Colombian swimmer Jorge Murillo tied the Pan Am Games record this morning en route to taking the top seed heading into finals and setting a new national record.
At the touch Murillo was a 2:11.92 to equal the mark former American swimmer Sean Mahoney swam at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara.
The previous Colombian national record was held by Murillo at 2:13.17. He set that back in 2014. His time today marked a huge drop totaling 1.25 seconds.
If Murillo wants to claim gold during tonight’s final, he’s going to have to do so against some very tough competitors. Both Thiago Simon of Brazil and Richard Funk of Canada weren’t too far off his time this morning.
Murillo will have the middle lane lane in finals.
The strength in Murillo’s race is his last 50. This morning he was out in 1:03.78, and came back in a 1:07.84. On the last 50 Murillo split a 33.69, much faster than anything Funk or Simon were able to throw down. Both were above 34-seconds with Simon splitting a 34.96.
Murillo’s best hope will be to try and take advantage of that, stick with them on the first part of the race, and chase them down towards the end.
Tonight’s finals start at 7 p.m local time. To see a full recap of day two prelims, click here.
