Costa Breaks South American 1500 Free Record At Julio DeLamare Day 1

Guilherme Costa became the first South American man under 15 minutes in the 1500 long course meter free, smashing to a 14:59.01 at Brazil’s Julio DeLamare Trophy.

That’s the fourth time this year Costa has broken the same record, but the first time he’s taken it into the 14-minute range. The record had stood at 15:10.24 since 2013 before Ecuador’s Esteban Enderica lowered it to 15:08.57 in 2016. Since then, Costa has gone 15:05, 15:02, 15:00 and now 14:59 in lowering and re-lowering his own record.

Costa’s splitting was remarkable, with almost all of his 100 splits falling in the 1:00.3-1:00.5 range and his middle 11 splits sitting between 1:00.0 and 1:00.7. He closed in 57.4 to cap off the win.

World Champs silver medalist Nicholas Santos put up a big win in the 50 fly, going 22.95 for the fastest time in the world this season. That’s only a tenth or so off his time from last summer’s World Championships.

The women’s race went to Daiene Dias in 26.57. In the 200 back, Leonardo de Deus imposed his will, going 1:59.31 to knock off Gabriel Fantoni. Meanwhile Fernanda Goeij won the event for women in 2:14.53.

The women’s distance event of the day went to Viviane Jungblut in 8:38.44. Of note behind her: the ageless Poliana Okimoto was third in 8:49.17. The open water star continues to compete at the age of 34 and was just a half-second out of silver, which went to Aline Rodrigues at 8:48.79.