Three of Nine Mexican Swimmers DNS on Day 6 of World Championships

Mexico had 9 entries in the preliminary heats on Friday at the 2015 FINA World Aquatics Championships, and 3 of them declared false starts.

It’s unclear as to why these races were not swum, or if they were related to accusations that the country falsified their entries for the World Championships, as neither FINA nor the Mexican Swimming Federation have responded yet.

In one case, the men’s 100 fly, Daniel Ramirez remained in the race, whereas his teammate Mateo Gonzalez did not swim. Both swimmers were entered in the meet with FINA “A” standards, but in reality, Ramirez admits that he only earned a “B” standard, and other sources have specified that Gonzalez also holds only a confirmed “B” standard for the meet. With only “B” standards, Mexico would only be eligible to swim one athlete in the 100 fly, which is ultimately how many they raced. Ramirez placed 50th in a 55.28, though he was still allowed to swim in a lane correlated to a qualifying time that he never swam.

In the women’s 50 fly, both Sharo Rodriguez and Laura Arroyo swam, finishing 45th and 43rd, respectively. In their case, again, both were entered in “A” standards, which we were neither able to fully confirm nor deny ever happening.

In the women’s 200 back, Lourdes Villasenor raced to 36th in 2:19.07 off an “A” standard entry time of 2:12.20; Andrea Garcia, who was entered with an “A” standard of 2:12.00, did not race and left an empty lane.

Neither swimmer earned a FINA “A” or “B” qualifying standard at the Mexican National Championships, and neither swimmer’s seed time for that meet was a FINA “A” or “B” qualifying standard. We were unable to confirm any qualifying standards since that meet, either.

In the men’s 50 free, Alejandro Escudero raced to a 45th-place 23.38. He was entered with an “A” time that was half-a-second faster than the Mexican Record, but appears to have only earned a “B” time. Lorenzo Loria, whose entry time was slower than the “B” standard and who should not have been allowed entered if that time was accurate or not, did not swim and left an empty lane.

Finally, in the women’s 800 free, Montserrat Ortuno swam and placed 24th, beating her seed time in an 842.83. Ortuno was the only swimmer at this meet where we were able to verify and confirm all entry times.