Andrea Berrino Withdraws From Maria Lenk After Hand Fracture

Argentine swimmer Andrea Berrino will not be competing this weekend  at Brazil’s Maria Lenk Open Championships due to a fracture in two fingers of her right hand. Her coach Federico Rossi issued a statement to BestSwimming.com detailing the nature of the injury that occurred during training on Monday, April 11.

Berrino is the Argentine national record-holder in the 50, 100, and 200 meter backstrokes, but hasn’t earned an Olympic qualification standard for her country as the 100m back stands at 1:00.25 versus her 1:00.45. Her gold-winning 28.11 50m back swam at the South American Championships ties her 15th with Emi Moronuki on the year’s all-time list. Berrino also picked up the gold medal in the 200 back (2:13.47) and a silver medal with another Argentine National Record in the 100m back (1:00.38) while in Asunción, Paraguay.

Argentina has already qualified Martin Naidich (1500 free), Federico Grabich (50 free, 100 free, 200 free), Santiago Grassi (100 fly), and Virginia Bardach (200 IM, 400 IM) to represent the nation in Rio this summer.

The Maria Lenk Open Championships is the last opportunity for Brazilian and select international Olympic hopefuls to gain their qualifying marks. The competition will be the first event held at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, the same venue that will host the CPB Paralympic International Open, Aquece Rio International Water Polo Tournament, and the Rio Olympic Games aquatic competitions. To date, Brazil has qualified 23 swimmers with Olympic ‘A’ cuts and will finalize its Olympic roster in the coming days at Maria Lenk.