Day 3 Latin America Report: de Deus, Gomes Through to Final, Lima Out

Joao Gomes Junior (men’s 50 breast) and Leonardo de Deus (men’s 200 fly) of Brazil made it through the semifinal heats in their respective events, while fellow countryman and medal favorite Felipe Lima failed to advance following a disappointing night swim.

Gomes, the third overall seed coming into the meet, qualified eighth in the morning session in 27.39, but bettered his time in finals, recording a lifetime best 27.05 for third place.  Lima’s story, meanwhile, was the opposite.  The 100 breast bronze medalist with great front-half speed dropped a 27.11 (also a personal best) in the morning to score the second seed for semifinals, but was almost four-tenths slower at night, touching in 27.48 to finish a heartbreaking ninth.

de Deus had a remarkable day, dropping time in both prelims and finals, moving all the way up to sixth place (1:56.52) from his initial 16th place seed (1:56.85) in the morning session, then cutting another half second off to finish seventh in semifinals (1:56.06).

Some other notes from the third day…

• Kristel Kobrich came up short in her quest to become the first Chilean Worlds medalist ever, adding seven seconds from her preliminary time (15:54.30, the South American record) to finish in sixth, touching in 16:01.94.
• Four national records from Latin American nations were set on Tuesday:
  • Miguel Ferreira of Venezuela broke the national record in the preliminary heats of the men’s 50 breaststroke, clocking a 27.78 to finish T-22nd.
    
  • Mauricio Fiol Villanueva of Peru smashed his own national record by nearly a full second in the men’s 200 fly.  His preliminary time of 1:58.29, placing him 19th, cleared his old standard of 1:59.02 from the Olympics last summer.
  • The oldest Ecuadorian national record went down this morning, courtesy of Esteban Jose Enderica Salgado, who finished in 2:01.46.  That time cleared the old standard of 2:01.70, set all the way back in 1976 by Jorge Delgado Panchana.
  • The only women’s record to fall on day three came from Brazil’s Manuella Lyrio, who cleared the suit-aided 1:59.78 set in 2009 by Monique Ferreira, which also served as the overall South American record.  Lyrio’s 1:59.52 placed her 22nd.
• Andreina Pinto, who has already set national records in the 400 and 1500 freestyles, will be looking to make it three-for-three tomorrow in the women’s 200 butterfly.
• Day four should bring us plenty of action and news from Latin America, particularly from the Brazilian squad, who have great chances at earning medals in multiple events:
  • Cesar Cielo isn’t competing in the open 100 freestyle, but don’t rule out Marcelo Chierighini from making the podium here.  Chierighini, the seventh seed overall, recorded a 47.56 relay split on the opening night of the meet, one of the fastest in the pool.
  • Etiene Medeiros is ranked fifth overall in the women’s 50 backstroke at 27.88, just 0.20 seconds away from the third seed.  Medeiros will also be looking to take down the Brazilian and South American record of 27.70, set by countrymate Fabiola Molina back in 2009.
  • Brazil’s strongest medal chance is probably the men’s 200 IM, where South American record holder/multi-time Worlds finalist Thiago Pereira and Henrique Rodrigues are seeded fourth and fifth overall.