2023 SPANISH OPEN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 29 – Sunday, April 2
- Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- Long Course Meters
- Results
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
The third day of the 2023 Spanish Open was thin on events but was still the most action-packed day of the meet so far. Despite the only events of the day being the 200 back, the 100 free, the men’s 800 free, and women’s 1500 free, three new swimmers managed to punch their tickets to Fukuoko for the World Championships this summer, and another, Carlos Garach, added another event to his lineup.
The women’s 1500 free was an incredible showing, seeing three swimmer come in under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 16:29.57. Leading the way was Paula Otero, who sped to a new lifetime best of 16:16.61, clearing the FINA ‘A’ cut of 16:29.57 by 13 seconds. Otero got out to the early lead, opening up a four-second lead on the field on the first 400 meters. She would continue to expand that lead through the middle of the race and ended up finishing first by a little over four seconds.
Towards the end of the race, Jimena Perez started closing the gap on Otero. The gap between Otero and Perez was at its biggest at the 850m turn, where Otero flipped 5.65 seconds ahead of Perez. Over the course of the final 650 meters, Perez gradually chipped at that lead, and ended up finishing second in 16:20.96, 4.35 seconds behind Otero. Perez’s personal best in the event sits at 16:08.70, a time which she swam in December of 2020.
Coming in third was Maria de Valdes, who clocked a 16:26.62. De Valdes was off her personal best of 16:14.77, which she swam at the 2021 European Championships in Budapest. Notably, de Valdes was under the FINA ‘A’ cut as well, but since she was the third-place finisher in the event, she won’t be on Spain’s World Champs team as they’ve already hit their two-athlete limit in the event. Still, having three swimmers under the FINA ‘A’ cut in the event is a huge accomplishment for Spanish swimming.
The men’s 800 free saw Carlos Garach back up his 1500 free victory from the first day of the meet. On the first day of the meet, Garach blasted a new Spanish Record of 14:57.23 in the men’s 1500 free, clearing the FINA ‘A’ standard and punching his ticket to Fukuoka. On day three of the meet, Garach became the first swimmer to add a second event to their World Champs lineup, winning the men’s 800 free in 7:52.24. He dipped under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 7:53.11, also cracking the Championship Record of 7:52.55 in the process.
Garach posted a slight negative split in the race as well, going 3:56.23 on the first 400m then coming home in 3:55.98.
The women’s 200 back saw a thrilling race between Spain’s Africa Zamorano and Portugal’s Camila Rebelo. Zamorano got out to the early lead, splitting 1:03.60 on the first 100, 0.79 seconds ahead of Rebelo (1:04.39). The third 50 was huge for Rebelo, where she out-split 33.06 to Zamorano’s 33.67, which closed the gap to just 0.18 seconds at the 150m turn. Rebelo once again out-split Zamorano on the final 50 and ended up getting her hand on the wall first in 2:09.84, leading Zamorano (2:09.97) by 0.13 seconds. Both Rebelo and Zamorano were well under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 2:11.08, which led to Zamorano becoming the four swimmer of the session to qualify for Spain’s World Champs team in an event.
Rebelo’s performance also marked a new Portuguese Record in the event, which you can read more about here.
DAY 3 EVENT WINNERS
- Men’s 800 free – Carlos Garach – 7:52.24
- Women’s 1500 free – Paula Otero – 16:16.61
- Men’s 200 back – Diego Mira – 1:59.96
- Women’s 200 back – Camila Rebelo – 2:09.84
- Men’s 100 free – Luis Dominguez – 49.01
- Women’s 100 free – Valentine Dumont – 55.33
PROJECTED SPANISH ROSTER FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Women
- Carmen Weiler – 100 back
- Ángela Martinez – 800 free
- Alba Vazquez – 400 IM
- Emma Carrasco – 400 IM
- Paula Otero – 1500 free
- Jimena Perez – 1500 free
- Africa Zamorano – 200 back
Men
- Carlos Garach – 1500 free, 800 free
