On the first day of the Spanish Open, which runs from July 13th-17th, both Mireia Belmonte and Marc Sanchez set new competition records in the distance events. Belmonte won the 800 freestyle in a season’s best time of 8:24.77. Her previous best was an 8:27.94 that she posted in March.
With that time Belmonte, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist in the event, moves from 21st in the world up to the 13th spot in the rankings. She was followed by Melani Costa who recorded a 8:27.09 and Maria Vilas who finished in a time of 8:31.97.
Belmonte also took the women’s 200 butterfly on the second day of competition putting up a time of 2:07.27, which is almost a second off her season’s best of 2:06.34 that she posted in March. She was followed by Judit Iganacio who touched in a time of 2:08.87.
Carlos Peralta won the men’s event in a time of 1:57.56.
Sanchez took the men’s 1500 freestyle on Wednesday night setting a new competition record with a winning time of 15:16.74. The win did not come easy for him as Antonio Arroyo finished second in a time of 15:18.17.
Sanchez also picked up a win in the men’s 400 IM on Thursday night putting up a time of 4:18.33.
The El Real Canoe NC junior relay team swam an impressive 8:29.47 to win the women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay setting a new junior championship record in the process.
Konrad Cerniak of Poland won the men’s 50 freestyle in a time of 22.26 while Fatima Gallardo won the women’s event in a time of 25.64.
Duane da Rocha took the women’s 100 backstroke in a time of 1:01.53 while Juan Rando took the men’s event in a time of 55.36.
