Young Talents Impress at Spanish Meet in Mallorca

XII Cto. España de Natación por Federaciones Autonomicas

  • Jan. 19-21, 2024
  • Palma de Mallorca
  • LCM (50 meters)

Several up-and-coming international swimmers showed glimpses of their potential at a Spanish meet in Mallorca earlier this month.

A pair of Frenchmen, 17-year-old Rafael Fente Damers and 15-year-old Luca Hoek Le Guenedal, faced off for an exciting 100-meter freestyle showdown. Fente Damers reached the wall in 50.13, about half a second ahead of Hoek Le Guenedal’s personal-best 50.66.

Fente Damers has been as fast as 49.63, which is only about a second shy of the Spanish national record (48.41). For reference, his lifetime best would rank 37th in the U.S. boys’ 17-18 national age group (NAG) rankings. Fente Damers also triumphed in the 50 free (23.00), within a tenth of his personal-best 22.92 from last July.

Pablo Nevado Ruiz swept the 200 free (1:51.56) and 400 free (3:58.59), both in best times. The 17-year-old knocked more than a second off his best 200 free time and shaved almost two seconds off his best 400 free time.

Cristobal Vargas Trujillo cruised to victory in the 1500 free with a winning time of 15:46.19. The 16-year-old sliced more than 15 seconds off his previous-best 16:01.69 from last March.

Nil Cadevall Micolau captured the 200 IM crown in 2:04.12, not far off his personal-best 2:03.76 from European Juniors last July. He placed 8th in the 100 breast (1:02.24) at World Juniors last September.

University of Pacific commit Javier Lopez Guillen took the 100 fly title in 54.25, faster than his 16th-place finish from World Juniors (54.40).

Women’s Recap

Two-time World Juniors finalist Jimena Ruiz Sanchez swept the 100 breast (1:08.51) and 200 breast (2:31.62), close to her lifetime bests of 1:07.25 and 2:30.88, respectively. Her impressive resume last year also included placing 4th in the 100 breast (1:08.59) and 5th in the 50 breast (31.56) at European Juniors.

Sara Costa de Vicente posted a new personal best in the 50 back (29.20), taking almost half a second off her previous-best 29.66 from last month’s Rotterdam Qualification Meet. She also hit a new lifetime best in the 100 back (1:02.35), shaving more than half a second off her previous-best 1:02.89 from last month.

Noa Martin Argente swept the 400 free (4:17.53) and 800 free (8:47.70), both in personal-best times. She dropped more than four seconds in the 800 free and just a few tenths in the 400.

The 200 free came down to the wire as Irene Pera Villalain (2:03.34) edged Julia Munoz Armengou (2:03.37). Villalain shaved more than two seconds off her previous best from last March while Armengou just missed her personal-best 2:02.79 from last March.

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swimswammer
9 months ago

First!

About Riley Overend

Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …

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