Joan Lluis Pons

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Joan Lluis Pons is a 400 meter medley specialist from the island of Mallorca, Spain. He made his Olympic debut at 19 where he reach the final in his signature event.

Pons learned to swim at the age of two. Although he didn’t like the water, his family owned a boat so they thought it was important he could swim. Little did they know, a few years later he would be representing Spain at the Olympics. He currently trains at CN Palma de Mallorca under head coach Jose Antonio del Castillo.

2016 Rio Olympic Games

Pons qualified for the Olympics after breaking the Spanish 400 meter medley national record at the National Open. In Rio, he sneaked in to the 400 medley final after the German swimmer Jacob Heidtmann was disqualified, moving Pons up to 8th. In the heats, his time of 4:13.55 lowered his own national record.

In the final, he wasn’t able to improve his time, finishing 8th in 4:16.58.

Kyle Chalmers (photo: Mike Lewis) (photo: Mike Lewis)