Cesar Cielo Rocks 21.5 in 50 Free Relay Leadoff

Yesterday morning at the 2011 Brazilian Open/Senior Winter Championships, Cesar Cielo scratched the 50 free final (he’s no much of a morning person, and was said to be too tired). Today, he had no such issues with his 50 meter free to lead off the Flamengo 4×50 free relay.

Cielo touched in 21.57 en route to a Flamengo win en route to a 1:28.71 win for his team. That time is the 2nd-fastest done by anyone in the world this year (and also his 2nd-fastest). That’s the 9th-time he’s been under 22-seconds this season, and it’s a shame that he didn’t get a chance to swim the 50 free final, because that could have pushed him to an even 10.

With the previous 9 swims under 22, it was easy to pick him as the winner. Now having gone a 21.5 twice, one wonders if the braggadocio of going sub-21, in textile, could have some actual foundation.

In the men’s 100 breast, defending 50 meter World Champion Felipe Franca de Silva touched in 59.87 in Friday evening’s prelim, but was DQ’ed for an illegal kick headed into his turn. After the controversy following his finish in Shanghai, and now this disqualification, he (and everyone else) are going to have to be very careful about the dolphin kick headed into the walls in London, because the officials are now going to be hyper-aware of it.

In Silva’s absence, Joao Gomes won in 1:00.40, folowed by Henrique Barbosa in 1:01.15. Barbosa was a bit faster in prelims, but I expected her to be closer to a 1:00-low after his great 200 swim from the first round of events.

Full meet results available here.