18-Yr-Old Diogo Ribeiro Posts 21.87 Portuguese National Record In 50 Free

2023 PORTUGAL OPEN

  • Thursday, March 30th – Sunday, April 2nd
  • Funchal, Portugal
  • LCM (50m)
  • World Championships & Paris 2024 Qualifier
  • Live Streaming
  • Live Results

The 2023 Portugal Open kicked off yesterday from Funchal with swimmers vying not only for World Championships qualification but also for Paris 2024 roster consideration.

The four-day affair started with a bang in the men’s 50m freestyle, where the heats of the event wound up being faster than the evening finals.

Competing in the morning, 18-year-old Diogo Ribeiro nailed a new national record en route to capturing the top seed. The teen fired off a new lifetime best of 21.87 to overtake the previous Portuguese standard of 21.90 Miguel Nascimento put on the books last year.

Ribeiro’s performance represented just the second time he’s been under the 22-second threshold. Entering this competition, his best-ever 50m free time was marked by the 21.92 he nailed en route to becoming the 2022 World Junior champion in the event.

Ribeiro’s 21.87 new national record qualifies him for both the World Championships in Fukuoka as well as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The World Aquatics ‘A’ cut for the former sits at 22.12 while the Olympic Qualification Time for the latter is 21.96.

Also making the grade for Fukuoka was the former national record holder Nascimento, who put up a time of 21.99 to claim the 3rd seed behind Ribeiro, while visiting Ukrainian swimmer Andrii Govorov followed suit with a 2nd-seeded 21.98 to also qualify for the World Championships.

Come the final, Nascimento sliced off another .02 to take the meet title in 21.97 while Ribeiro settled for silver in 22.02. Govorov ultimately rounded out the top 3 in a mark of 22.09. The 4th place finisher, Miguel Marques hit 22.44 to qualify for the inaugural LEN U23 Championships.

With his morning swim, Ribeiro now ranks #2 in the world on the season. He ties Dutchman Kenzo Simons, American Michael Andrew and Brazilian Guilherme Caribe who all sit behind world leader Josh Liendo of Canada. Liendo owns the top time in 21.80 from this week’s Canadian Trials.

2022-2023 LCM Men 50 Free

2Ryan
Held
USA21.5007/01
3Florent
Manaudou
FRA21.5606/15
4Jack
Alexy
USA21.5707/29
5Benjamin
Proud
GBR21.5807/29
View Top 26»

Additional Notes

  • Rafaela Azevedo posted a time of 28.56 to take the women’s 50m backstroke, earning U23 Championships qualification in the process.
  • Ana Monteiro topped the women’s 200m fly podium in a time of 2:10.87 while runner-up Ines Henriques produced a mark of 2:12.13 as the runner-up. Henriques’ time dipped under the U23 Championships QT.
  • The men’s 200m fly saw Kevins Apseniece get it done for gold in 1:59.68 to earn U23 qualification.
  • Ana Rodrigues registered a new national record in the women’s 50m free, hitting 25.25. That knocked .01 off of her own previous NR of 25.56 she logged in 2019.

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Ropes
1 year ago

Having watched Diogo’s improvements from last years juniors. He will be ready for Paris?

Rafael
1 year ago

Just went 48,01 NR on prelims 22,73 25,28

Ploki
1 year ago

What is it with a 21.87 50 free time? There’s 4 people with than time this year

Preatorian
1 year ago

And he just swam a 48.01 100m freestyle in the heats. In less than a year, the Portuguese National Record may go from a 49 to a 47.

Preatorian
Reply to  Preatorian
1 year ago

And he has just gone 47.98 in the final. Still has 50 and 100 fly in the next 2 days

João Pereira
1 year ago
Last edited 1 year ago by João Pereira

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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