Pinto Nearly Clocks Lifetime Best In 200 Fly At South American C’ships

XLIII CAMPEONATO SUDAMERICANO DE NATACIÓN

25-year-old Etiene Medeiros doubled up on her 100m backstroke win from day 1 with a victory in the women’s 50m freestyle event tonight. The Brazilian scored a time of 24.80 to represent the only swimmer of the field to dip beneath the 25-second threshold. Her time now ties Germany’s Dorethea Brandt for the 13th-fastest in the event in the world this season.

Although Medeiros clocked a new meet record with her performance, it fell shy of the Olympic automatic-qualifying mark of 25.28. Graciele Hermann touched in 25.37 to make it a 1-2 Brazilian finish.

Argentine 200 freestyle winner Federico Grabich was back at it in the splash n’ dash tonight, taking the event in a time of 22.55. Just .03 of a second behind was teammate Guido Buscaglia who registered a time of 22.58 for silver, followed by Venezuelan swimmer Cristian Quintero who took bronze in 22.77. All men fell short of the FINA A cut of 22.27 and came nowhere near the meet record of 21.85 held by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo since 2012.

200m freestyle runner-up and 400m freestyle winner Andreina Pinto (Venezuela) struck gold again, taking the women’s 200m butterfly in a time of 2:09.92. She was the only sub-2:10 swimmer of the field and came within .6 of a second of the Olympic automatic qualifying time of 2:09.33. For perspective, Pinto holds her nation’s record in the event in a time of 2:09.51 set at last summer’s Pan American Games, so the 25-year-old was less than .2 of a second away from her career-best.

Following up on his 400m freestyle victory from yesterday, 30-year-old Luis Altamir Melo took the men’s 200m butterfly tonight in a time of 1:58.39, clocking a new meet record in the process. Melo’s outing was short of the FINA A cut of 1:56.97, but was enough to hold off Venezuela’s Marcos Lavado, who finished exactly a second behind in 1:59.39.

Additional Winners:

  • Cecilia Biagioli (ARG) earned the gold in the women’s 1500m freestyle event, at age 31.
  • 26-year-old Jose Enderica Salgado scored the top prize in the men’s 800m freestyle, touching in 7:58.46.
  • Brazil won the mixed 400m freestyle relay in a mark of 3:30.98.

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About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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