Two South American Records Go Down on Day 1 of Jose Finkel

2018 Jose Finkel Trophy (Brazil’s Short Course National Championship Meet)

• August 24th-28th, 2018
• Esporte Clube Pinheiros, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• 25m (SCM) pool
• Schedule
• Psych Sheet
• Live Steam + Race Videos
• Results

A  pair of South American Records highlighted the first day of the 2018 Jose Finkel Trophy: Brazil’s Short Course National Championship meet and selection event for the 2018 World Short Course Championships.

The first came in the men’s 400 free, where Fernando Scheffer swam a 3:40.87 to break the South American Record of 3:41.67 set by Venezuela’s Cristian Quintero in 2014.

“I’m happy with the result I had here,” Scheffer said after his swim. It was very close to the (Short Course Worlds) qualifying time, which did not come, but the record shows that we are on the right track. It was a very complicated meet, I’ve raced in a series of competitions and it affects a little. Now it’s about focusing on the rest of the competition.”

That was one of the few South American records that previously wasn’t held by a Brazilian; the old National mark was a 3:41.65 set at this meet in 2016 by Leonardo de Deus. Brazilians now hold 81 of the 94 recognized South American records in the pool, including 42 out of 48 in short course meters.

Scheffer was joined under the South American and Brazilian Records by Breno Correia (the two are aged just 20 and 19, respectively), who finished 2nd in 3:41.65. Correia’s previous best was just 3:46.

Scheffer broke the long course South American Record in the long course 400 free at the Maria Lenk Trophy in April with a 3:49.06.

Joining him in the South American Record books on Friday evening  was Jennifer Conceicao, who swam a 1:05.69 to win the women’s 100 breaststroke. She broke the old  National and Continental Records of 1:05.89 done by Carolyne Mazzo just a month ago at a regional meet in Sao Paulo. Mazzo finished 2nd in 1:05.89, just outside of her own record, while Argentina’s Julia Sebastian was 3rd in 1:06.29 – just missing her own National Record by .03 seconds.

Conceicao’s swim was all-the-more surprising given that she just flew into the country on Thursday: the day before racing began.

“I arrived yesterday (Friday) to Brazil,”she said after the swim. “Everyone knows that my short pool fundamentals are not the best and earning a record makes me even happier. It is very gratifying to swim here and see that our work is going well.”

Nobody hit a Short Course Worlds qualifying time on day 1 of the meet, but besides the above two, another pair were very close. In the men’s 100 breaststroke, Felipe Lima missed the standard by just a few hundredths, winning in 57.12.

“I ended up getting it a little wrong with the stroke count, I slipped a bit and I think that was decisive. I am happy to win, in scoring these points for the Minas Tênis Clube, and, now, I will focus on the 50m breaststroke.”

The other was American-trained Vini Lanza in the 100 fly, who swam a 50.17 – his new personal best in short course meters, and again just a few hundredths from qualifying for Worlds.

If fewer than 20 swimmers make the time standards, which is likely as the indexes are in many cases faster than the South American Records, then swimmers will instead be chosen by ranking to fill the roster.

Other Day 1 Results:

• Teenager Maria Heitmann won the women’s 400 free in 4:06.92, beating Vivian Eichelberger by .81 seconds for the win. The two went out very similarly, but Heitmann held a small lead for most of the race before a big closing 75 meters gave her a visible gap over Eichelberger at the finish.
• Daiene Dias won the women’s 100 fly in 56.91, which was within 4-tenths of a second of the Brazilian and South American Records. Daynara Ferreira, holder of those records, was 3rd in just 57.58.
• Pinheiros won the women’s 400 free relay, the first relay of the meet, by half-a-second, thanks to a come-from-behind anchor split from Manuella Lyrio of 54.42. Their 3:36.43 was a new Meet Record.
• The Pinheiros men also won their relay, also in a new Meet Record of 3:06.82. This event wasn’t as close though, as they held a 5-second lead over Minas. Cesar Cielo split 46.92 on Pinheiros’ 2nd leg, while Pedro Spajari wass 46.21 on the 3rd. Spajari is a big-time relay swimmer, having anchored Brazil to gold (after an American DQ) at Pan Pacs in 46.94 – the only sub-47 split of the field.