South America: Brazil Hits Fastest Medley Relay Since Super-Suits

2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

They weren’t able to pull out another surprise medal, but the Brazilian men’s medley relay did come up with the nation’s fastest time since the end of the super-suit era, going 3:31.53 in the last event of the 2017 World Championships.

The Brazilian record is a 3:29.16 from the 2009 World Championships, a time that still stacks up as the fifth-fastest national record in the world for the event. Since the buoyant bodysuits were banned in late 2009, the fastest Brazil has ever been was a 3:32.68 from the Pan American Games in 2015.

But Brazil’s team bettered that mark in both heats and finals in Budapest. The finals swim saw solid splits out of all four legs. Guilherme Guido was 53.53, bettering his season-best in the backstroke and besting all three of his individual 100 backs (53.72, 53.71 and 53.66) from earlier this week. Joao Gomes was 58.80 on breaststroke, four tenths faster than his individual season-best. Flyer Henrique Martins (51.12) was three tenths faster than both of his individual swims this week (51.48, 51.47). The only one who was perhaps expected to be faster was anchor Marcelo Chierighiniwho still bested his individual time, though only by a few one-hundredths despite the aid of a flying relay start. (Chierighini was 48.46, 48.31 and 48.11 in his individuals and 48.08 on the medley relay).

In fact, at the halfway point, the team was right on Brazilian record pace. Guido bettered his own split from that super-suited relay (53.78) by two tenths and Gomes was two tenths off the breaststroke split. The fly split from the record-setting relay was very strong (a 50.48 from Gabriel Mangabeira) and the difference-maker was a 46.22 from Cesar Cielo, a time more ludicrous even than his 46.91 world record in the individual 100.

SOUTH AMERICAN-ONLY MEDALS TABLE – Final

RANK NATION GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
1 Brazil 1 4 0 5
Total 1 4 0 5

SOUTH AMERICAN RECORDS – DAY 8

  • Ecuadorian record – Tomas Peribonio – men’s 400 IM – 4:17.37

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About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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