December 14, 2014, Barcelona, Spain – The first session on this final day of Spanish Nationals showcased the depth of their top swimmers, as several walked away with additional hardware to add to their collection of medals earned earlier in the weekend.
In the women’s 100m freestyle, Melani Costa Schmid claimed the victory in a winning time of 54.20, touching first over the only other swimmer under 55 in the race, Marta Gonzalez (54.39). This is Costa Schmid’s third medal of the competition, having already snagged gold in the women’s 200m freestyle and a silver in the 400m freestyle earlier in the meet.
Today’s 100m breaststroke winner for the women was another familiar name from these championships, as Jessica Vall tore up the competition in her winning time of 1:06.42. That’s not too far off of Mireia Belmonte’s meet record mark of 1:06.12 set back in 2009. Vall already claimed one meet record (tie) while winning gold in the 200m breaststroke yesterday, and had earned the win in the 50m breaststroke race on the first day of competition.. This breaststroke sweep is becoming standard operating procedure for Vall, as she won the 50m, 100m, 200m distances at the long course Spanish Nats over the Summer.
Duane Da Rocha Marce took home the 100m backstroke title (58.77) to go along with her 200m backstroke win from yesterday. Marce certainly has the ability to produce faster times, as seen in Doha where she clocked a 57.80 to land her 13th after heats; however, she did not need to go full throttle in today’s race, as she was the only woman in the field to dip under the 1:00 mark.
The men’s events kicked off with the 800m freestyle, where Marc Sanchez earned the win in 7:40.07. Sanchez has been quite the adversary in the freestyle events this competition, having claimed a silver in the men’s 200m and 400m freestyles, as well as winning gold in the 1500m distance, topping the field by almost a full 20 seconds.
Miguel Ortiz, who has just had remarkable meet already, surged to the front of the men’s 100m freestyle race, winning in a time of 47.64, which is a personal best for the Club Wolverine Elite-based swimmer. Ortiz then quickly turned around and won the men’s 100m backstroke in a time of 51.33, a time that would have ranked him 13th in Doha after heats, for perspective. Ortiz should just set up camp on the medal stand, as he has been 5-for-5 now in individual medal GOLDS – 50/100m freestyle, 50/100m backstroke, 100m individual medley. Look for Ortiz to add to this total in the later session today, as he will be competing in the 50m butterfly, where he is the second seed by just .01.
Melquaides Alvarez won the 100m breaststroke today in 1:00.19, adding to his 200m breast victory from yesterday.
