2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 11th – February 18th
- Doha, Qatar
- LCM (50m)
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- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
After an impressive showing on the opening night in the 400 free, Guilherme Costa continued to show his strong form on Day 2 of the 2024 World Championships in Doha, reeling off a sizeable lifetime best to crack the final of the men’s 200 freestyle.
Costa, primarily known for his distance accolades, chopped eight-tenths off his personal best time in the semis of the 200 free to qualify 7th overall into the final, using an impressive back half that included the second-fastest closing 50 in the field.
The Brazilian native clocked 1:46.06, closing in a blistering 26.82 to dismantle his previous best time of 1:46.85, set at the 2023 Jose Finkel Trophy in late October.
The performance perhaps indicates a slight shift of focus for the 25-year-old, who has not raced the 200 free on the major international stage but is showing he can be competitive at the highest level. We saw a glimpse of it at the 2023 World Championships, where he split 1:46.05 on Brazil’s 800 free relay, and now he’s on the precipice of joining the sub-1:46 club with a shot at a top-five finish in the final.
After coming into the meet ranked #7 all-time among Brazilian men in the 200 free, Costa leapfrogs five swimmers into the #2 spot.
All-Time Brazilian Performers, Men’s 200 Freestyle (LCM)
- Fernando Scheffer, 1:44.66 – 2021 Olympic Games
- Guilherme Costa, 1:46.06 – 2024 World Championships
- Joao de Lucca, 1:46.42 – 2015 Pan Am Games
- Thiago Pereira, 1:46.57 – 2009 World Championships
- Breno Correia, 1:46.65 – 2019 Brazilian Nationals
- Murilo Sartori, 1:46.70 – 2023 World Championships
- Luiz Altamir Melo, 1:46.73 – 2019 Brazilian Nationals
- Nicolas Oliveira, 1:46.90 – 2009 Brazilian Nationals
- Vinicius Assuncao, 1:47.22 – 2022 Brazilian Nationals
- Rodrigo Castro, 1:47.87 – 2008 Olympic Games
After winning bronze in the 400 free at the 2022 World Championships, setting a new South American Record of 3:43.31, Costa narrowly missed the podium last year in Fukuoka, placing 4th in the 400 free (3:43.58) and 7th in the 800 free (7:45.80 in prelims).
On Sunday, he was 4th once again in the 400 free, clocking 3:44.22.
The Brazil men’s 800 free relay fell to 8th at the 2023 World Championships after nearing the podium with a 4th-place showing in 2022. With Costa’s newfound speed, perhaps the nation’s medal prospects will be rekindled in time for the Paris Olympics.
There’s still work to do, as last year, only South American Record holder Fernando Scheffer (1:46.28), Murilo Sartori (1:46.70) and Costa broke 1:47, but the potential is there.
That potential will be put to the test in Doha in a few days’ time, as Costa, Scheffer, Breno Correia and Eduardo Oliveira will vie for a spot on the podium in the 800 free relay.
Scheffer was in the field on Monday but missed the semi-finals by 12 one-hundredths, clocking 1:47.42 to place 18th overall.
Not for nothing, Costa’s new PB of 1:46.06 also puts him under the Olympic ‘A’ cut of 1:46.26.
NA FINAL E COM ÍNDICE OLÍMPICO!
Espetacular Guilherme Costa está na final dos 200m livre. Não só isso. Ele faz índice olímpico com 1:46.06!
Amanhã tem Cachorrão na busca por medalha🐶
📸 @satirosodre #Natacao #YakultBrasil #FluidraBrasil #SpeedoMSport #Estacio #AQUADoha2024 pic.twitter.com/VBVARDDYvW
— CBDA (@CBDAoficial) February 12, 2024
After tomorrow’s 200 free final, Costa has remaining entries in the 800 and 1500 free.
National/Continental Records Through Day 2:
- Brazil
- Maria Fernanda Costa: 400 free 4:02.89, Brazilian and South American
And now Costa is a “finalist” in 6 different World Championship events: bronze in the 400m, 5th in the 800m and in the Open Water Team, 6th in the 1500m, 8th in the 4x200m and finalist in the 200m. Brazil is incredibly unlucky when it comes to reaching the 200m final at World Championships, only Gustavo Borges has come 8th once. We have already had several great swimmers in this distance and they all failed at the World Championships, like Nicolas Oliveira, João de Lucca, and even Fernando Scheffer, who lost his performance absurdly after his Olympic medal.