Stacked Men’s 100 Freestyle Field Highlights Brazil Olympic Trials Heat Sheets

2021 Brazilian Olympic Trials

• Monday, April 19th – Saturday, April 24th
• Prelims at 9:30 am local; Finals at 6:30 pm local
• Brazilian Olympic Selection Policy
• One-shot Olympic qualifying meet
• Meet Site
• Start Lists
• Heat Sheets
• Prelims Schedule
• Finals Schedule

The 2021 Brazilian Olympic Swimming Trials will commence on Monday, April 19 at the Maria Lenk Swimming Pool in Barra da Tijuca, Brazil. The 6-day meet will be used to select the countries contingent for Tokyo 2020 and will follow standard Olympic Trials procedure. In order to nab a spot on the team, one must finish 1st or 2nd in the A final of an event while also swimming faster than the FINA standard in the event.

As a reminder, the current FINA A standards are as follows:

Brazil’s Bruno Fratus became the first man to potentially qualify for the games when he hit a 21.80 50 freestyle at the Mission Viejo stop of the Pro Swim Series earlier this month. Fratus was granted permission by Brazil’s swimming federation to use the meet as his qualifier for the Games in order to avoid traveling to Brazil from the US given the COVID-19 pandemic. Fratus will be named to the team for the event as long as no two men swim faster than his time in the 50 freestyle final.

In the women’s 50 freestyle, Etiene Medeiros will look to get under the 24.77 it will take to qualify for Tokyo. At the most recent Games, Medeiros swam the event for Brazil and hit a 24.45 South American record during the semi-finals, going on to place 8th overall with a 24.69. Medeiros also raced the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke at the 2016 Olympics and is scheduled to contest those events as well at Brazilian Trials.

Along with Medeiros, 2016 Olympic finalists Felipe Silva, João Gomes Júnior, and Marcelo Chierighini will be among those leading the way into the meet.

In 2016, Gomes came 5th in the 100 breast finals while Silva came 7th with a 59.38. Silva also holds the national record in the event at a 59.01 which he set during the prelims in Rio. The two will race the event at Trials and are entered as 1st and 2nd seeds with a 59.25 for Gomes and 59.71 for Silva. That means that should either of the 2 get within range of their sub-minute entry times this week, it will be fast enough to earn consideration for the 2021 team.

Marcelo Chierighini was 8th in the 100 freestyle (48.41) at the 2016 Olympics and will swim the 100 freestyle at Brazilian Trials as top seed with a 47.68. As he vies for consideration to swim the event in Tokyo, he’ll be met by a tough field in the form of Breno Correia (48.11), Pedro Spajari (48.34), Gabriel Santos (48.45), Luiz Borges (48.48), André Souza (48.74), and Felipe Souza (48.89).

While that creates a tough battle for the individual spots on the team, having 7 sub-49 entrants in the event at Trials bodes well for Brazil’s effort in the 4×100 freestyle relay. At the last Games, Chierighini, Santos, Nicholas Olivera, and João de Lucca swam to fifth in the relay with a 3:13.21.

One notable absence from the heats sheet at Brazilian Trials in Viviane Jungblut. Jungblut was the only woman to race at the 2019 World Championships other than Etiene Medeiros, having raced the 800 and 1500 freestyles to finish 19th and 20th, respectively. Jungblut won’t be racing at the meet due to a recent COVID-19 diagnosis. She will race at a second meet which has been scheduled for those who were required to sit out of this week’s Trials due to the virus.

Racing begins with day 1 prelims at 9:30 am local time (8:30 am EDT) and finals will go down at 6:30 pm (7:30 EDT). The first day of the meet will feature the men’s 400 IM, 400 free, and 100 breast, along with the women’s 200 fly and 40o IM.