The 2nd finals session of the 2011 Jose Finkel Trophy went down in the 50-meter pool in Belo Horizonte this morning, and things seemed to have calmed significantly from yesterday’s fiascos that included two races having to be reswum, and a multitidue of wardrobe changes. Still, there was at least one very embarassing timing malfunction, so the CBDA is not entirely out of the woods yet.
Just as the administrative portion of the meet calmed down, the swimming portion really started to light up. Cesar Cielo demonstrated that he was slow-playing yesterday’s semi-final and blasted off a 21.97, which is the 6th time he’s been under 22 this year (nobody else has done it more than three times, and that’s Nathan Adrian of the US). His swim ties as the 15th-best performance in the world this year, though he was faster to win Worlds in 21.52.
Behind Cielo was Nicholas dos Santos, Cielo’s Flamengo teammate, in a 22.28, which improves his (official) season-best by .01 to move him into a tie for 26th in the world. This is Dos Santos’ taper meet after he lost his spot on the World Championship team and Pan Ams team following his positive test for furosemide.
Bruno Fratus, who was 5th at Worlds, didn’t swim his best time, but was still good for silver in 22.57. Look out for 19-year old Italo Manzine Duarte, the next big Brazilian sprinter on the horizon, who placed 5th in 22.84. He was the swimmer who had to reswim his prelims of this race after a badly-loosened block felled his initial swim.
In the women’s 50 free, The Netherlands’ Inge Dekker showed her Dutch heritage and took a big win in 25.36. Behind her was the highest-finishing Brazilian, Flavia Delaroli-Cazziolato, in 25.51, which was not much faster than she was in the earlier rounds. Delaroli-Cazziolato had the disadvantage that she had to swim her 50 free semi-final twice after a timing malfunction. The bronze medal went to a fast-riser out of the small Curitibano club: Alessandra Marchioro. She’s only 18, stands 6’2, and swam a 25.72 in this race after collapsing following her semifinal yesterday morning. Don’t be surprised if American college coaches are blowing up her phone in the next few months after she’s shown some serious improvements in this meet.
Thiago Pereira, who recently joined Cesar Cielo’s PRO16 group, though he will still do the majority of his training with Dave Salo at the Trojan Aquatic Club, took a win in the men’s 400 IM in 4:24.61. Though that’s nowhere near a best time, it’s another good confidence booster on the back of his 200 backstroke win yesterday following a disasterous World Championship meet (he didn’t even swim this 400 IM, which is his 2nd-best event).
The women’s version of that race was won by Mireia Belmonte-Garcia of Spain, who has been brought in by Flamengo for this meet. She won in 4:51.63, which is also a fairly unimpressive time. These 400 IM’s on both sides see a bigger slide than we got in some of the shorter races (like Cielo’s 50 free), largely because of the distance and amount of training that these swimmers have to put in to hit their best times. Behind Belmonte was Georgina Bardach of Argentina, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, took 2nd for her UNISANTA representation in 4:53.19.
The men’s 200 free final was highlighted by a great back-and-forth battle between Daniele Tirabassi and Rodrigo Rocha Castro. The lead changed hands at each of the final three walls, but in the end it was Tirabassi who took the victory in 1:50.61, with Castro 2nd in 1:50.76. This is where today’s timing malfunction happened, with Fernando Ernesto Santos showing on the electronic board as the champion (by just .01). After giving an understandably elated post-race interview, it was revealed that he was actually the 5th-place finisher in 1:52.00.
The women’s 200 free final was also an exciting one, with the three medalists separated by only three-tenths of a second. This time, Brazil’s best Jessica Cavalheiro held off her international competitors for the gold in 2:02.62. American Kim Vandenberg, who was a part of the 2008 Olympic 800 relay, took silver in 2:02.70 after a hard-charging Cavalheiro overtook her on the final length. In 3rd was Manuella Lyrio in 2:02.90.
Also in that race, in her typical sadistic love for pain, Belmonte-Garcia followed her 400 IM with another swim in this 200 free, where she finished 5th in 2:04.35.
Semi-Finals
In the semi-final races, we saw the 100 fly and 100 breast 2nd-rounds go down. There wasn’t a ton of exciting action, though on the men’s side we did see a solid 53.0 from the veteran Gabriel Mangabeira. That men’s 100 fly final is loaded with big names. Besides Mangabeira, it will also include Kaio Almeida (53.70), Thiago Pereira (53.64), and Henrique Martins (54.07). 50 fly World Champion Cesar Cielo scratched this race before prelims.
In the men’s 100 breaststroke, Joao Gomes came down off of his 1:00.47 Olympic qualifying time from prelims that set a new Meet Record, but all of the big guns in the deep Brazilian breaststroke group made it safely through. That includes 50m World Champ Felipe Silva (1:02.01), Felipe Lima (1:01.60), Gomes (1:01.90), Tales Cerdeira (1:02.53), and the youngster Raphael Rodrigues (1:02.09).
Team Scoring
The home team Minas Tenis, who won Maria Lenk in the spring, jumped out to a huge lead early here with 657 points. Corinthians is behind them at 545, and then it’s another huge leap to Cielo’s Flamengo club.
1. Minas Tenis 657
2. Corinthians 545
3. Flamengo 341
4. Pinhieros 310
5. UNISANTA 235.5
Full meet results are available here.
Borboleta = butterfly
Peito = breaststroke
Costas = backstroke
Livre = freestyle
Medley = IM
Balizamento = Start Lists
Resultado Final = Finals Results
Fem = Women’s
Masc = Men’s
