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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, May 5. DURING the first evening of preliminary action, as the Maria Lenk Trophy meet is held under morning finals format, three South American records fell.
Tales Cerdeira and Henrique Barbosa traded the men's 200 breast South American record during preliminary heats. Barbosa, who entered the meet with the record at 2:11.30 during the French Long Course National Championships, lost the record to Cerdeira's 2:09.31. Barbosa, however, regained the record during his heat with a 2:08.65. Can the pair get after Kosuke Kitajima's world record of 2:07.51 during finals tomorrow morning?
Tatiane Sakemi claimed the other South American record with a time of 2:29.46 in the women's 200 breast heats. That effort erased the 2:32.93 set by Argentina's Augustina Giovanni back in March 2003.
In other news, Cesar Cielo carted a time of 22.11 in the 50 free preliminary round to finish second to Nicolas Santos' 21.91. However, Cielo battled a torn suit throughout the swim according to Brazilian Swimming reports.