In a move we foreshadowed yesterday, CBDA president Coarcey Nunes has announced that Nicholas Santos and Henrique Barbosa have been replaced on the Brazilian World Championships roster.
The two swimmers are among the four who were given a warning following a positive test for furosemide at the Maria Lenk Trophy. The athletes’ only real punishment was the loss of times and awards achieved at that meet, which serves as Brazil’s National Championship. This punishment did not affect the status of Cesar Cielo (who had previously qualified) or Vanicius Waked (who hadn’t made the team anyways), but Barbosa earned his only Shanghai qualifying mark in prelims of the 200 breaststroke at ML.
Santos’ replacement will be 20-year old Marcos Macedo, who this past winter began training in the United States at the Davie Nadadores club in Florida. At ML, he posted a swift 49.42 (behind Santos’ 49.11), which could be just enough to tip Brazil out of medal contention in the 400 free relay. Macedo was slated to be on the Brazilian World University Games team, so he’s still likely to be in top shape (though his timetable has shortened significantly).
Barbosa’s replacement will be Tales Cerdeira, who took silver at the ML but only ended with the 3rd-best time. He is currently ranked 20th in the world with a 2:11.86, but based on his performance from the 2010 version of the meet he definitely has a 2:09 and a possible event-final swim in him somewhere.
As for the prior Brazilian suspension, which is that of backstroker Fabiola Molina, she has been replaced by Etienne Medeiros, who is a sprint-specialist with season-best marks of 28.5/1:02.2. Those times don’t by rule earn her a spot in Shanghai, which implies that she has been taken for relay purpose. This will be a huge blow for the Brazilian women’s medley, much more significant than Santos’ loss for the men, as Molina’s times are well-ahead of Medeiros’
Cesar should be out as well!
Even still Brazil was 5th pick for the 4x1free, a wildcard medal contender. Its hard to think that with Fratus and Cielo on their squad (they might be even or ahead of the first 4 teams for half the race). This shows how much deeper this event has gotten since Beijing.
I believe Duane Marce swims for Spain.