2023 PORTUGAL OPEN
- Thursday, March 30th – Sunday, April 2nd
- Funchal, Portugal
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships & Paris 2024 Qualifier
- Live Streaming
- Live Results
The 2023 Portugal Open kicked off yesterday from Funchal with swimmers vying not only for World Championships qualification but also for Paris 2024 roster consideration.
The four-day affair started with a bang in the men’s 50m freestyle, where the heats of the event wound up being faster than the evening finals.
Competing in the morning, 18-year-old Diogo Ribeiro nailed a new national record en route to capturing the top seed. The teen fired off a new lifetime best of 21.87 to overtake the previous Portuguese standard of 21.90 Miguel Nascimento put on the books last year.
Ribeiro’s performance represented just the second time he’s been under the 22-second threshold. Entering this competition, his best-ever 50m free time was marked by the 21.92 he nailed en route to becoming the 2022 World Junior champion in the event.
Ribeiro’s 21.87 new national record qualifies him for both the World Championships in Fukuoka as well as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The World Aquatics ‘A’ cut for the former sits at 22.12 while the Olympic Qualification Time for the latter is 21.96.
Also making the grade for Fukuoka was the former national record holder Nascimento, who put up a time of 21.99 to claim the 3rd seed behind Ribeiro, while visiting Ukrainian swimmer Andrii Govorov followed suit with a 2nd-seeded 21.98 to also qualify for the World Championships.
Come the final, Nascimento sliced off another .02 to take the meet title in 21.97 while Ribeiro settled for silver in 22.02. Govorov ultimately rounded out the top 3 in a mark of 22.09. The 4th place finisher, Miguel Marques hit 22.44 to qualify for the inaugural LEN U23 Championships.
With his morning swim, Ribeiro now ranks #2 in the world on the season. He ties Dutchman Kenzo Simons, American Michael Andrew and Brazilian Guilherme Caribe who all sit behind world leader Josh Liendo of Canada. Liendo owns the top time in 21.80 from this week’s Canadian Trials.
2022-2023 LCM Men 50 Free
McEvoy
21.06
| 2 | Ryan Held | USA | 21.50 | 07/01 |
| 3 | Florent Manaudou | FRA | 21.56 | 06/15 |
| 4 | Jack Alexy | USA | 21.57 | 07/29 |
| 5 | Benjamin Proud | GBR | 21.58 | 07/29 |
Additional Notes
- Rafaela Azevedo posted a time of 28.56 to take the women’s 50m backstroke, earning U23 Championships qualification in the process.
- Ana Monteiro topped the women’s 200m fly podium in a time of 2:10.87 while runner-up Ines Henriques produced a mark of 2:12.13 as the runner-up. Henriques’ time dipped under the U23 Championships QT.
- The men’s 200m fly saw Kevins Apseniece get it done for gold in 1:59.68 to earn U23 qualification.
- Ana Rodrigues registered a new national record in the women’s 50m free, hitting 25.25. That knocked .01 off of her own previous NR of 25.56 she logged in 2019.
Having watched Diogo’s improvements from last years juniors. He will be ready for Paris?
Just went 48,01 NR on prelims 22,73 25,28
What is it with a 21.87 50 free time? There’s 4 people with than time this year
And he just swam a 48.01 100m freestyle in the heats. In less than a year, the Portuguese National Record may go from a 49 to a 47.
And he has just gone 47.98 in the final. Still has 50 and 100 fly in the next 2 days
Livestreaming at https://www.natacao.tv/direto/2/9/354/jogos-santa-casa-open-de-portugal-cn-de-juvenis-e-absolutos/