Diogo Cancela Crushes S8 World Record in 200 Fly by 3 Seconds with 2:15.50 in Eindhoven

2023 EINDHOVEN QUALIFICATION MEET

• April 6th – April 10th
• Eindhoven, the Netherlands
• LCM (50m)
• Results

Portugal’s Diogo Cancela absolutely annihilated the S8 world record in the 200-meter butterfly during a time trial in Eindhoven on Thursday evening.

Cancela clocked a 2:15.50 to take more than three seconds off the previous 200 fly S8 world standard set last April by Poland’s Michal Golus (2:18.82).

“I am very happy to have broken the world record,” Cancela said, according to a press release by the Portuguese Swimming Federation (FPN). “The trial even got off to a bad start. I don’t know what happened to the referee who made the match before going up to the block. I didn’t let it get to me, I tried to forget about it. The referee apologized to me. I focused on the race, on what I had discussed with my coaches, Gonçalo Neves and Vítor Ferreira. I did my best from start to finish. The last 50 meters were important because of the team’s support. I saw them pushing me, I heard the noise.

Cancela represents the Portuguese club, Louzan/Efapel. Notably, the 200 fly is not offered on the Paralympic program. He said his goal for the rest of the week is to establish another record in the 100 fly, which is offered at the Paralympics

“I’m doing this a little bit for Gonçalo, who can’t be here with us for health reasons,” he added. “I want to do my best for my coaches. I want this to be a team effort. I will work to be better at the Worlds.”

Cancela was coming off a successful Portuguese Open in which he broke national records in all four of his events. His world record on Thursday continued Portugal’s huge week in the pool, which began at the Portuguese Open on Sunday when Marco Meneses lowered the S11 world record in the 200 backstroke with a 2:26.95.

Meneses shaved over a second off the previous mark of 2:28.24 posted last month by David Kratochvil of the Czech Republic. It was Meneses’ second world record of his career following 31.47 50 back at last month’s Para Swimming World Series stop in Sheffield. The resurgence of Portuguese para swimming comes less than a year after the nation hosted the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira. Cancela and Meneses are among four Portuguese swimmers who have already achieved Paris 2024 Paralympic cuts along with Ivo Rocha and Tomas Lamb.

In non-para swimming action, Francisca Martins became the first Portuguese woman to go sub-2:00 in the 200 free with a 1:59.88 at the Eindhoven Qualification meet. Martins placed fourth in the final, just about a second behind the Worlds ‘A’ cut of 1:58.66, lowering her previous-best 2:00.05 from last week.