The Peruvian Swimming Federation announced via a press release that they have nominated McKenna DeBever and Joaquín Vargas to represent the country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for swimming.
DeBever will race the women’s 200 IM and Vargas will swim the men’s 400 freestyle. The duo was selected based on recent results in their respective events: a 2:15.26 200 IM from DeBever at the 2021 Pro Swim Series stop in Indianapolis and a 3:52.18 from Vargas in the 400 free at the 2021 UANA Qualifier in Florida.
Both of those swims were just under the Olympic Selection Time (OST), also known as FINA B standards of 2:16.54 and 3:53.58, and hovered a few seconds over the respective FINA A cuts of 2:12.56 and 3:46.78. Along with earning themselves a spot on the Olympic roster, both swims from DeBever and Vargas were new Peruvian national records as well.
DeBever swam collegiately for Auburn from 2014-2016 and then made the move to Texas A&M University for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons. She has also represented Peru fairly consistently over the past few years, having raced the 200 IM at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships, the 2018 World Short Course Championships, and the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships. DeBever placed 28th in 2017 with a 2:16.52, 25th in 2019 with a 2:16.97, 20th at Short Course World Championships in 2018 with a 2:13.46. Her highest placement came at 2018 Pan Pacs where she made it to the A final and notched 7th place overall with a 2:18.38.
Vargas on the other hand just recently announced his commitment to the University of Tennessee. Vargas has also been active on the international scene for Peru, swimming at the 2019 Pan American Games as well as the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships. At Pan Pacs, Vargas finished 11th in the 200 (1:52.32), 400 (3:59.09), and 800 (8:24.63) freestyle at Pan Ams and placed 28th in the 200 free (1:52.92), 27th in the 400 free (3:57.88) at World Juniors.
This will be both DeBever and Vargas’ first Olympic Games. DeBever shared her reaction to the announcement via Instagram, as did Texas A&M coach Jason Calanog:
