Maria Lenk Trophy: Around Sam Short Meet Record, Brazil Qualifies 4 400 Freestylers for Worlds
A guest appearance by Australian World Champion Sam Short was a harbinger for fast distance swimming on Monday at the opening day of the Maria Lenk Trophy in Brazil.
Short won the men’s 400 freestyle win a meet record, and two Brazilian men and two women joined him in besting the automatic qualifying time for the World Championships in Singapore this summer.
On the women’s side, Maria Fernanda Costa bested her Unisanta teammate Gabrielle Roncatto by less than a quarter second. Costa’s time of 4:06.30 got her to the wall first, with Roncatto second in 4:06.53. Both were comfortably under the Worlds A standard of 4:10.23. Aline Rodrigues was third in 4:11.78.
Short led the men’s race start to finish. He went 3:47.84 in prelims, then 3:44.16 to set the meet mark in finals. But the 2023 World Champion had company.
Guilherme Costa, who finished a spot behind Short in the Paris Olympic final in fifth and holds the national record, got to Worlds with a time of 3:45.35. Stephan Steverink followed in 3:47.21, less than a second under the A cut for the Flamengo swimmer in home waters. Fourth was Eduardo Oliveira de Moraes in 3:48.83.
Those were the only auto qualifiers for Worlds on the first day of six at Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, in Rio de Janeiro for this year’s Maria Lenk Trophy. But the rest of the program included fast times and intriguing races.
Kayky Mota was just .04 off the A cut in the men’s 100 fly, dropping matching times of 51.81 in prelims and finals. In the final, he edged out fellow Tennessee Volunteer Gui Caribe by .05 seconds. Lucio Paula, another future Vol, was second in 52.52.
Caribe split 47.63 in the men’s 400 free relay for Unisanta, a good sign of his form in that event.
Stephanie Balduccini won the women’s 100 fly in 58.94, just outside the auto cut of 58.33. She was one of three women to break a minute, followed by Beatriz Bezerra in 59.64 and Gabi Albiero in 59.92. Balduccini later split 54.88 off the front of the Unisanta 400 free relay, which is six tenths off the auto cut in that event.
Both 100 breaststroke winners were well shy of the Worlds time standards. Caio Pumputis won the men’s race in 1:01.13, pulling out an engrossing race in which the top six were separated by just eight tenths. Kaua Carvalho, just 17, was second in 1:01.38, .03 ahead of Joao Vieira Garcia. Gabrielle Silva won the women’s 100 breast in 1:08.62.