2024 SPEEDO ATLANTA CLASSIC DRIVEN BY JIM ELLIS CADILLAC
- Wednesday, May 15th – Saturday, May 18th 2024
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- How To Watch
- Day 1 Distance Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Live Results on Meet Mobile: “2024 Speedo Atlanta Classic”
A trioof National Records fell over the last 24 hours at the Speedo Atlanta Classic: one by Carles Coll Marti of Spain and one each from Yeziel Morales and Xavier Ruiz of Puerto Rico.
Swimming in the 100 breaststroke final on Thursday evening, Coll Marti finished 2nd in 1:00.39 behind Russian Record breaker Evgenii Somov (59.34) who swam an Olympic Qualifying Time of 58.72 in prelims.
Coll Marti’s swim broke a Spanish Record that stood for almost 15 years since Melquiades Alvarez posted a 1:00.45 at the Mediterranean Games in 2009.
Splits Comparison:
| Melquiades Alvarez | Carles Coll Marti | ||
| Old Record (2009) | New Record (2024) |
Former PB (Apr 2024)
|
|
| 50m | 28.53 | 28.60 | 28.37 |
| 100m | 31.92 | 31.79 | 32.31 |
| Total Time | 1:00.45 | 1:00.39 | 1:00.68 |
Closing speed has been the difference for Coll Marti this year as he has brought his personal best down from 1:01.28 (done in March 2023) to 2:00.45. He has swum five of the six best times in his career in the calendar year, which is usually a sign that a swimmer is about to get over a big hump.
While he still has work to do in order to hit the Olympic Qualifying Time of 59.49 (or the 200 breast time of 2:09.68 – about a second drop), Spain’s Olympic Trials are one of the last in the world, running from June 18-2022. He will likely go regardless as part of Spain’s qualified 400 medley relay.
Coll Marti trains in the United States at Virginia Tech under Spanish-born coach Sergio Lopez, who himself won an Olympic breaststroke medal in 1988 (bronze in the 200).
Yeziel Morales Miranda, who like Coll Marti is trained on the US mainland, broke the Puerto Rican record in the men’s 100 backstroke. The 28-year-old is currently training in Jeff Julian’s group with the Mission Viejo Nadadores in California.
Morales swam 1:58.30 in prelims of the 200 backstroke to qualify 1st ahead of US National Teamer Jack Aikins (1:59.82).
That swim for Morales breaks his own National Record of 1:58.71 done in the heats of the April 2023 Puerto Rico International Open.
Splits Comparison:
| Yeziel Morales | Yeziel Morales | |
| New Record (2024) |
Old Record (2023)
|
|
| 50m | 27.72 | — |
| 100m | 29.58 (57.30) | 58.30 |
| 150m | 30.20 | 30.79 |
| 200m | 30.80 (51.00) | 29.62 (50.41) |
| Total Time | 1:58.30 | 1:58.71 |
Morales was much more aggressive opening his race this time, and while he paid on the back-end, he still broke the record by four-tenths of a second. The Olympic Qualifying Time is 1:57.50, though Puerto Rico’s universality spot still appears to be up-for-grabs.
Also vying for that spot will be Xavier Ruiz, a high school senior who lives in Connecticut and is committed to North Carolina next fall. He represents the same Ridgefield Aquatic Club that produced Olympic medalist Kieran Smith, and the Connecticut Swimming LSC is billing him as an Olympic Trials qualifier – so he may be splitting his Olympic qualification effort.
Ruiz swam 1:00.95 in the 100 breast final on Thursday evening for 4th place which broke his own record of 1:01.15 done at Speedo Junior Nationals last summer.
Ruiz has broken this record several times in the last year, but it previously stood since 2008 when Daniel Velez broke it at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Morales, 28, has held the 200 back record since April 2016; prior to his first breaking (2:01.35), the record stood for 25 years.
Ruiz and Moralez’ swims are the 3rd and 4th Puerto Rican record broken in 2024; Ruiz previously set the men’s 50 breaststroke (28.14) record while Kristen Romano set the 100 fly record (59.80) in long course at the 2024 Puerto Rico International in April.
