19-Year-Old Ulises Saravia Breaks Argentine Records in 50 (24.66) and 100 (53.26) Backstroke

CXII Spanish Summer Championships

• Wednesday, June 11th – Sunday, June 15th
• Mallorca, Spain
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Start Lists/Live Results

The 2025 Spanish Summer Championships concluded yesterday, with 19-year-old Ulises Saravia emerging as one of the standout performers, breaking two Argentine national records over the course of the meet in the sprint backstroke events.

Saravia opened his meet in the 100 back, where he claimed gold in 53.26. Adrián Santos Martín finished 2nd in 53.95, followed by Iván Martínez Sota in 3rd with a time of 54.03. Saravia’s winning swim lowered his own national record of 53.95, which he had set at the 2023 World Junior Championships.

Saravia’s improvement was most apparent in the second half of the race. He opened in 25.91 compared to 26.09 in his previous best, but it was the closing 50 that made the difference, as he came home in 27.35, more than half a second faster than the 27.86 he recorded in 2023. That finish reflected the endurance he had developed earlier in the season, when he broke the Argentine short course record in the 200 back (short course meters) at the División de Honor Club Cup in April.

Just a few days after the 100 record, Saravia returned to the top of the podium in the 50 back, winning in 24.66. Santos Martín took silver in 24.70, while Martínez Sota secured bronze with a 24.86. Saravia’s time broke his previous national record of 24.95, also set at the World Juniors.

With both swims, Saravia comfortably met the ‘A’ qualifying standards for next month’s World Championships in Singapore, dipping under the required times of 25.11 in the 50 and 53.94 in the 100.

At the aforementioned 2023 World Juniors, then 17-year-old Saravia began to make his presence known. En route to securing the 2nd seed in the 50 back semifinals with the aforementioned 24.95, he set a new national record, surpassing Federico Grabich’s previous mark of 25.16 from 2013. The next day, Saravia captured the bronze medal with a time of 25.03, just slightly slower than his semifinal performance.

Earlier in that meet, Saravia notched the 53.95 in the 100 back, marking his first-ever swim under the 54-second barrier and easily breaking Grabich’s long-standing national record of 54.32 from 2009. This swim was also done in the semifinals, and Saravia went on to finish 4th in the final with a time of 54.16.

In 2024, Saravia placed 15th in the 50 back (25.13) and 20th in the 100 back (54.60) at the Long Course World Championships in Doha, followed by a 35th-place finish in the 100 back (55.03) at the Paris Olympics.

Most recently, at the 2024 Short Course World Championships in Budapest, Saravia touched 32nd in the 50 back (23.91) and 36th in the 100 back (52.26). Despite those results, he holds Argentine short course records in both events, with best times of 23.63 and 51.67, set at the 33rd Copa de España de Clubes División de Honor in December 2023.