The squad from Flamengo came into the final day of the 2012 Jose Finkel Trophy, Brazil’s short course National Championship meet, with a small lead, and despite a valiant effort on Saturday evening, their lack of distance swimmers bit them.
Flamengo started out the session very well. In the women’s 100 backstroke, although National Record holder Fabiola Molina took the win for Minas in 58.88, Flamengo won the event thanks to a runner-up finish from Australian mercenary Kelly Stubbins (59.67) and a third-place result from Etiene de Medeiros (59.88).
In the men’s 100 backstroke, neither team had much of a presence, but Leonardo de Deus was 3rd in 52.43 for 25 big points.
That men’s 100 back was dominated by the squad from Pinheiros, as they moved into third with 5 finalists in the race. That includes a very good 50.57 win from Guilherme Guido, giving him a 50-100 backstroke double.
Flamengo again put even more space between themselves and Minas after the 50 butterflies. In the men’s race, there was a bit of an upset as Nicholas dos Santos (22.22) knocked off Cesar Cielo (22.40), the defending long course World Champion in the event. After Cielo has been so phenomenal at this meet, I think that most expected him to take the win here, but Dos Santos is lethal in the event as well. He’s actually the National Record holder, and missed that time by just .05 seconds. The mark still is the 14th best swim of all time.
Overall, though, the event was a win-win for Flamengo: both swimmers represent the red and black.
In the women’s 50 fly, Inge Dekker made some back after a lackluster 100 free on Friday by taking a narrow win over Australia’s Marieke Guehrer. Dekker’ s 25.65 was a new Meet Record, picking up significant bonus points. But right behind her, Guehrer touched in 25.72 for 2nd for Flamengo, and Daynara de Paula was 3rd in 26.00, also for Flamengo, effectively negating the victory.
But then, in an otherwise ho-hum men’s 800 free, the last individual event of the meet, Minas made their big move. They took the 2nd-through-5th spots, while Flamengo failed to score a single point, allowing Minas to pull within 25 points.
That was all the closer they needed to be; their women’s relay cleared the National Record for massive relay record bonus points, and when Flamengo’s men failed to match that (their records are much, much tougher), the final result was set in stone. With roughly 50% more women’s points than their rivals, Minas grabbed a narrow victory.
1) Minas Tênis – 2333,5
2) Flamengo – 2314,5
3) Corinthians – 1843
4) Pinheiros – 1812 pontos.
The pool was really bad: I don’t know how CBDA and its president (Mr. Coaracy Nunes) expect to boost swimming when they run a meet in such terrible conditions. The blocks were awful, the pool was too shallow, there was no wave-reduction mechanism..the water was so choppy, I kept telling they were swimming Open Water (not pool).
Next step for Nicholas dos Santos is to set the WR on the 50 fly!
I saw the meeting live on cable tv.The waves are high in the pool.
Its funny when Cielo is tired, his start sucks big time.He was a way behind Dos Santos at start, very different than his 50 free start.
Dos Santos 22.22 is a bit impressive because his South American record(22.16) was suit aided, and he was a guy which suits helped a lot.
I think if Cielo drops 100free, he can take 50 fly and free WR.But in fly he MUST learn how to do the turn with two hands.
Femke is a beast in relay, and was awarded the MVP in female side with 320 points for her team(Minas Tenis).
Pereira was MVP for Corinthians with 294points.