Scheffer Nears Personal Best 400 Free To Kick Off Jose Finkel

2021 JOSE FINKEL TROPHY (BRAZILIAN SWIMMING C’SHIPS)

• Tuesday, August 10th – Saturday, August 14th
• Bauru, Brazil
• SCM (25m)
• Primary Selection Meet For World Short Course Championships
• SwimSwam Preview
• Start List
• Results

Straight off of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, this year’s Jose Finkel Trophy kicked off today in Bauru, Brazil.

As we previewed, 23-year-old Fernando Scheffer is entered in this meet and the Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s 200m free delivered in the short course 400m free tonight.

Scheffer stopped the clock in a super swift 3:40.63, producing a 4free time just about one and a half seconds outside of his own personal best and South American Record of 3:39.10 from the 2018 FINA World Short Course Championships.

Splits for Scheffer tonight included 52.57/56.32/55.50/56.24 to crush the 3rd fastest time ever recorded by a Brazilian. Scheffer owns the top 2 performances in the aforementioned 3:39.10 and 3:39.40, both from 2018.

Scheffer’s result here domestically qualifies him for this year’s World Short Course Championships, easily dipping under the 3:44.09 threshold set by the Brazilian Swimming Federation (CBDA).

Scheffer wasn’t the only one to punch a qualifying time. Runner-up Guilherme Costa broke through with a mark of 3:42.16 while Breno Belt rounded out the top 3 in 3:42.71.

The women’s 100m fly saw Giovanna Diamond get it done for gold, hitting the wall in a time of 57.60. Opening in 27.83 and bringing it home in 29.77, Diamond represented the only swimmer to get under the 58.22 QT needed for Short Course Worlds.

Vini Lanza wreaked havoc on the men’s 100m fly field, getting to the wall first in a quick 50.42. Opening in 24.16 and closing in 26.26, Lanza out-touched Leonardo Santos who was just behind in 50.53.

Lanza’s personal best in this 1fly event is represented by the 49.86 logged at the International Swimming League (ISL) final last season.