Thanks to Cesar Cielo, Gustavo Borges, and the rest of the Brazilians, South America has always been on the global radar in the three shortest freestyle races: 50, 100, and 200 meters.
But now, that influence is expanding beyond the borders of Brazil, as evidenced by the men’s 200 free final at the Pan Am Games on Wednesday.
At a meet that will go down as the best of its kind in decades, not only did a South American break the Pan Am Games Record, but South American took gold and silver, and had three National Records go down.
O Campeão – Joao de Lucca
The winner of the event, and the man who earned the most marks upon history, is Brazilian Joao de Lucca. The 25-year old was a two-time champion in the 200 yard free in the American NCAA system, and in 2014 really began to carry that success through to the meters pool.
De Lucca swam 1:46.42. That broke:
- Brett Fraser’s 2011 Pan Am Games Record of 1:47.18
- Thiago Pereira’s 2009 Brazilian and South American Record of 1:46.57
And yes, he did the foot-clap that he’s become so famous for:
Joao de Lucca. Jogos Pan-americanos, Natacao no Aquatics Centre. 15 de julho de 2015, Toronto, Canada. Foto: Satiro Sodre/SSPress
El Oro – Federico Grabich
The silver medalist was Argentina’s Federico Grabich, who has been a huge revelation at this meet. His second-place time of 1:47.62 broke his own Argentine Record of 1:47.78 done at his National Championship meet in March.
Gabrich has been a massive revelation at this meet (though one of our readers, who happens to be the parent of a U.S. National Teamer, called the breakthrough in our comments section back in April). He broke the Argentine Record in the 100 free multiple times on Tuesday, settling it at 48.11 to rank 4th in the world this year.
El Venezolano – Cristian Quintero
Like de Lucca, Quintero has been training in the United States. Like de Lucca, he’s won an NCAA Championship in the in the 200 yard free (he took the title last year as a senior).
But like Grabich, it was his own National Record that Quintero broke on Wednesday, swimming a 1:47.88 to improve his own 1:48.44 from 2014’s L.A. Invite in Los Angeles – almost exactly a year ago.
Braden, it was overlooked:
Joanna Maranhão 2:12.05 is a new South American record in 200backstroke.Old mark was 2:12.09 by Natália De Luccas.