Not Done Yet: Cielo Puts Himself in Position for Olympics After Prelim

2016 MARIA LENK TROPHY OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

The report of the demise of World Record holder Cesar Cielo may have been an exaggeration, or at least premature. After punting on finals of the men’s 100 free, Cielo put all of his eggs in the basket of the 50, and after prelims, he’s positioned himself to qualify for the Brazilian Olympic Team in that event.

Cielo was the top qualifier after prelims of the event in 21.99. With Brazil’s two-part qualifying system, that ranks him 2nd in the chase for the Olympics behind Bruno Fratus’ 21.50 that he swam at the Open Championships in December.

Cielo’s two biggest competitions for that spot will flank him in the final. Italo Duarte (22.16) qualified 2nd and 100 free champion Marcelo Chierighini (22.22) qualified tied-for-3rd. Duarte was in that second position coming into the meet, but at a minimum will need to beat Cielo’s prelims 21.99 to qualify for the team (because prelims times are allowed for qualification rankings).

Fratus, meanwhile, remains confident in his position, and qualified 6th into the final in 22.35 – behind a pair of internationals Andrey Govorov and Santo Condorelli, who both swam 22.2s.

 

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Swimmer Thieroff
8 years ago

Or naw…

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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