Belmonte Defends Title, Escrits Breaks Spanish Record in 5000m Free

2019 Spanish Long Distance Pool Championships

• February 23rd, 2019
• LCM (50m) pool
• Mataro, Spain
• Meet Results

Spain hosted their annual Long Distance P50 Championships last week in Mataro, new Barcelona. Among the competitors there was 4-time Olympic medalist and 8-time World Champion Mireia Belmonte.

She won the women’s 5000 meters freestyle in 56:10.36 – finishing almost 46 seconds ahead of the next-closest competitor: 21-year old Jimena Perez Blanco, who finished 6th at the European Championships in the 1500 free.

The result was the same 1-2 finish as last year’s meet, though this year Perez Blanco closed the gap from the 71-second deficit she had last year (she was 15 seconds faster, while Belmonte was 10 seconds slower).

Belmonte’s splits in the race:

• 1000m – 11:10.24
• 1500m – 16:45.09
• 2000m – 22:20.26 (11:10.02)
• 3000m – 33:34.75 (11:14.49)
• 4000m – 44:55.26 (11:10.51)
• 5000m – 56:10.36 (11:15.10)

While Belmonte was the biggest star at the meet (and pretty much any Spanish meet that she goes to), she was overshadowed in this meet by 20-year old Albert Escrits Mañosa. He won the men’s 5000 meter race in 52:48.14, which breaks the old Spanish Record in the event by almost 3 seconds. Escrits swam just 58:51.23 at last year’s meet, which put him 8th in the 16-17 year olds’ final. He’s bettered that time by more than 6 seconds to win this year.

Estricts’ splits in the race:

• 1000m – 10:28.07
• 1500m – 15:40.11
• 2000m – 20:55.25 (10:27.18)
• 3000m – 31:26.24 (10:30.99)
• 4000m – 42:09.06 (10:42.82)
• 5000m – 52:48.14 (10:39.08)

Also broken in the race was the national record for 15 year olds in the 3000 free, done by Pablo Cabana Del Amo. He swam 33:17.72 in the juniors race.