Mireia Belmonte Garcia had the performance of the evening on night three of Spanish Long Course Nationals, becoming the first swimmer in 2014 to break the 16-minute barrier in the 1500m freestyle, taking down her own Spanish national record in the process. Belmonte Garcia touched in 15:58.07, bettering her 15:58.83 from last summer’s World Championships in Barcelona. That time is nearly 15 seconds under Martina Caramignoli’s 16:11.70, the previous top time in the world in 2014. Second place finisher Maria Vilas Vidal also made a dent in the world rankings, taking second in 16:15.97, fourth in the world this year.
Jumping back to the beginning of the session, Jessica Vall Montero opened things up with a title in the women’s 50 breaststroke with a meet-record 31.29, dipping under the old standard of 31.32 set by Concepcion Badillo Diaz in 2009. Cal Bear Marina Garcia Urzainqui finished a distant second in 31.72.
On the men’s side, meet record holder Hector Monteagudo Espinosa took the men’s 50 breaststroke in 28.24.
The next four events didn’t have any particularly big splashes; Mercedes Peris Minguet took the women’s 100 back in 1:01.49, while Juan Miguel Rando Galvez wonthe men’s title in 54.69. Fatima Gallardo Carapeto and Bruno Ortiz finished up the prelim/finals events with titles in the in the 100 freestyles, touching in 55.37 and 49.66, respectively.
Marc Sanchez Torrens closed the session by running away with the men’s 800 free by nearly 10 seconds, jumping up to sixth in the world with a 7:54.42.
