South America: Fratus & Cielo Stack 50 Free Final

2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS – DAY 5, SOUTH AMERICAN RECAP

• Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
• Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Full Competition Schedule
• Meet Info
• Psych Sheets
• Omega Results
• Pick ’em Contest
• Event-by-Event Previews

We’ve already noted Brazil’s run of successes in the shortest events; that will continue tomorrow with two men in the final of the shortest event on the Worlds schedule.

The 50 free is an anything-can-happen type event, and both men have track records of World Champs success. Bruno Fratus was the bronze medalist in this event back in 2015 and has also won Pan Pac (2014) and South American Games (2014) titles in the 50 free. 30-year-old Cesar Cielo appears more in the twilight of his career, but is a former Olympic champion (2008) and three-time World champion (2009, 2011, 2013) in the 50 free.

Both are coming off of a silver medal performance in the 4×100 free relay earlier this week. Fratus is qualified tied for 3rd and Cielo snuck into 8th place in the semifinals.

The duo make up the last good medal chances for Brazil. Saturday will feature two more potential finalists (Guilherme Guido in the men’s 50 back and Etiene Medeiros in the women’s 50 free), but both would be relatively surprising medalists on Sunday night.

SOUTH AMERICAN-ONLY MEDALS TABLE

SOUTH AMERICAN RECORDS – DAY 5

• Guyanese record – Jamila Sanmoogan – women’s 50 fly – 30.02