine Mills was also under the FINA A standard touching in a time of 4:43.34.

Polish star Konrad Czerniak destroyed the field in the men’s 100 butterfly winning the event by almost two seconds. Czerniak posted the fastest time recorded in 2016 and the second fastest of the 2015-16 season. He was only 16 one-hundredths of a second off his Polish record time of 51.15.

Last summer Czerniak finished sixth in the 100 butterfly in Kazan recording a time of 51.28.

No other athlete swam under the FINA A standard of 52.36.

The men’s 400 IM saw the Spanish record fall as Joan Lluis Pons Ramon took the event in a time of 4:15.49. Ramon broke the record of 4:15.64 set by Marc Torrens in 2014. He was also under the FINA A standard of 4:16.71. That now makes five Spanish men who have qualified to swim in Rio.

Hugo Gonzalez, who qualified for the Spanish Olympic team yesterday in the 200 backstroke, finished second in a time of 4:18.29, which is a Spanish age group record for 16 year olds. He was followed by Torrens who hit the wall in a time of 4:19.32.

Judit Ignacio won the women’s 100 butterfly in a time of 59.25. On the first day of competition Ignacio earned a ticket to Rio in the 200 butterfly, but was well off the FINA A standard of 58.74 in the 100 meter distance.

Mills finished second in a time of 1:00.57 followed by Catarina Monteiro who posted a 1:00.79.

Mercedes Peris took the women’s 50 backstroke with ease touching in a time of 28.18. Laura Fernandez finished second in a time of 29.35 followed by Cintia Alvarez who recorded a 29.65.

Aschwin Wildeboer took the men’s event in a time of 25.37. He was followed by Juan Francisco Gutierrez who posted a 25.84 and Javier Romero who finished in a time of 25.95.

Hugo Gonzalez finished fourth in a time of 26.12 breaking his second national age group record of the evening.

Melani Costa won the women’s 200 freestyle in a time of 1:58.78. Costa was just under the FINA A standard of 1:58.96. Patricia Castro finished second in a time of 1:59.05 followed by Fatima Gallardo who posted a 1:59.44.

The final race of the evening was the most exciting. Cesar Castro, who born in 1999, took the event in a time of 1:49.31 one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Victor Puig who hit the wall in a time of 1:49.32. Miguel Duran was not far behind collecting the bronze in a time of 1:49.45.

With that result Castro set a new Spanish age group record.