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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
The University of Alabama had a standout performance last weekend, sweeping LSU and FSU in a tri-meet in Tuscaloosa.
Headlining the Crimson Tide’s effort was sophomore Leonardo Alcantara, who set a new School Record in the men’s 1000 freestyle, taking down one that had been on the books for 15 years.
Alcantara negative-split his way to a time of 8:53.81, breaking Mark Randall‘s Alabama Record of 8:54.69 set in 2009.
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Alcantara flipped in 4:27.09 at the 500, only slightly ahead of LSU’s Nikola Simic and Silas Beth, but turned on the jets coming home, closing in 4:26.72 to win the race handily, with Simic touching 2nd in 8:57.60 and Beth also sub-9:00 in 8:59.14.
Alcantara, a Brazilian native, previously had been as fast as 9:04.11 in the 1000 free, though that was done to the feet en route to clocking 15:09.37 in the 1650 free at the 2024 SEC Championships. His official PB in the event stood at 9:04.78, set in January during a dual meet against Auburn, and his only other time racing the event occurred in late September against Delta State (9:33.59).
Randall set the previous Alabama Record of 8:54.69 during the 1650 free at the 2009 SEC Championships, going on to finish 2nd in the event in a time of 14:49.37. He previously held the school record in the mile at 14:48.25 from 2006 before Victor Johansson broke it in 2022 (14:39.63).
Alcantara joined Alabama last season for the second semester after representing Brazil at the 2023 World Junior Championships, where he finished 11th in the 800 free and 12th in the 1500 free.
He placed 17th in the 1650 free, 23rd in the 500 free and 35th in the 200 free during his first SEC Championships debut, and went on to represent Alabama at the NCAA Championships in the 800 free relay, splitting 1:33.96 to help the Crimson Tide place 11th.
He’s clearly made strides from his freshman season into this year, also setting a lifetime best of 4:17.71 in the 500 free during last weekend’s tri-meet, surpassing his previous mark of 4:18.42 from the 2024 SECs while maintaining his rank as 9th-fastest in school history.
After being named SEC Men’s Swimmer of the Week for his efforts, Alcantara and the rest of the Crimson Tide will be back in action next weekend at the Georgia Fall Invitational.
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