Brazilian swimmer Joao de Lucca has quietly been one of the best, if not the best, freestyler in the American collegiate system for the last two years, and now that his time representing the University of Louisville has ended, he can turn his full focus to his international duties.
He turned up the heat on Thursday by breaking the South American Record in the 200 short course meter free by leading off Brazil’s 800 free relay at the Short Course World Championships in 1:41.85 – the best leadoff of the final. That broke Nicolas Oliveira’s 2009 record of 1:42.01.
De Lucca’s meet started off on the rocky side when he was just a 1:44.00 in the men’s 200 free preliminaries to place 19th and miss the final. Ever since, however, he’s been dialed-in on Brazil’s relays.
Next up for de Lucca is the 100 free individual prelims on Friday morning, where he’ll hope for a better result than in his last individual event.
The relay in its totality also broke the South American Record, as de Lucca combined with Gustavo Godoy (1:44.82), Fernando Santos (1:43.89), and Gabriel Ogawa (:43.97) to swim a 6:54.53.
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The relay broke SA record too with 6:54.53. A very good time without two great legs(Pereira and Oliveira).