(Race Video) Cesar Cielo Misses Home Olympics; Bruno Fratus, Italo Duarte Claim 50 Free Spots

Photo Courtesy: Peter H.Bick

In one of the most stunning developments of Olympic qualifying this year is that Brazilian-swimming standard bearer Cesar Cielo will not be competing in his home Olympics after taking third in the men’s 50-meter free at the 2016 Maria Lenk Trophy.

Bruno Fratus entered today with a 21.50 from the Brazil Open in December as the fastest 50 freestyler in Brazil. That time held up today as he won in 21.74 (the fifth-best in the world this year). Italo Duarte, meanwhile, claimed the second Olympic roster spot with a time of 21.82 for sixth in the world.

Cielo, meanwhile, wound up third in 21.91, good for eighth in the world, but not good enough to make the squad. Also, since he scratched the 100 free and a chance at the 400 free relay, Cielo put all his hope into the 50 free and lost out.

Cielo is Brazil’s only swimming gold medalist, and now he’s going to miss out on the chance to swim at a home Olympics.

Cielo: "desculpa pai, desculpa mãe, mas hoje não deu" #tml2016 #trnatacao pic.twitter.com/rNovnQ9WgQ

— Coach Alex Pussieldi (@alexpussieldi) April 20, 2016

Marcelo Chierighini (22.17), Santo Condorelli (22.21), Andrii Govorov (22.21), Gabriel Santos (22.37) and Alan Vitoria (22.54) also swam in the finale.

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Dylan Powell

7 years ago

Oh, that’s gotta be so devasting….. :'( :'( :'( And it’s gonna be a home Olympics as well… But at least Cesar can still say he’s the only human being in history to swim 50 meters in under 21 seconds 🙂