Nicholas Santos Ties World #1 With 22.8 50 Fly Prelim At Maria Lenk

2017 MARIA LENK TROPHY

• Tuesday, May 2nd – Saturday, May 6th
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Prelims: 9:30 AM Rio time / 8:30 AM EST (Saturday at 10:30 / 9:30 AM)
• Finals: 5:30 PM Rio time / 4:30 PM EST (Fri/Sat 7 / 6 PM)
• Long Course (50m)
• Brazilian Selection Meet for 2017 World Championships
• Psych Sheet
• Meet Central / Results
• Live Results

37-year-old veteran Nicholas Santos moved into a tie for #1 in the world in the 50 fly at day 4 prelims of the Maria Lenk Trophy, posting a time of 22.80. That swim ties Great Britain’s Ben Proud for the top spot in the world for 2016-17. Santos previously sat 2nd in the rankings with his 23.01 done two weeks ago.

Santos came within four one-hundredths of the Brazilian and South American Record of 22.76, held by Cesar Cielo from the 2012 version of the meet. He improved his previous PB by one one-hundredth, a time he achieved in the semi-finals at the 2013 World Championships. He ended up finishing 4th in the final.

In that same final, Cielo won the World title, his second straight. After missing the Olympics last year, this was probably one of the events he was banking on making for the World Championships, being the two-time World Champion. But after such a quick morning session, that is now in doubt.

Along with Santos, Henrique Martins slipped under 23 with a 22.98, moving him into 3rd in the world. Guilherme Rosolen (23.43) and Gabriel Santos (23.60) took 3rd and 4th, with Cielo back in 5th at 23.67. Unless he unleashes a sub-23 swim tonight, the 50 free will be his last chance to qualify for Budapest.

Non-Olympic events won’t be used in Brazil’s top-8 FINA point ranking system for the World Championships, but swimmers can still qualify based on their performance in these events. The CBDA announced beyond the top-8 FINA point swims in Olympic events, the additional swimmers they will consider to add to the team will be focused more on the non-Olympic events.