Joanna Maranhao, who led the women's 400m IM field in her finals time of 4:41.00 comfortably cleared the Worlds cut of 4:43.46 at Brazilian Nationals. Archive photo via Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com
D’Artagnan Dias, SwimSwam’s Brazilian correspondent and a resident of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, contributed to this article.
The Brazilian National Championships and Daltely Guimaraes Trophy moved onto its second day of competition this morning, with two more meet records being pushed aside for the women, as well as some swimmers being able to punch their tickets to Kazan. The later finals session saw more records break and Kazan cuts met, as the competition seemed to even more fierce with each passing race.
Morning Heats
Larissa Oliveira topped the morning heats with her time of 2:00.15 in the 200m freestyle, setting a new championship record in the process. She did miss the Kazan cut, however, as that mark stands at 1:58.96. Daiene Dias would follow that up with a championship record of her own this morning in the women’s 100m butterfly, clocking a 58.49 to not only list her name in the meet record books, but to also qualify her for World Championships in Kazan.
Another swimmer qualifying for Kazan from this morning’s prelims is Joanna Maranhao, who led the women’s 400m IM field in her time of 4:41.99, comfortably clearing the Worlds cut of 4:43.46.
Finals Session
In women’s 200m free, Larissa Oliveira charged ahead of the field to clock a 28.30 for her opening split. She proceeded to hammer all of the turns, but the rest of the swimmers were close on her heels, as reflected in the results. Oliveira came out on top with a new meet record (and personal best) of 2:00.14. She is only the fourth woman in South American to ever dip under the 2-minute mark in the 200m freestyle. Manuella Lyrio finished closely behind in 1:59.99, while Jessica De Bruin touched in 2:00.14.
The men’s 200m free was led by what seemed like a lower-charged João De Lucca than what we saw in the morning, although he did control the race enough to win in 1:48.84, ahead of late-surging chase by Luiz Altamir in the last 50. Altamir was second in a PB of 1:49.16 and João Veras Amorim was third in 1:50.26.
Thalandra Borges earned the win in the women’s 200m backstroke event, staving off a charging Marina Nascimento who seemed intent on running Borges down in the last 50. The final times were 2:17.60 for Borges and 2:18.18 for Marina, with Isabela Silva in third (2:21.15).
In the men’s 200m back race, Leonardo De Deus changed his tactics from earlier today and instead swam a stronger opening 100, splitting a strong 57.4. This may have cost him, however, as his winning time of 1:58.53 is still 0.31 from the Kazan cut. Fabio Santi was second (2:01.34) and Nathan Bighetti earned third in 2:02.30.
After a great start to her 100m butterfly, Daynara De Paula continued to control the entire race, winning in a Kazan-cut-clearing time of 58.36. Daiene Dias was not able to repeat her morning time of 58.49, but she did claim silver in the finals with her time of 59.33. Dandara Antônio was third in 59.63. That makes it both De Paula and Dias who earned times under the World Championship qualifying cuts.
In the men’s 100m fly , Nicholas Dos Santos shot away from the blocks with his signature powerful start and continued to swim strongly ahead of the field in 24.06 in the first 50. But, Dos Santos could not hold on with Thiago Pereira in hot pursuit, as Pereira closed out the race to win in 52.27. Dos Santos tied for second with Lucas Salatta in 52.85. Both Dos Santos (34 years old) and Salatta (27 years old) clocked personal bests.
The women’s 400IM saw recently un-retired Joanna Maranhão make it a race between her and the clock, capitalizing on the big lead by increasing her underwaters, and changing her body position in some turns. She improved her Kazan cut finishing in 4:41.00, claiming a new championship record. Gabrielle Roncatto, 16years-old, improved her personal best by over 6 seconds, finishing in second with 4:51.40. Nathalia Almeida was third in 4:52.97.
Thiago Simon opened the men’s 400m IM race in a strong 58.27, with Corinthians teammate, 17-year-old Brandonn Almeida, holding 5th position after fly leg. However, Almeida pulled ahead of the field in the backstroke lengths and never looked back, wrapping up the race with a closing freestyle leg of 58.77. Almeida won the event 4:17.48, less than a second from the Kazan cut (4:16.71). Simon touched in second place, but was disqualified because he passed 15 meter mark after the start. With that, Lucas Oliveira finished in second (4:27.04) and Icaro Pereira finished in third (4:27.27).
In Senior 4 x 50 free relays, emerging star Etiene Medeiros gave her team a second leg split of 24.37 to contribute to the squad’s (SESI-SP) win in 1:41.67. Cielo also helped Minas to win the men’s 4 x 50 free race with his opening split of 21.60 (final relay time was 1:27.54). The fastest split of the men’s race was Pinheiros’ second leg, where Marcelo Chieriguini clocked a speedy 21.53. To note, Bruno Fratus opened Pinheiros’ relay with only 22.24, which is not as quick as one would expect from the typically fierce sprinter.
Result links below, then click on “Cobertura Online”
Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.
Wow, I wasn´t aware that Joana Maranhão was back swimming!