Brazil Open Concludes With Seven New ‘A’ Cuts

Psych Sheet and Live Results
Day 1 Prelims/ Day 1 Finals
Day 2 Prelims/ Day 2 Finals
Day 2 Prelims/ Day 2 Finals
Day 4 Prelims

The final session of the Brazil Open saw seven new FINA “A” cuts as well as a Brazilian record in the women’s 400 free. Upon conclusion of this session, Brazilian swimmers are down to a single meet to qualify for the Rio Olympic team. Additional A cuts and rankings at the Maria Lenk Trophy in April will help determine the final roster.

50 Free

The 50 free women’s final saw Etiene Medeiros improve on her morning swim, dropping two tenths to crank out a 24.71. Medeiros touched only two more tenths behind her best time established at the Pan American Games this summer. Another Olympic A standard was achieved by the silver medalist as well, with Graciele Herrmann putting her hand on the wall in 24.92. Herrmann finished under the qualifying time of 25.28 and, unless somebody swims faster at the Maria Lenk Trophy in April, may have just booked herself a trip to Rio.

Bruno Fratus continued to light up the pool in the men’s event, busting out a 21.50 to improve on his 21.66 from this morning. He now holds the top time in the world, passing up Nathan Adrian’s 21.56 from a month ago. Behind him, Italo Manzine Duarte and Matheus Santana both clocked Olympic A times, finishing in 22.08 and 22.17. Halfway through the qualifying process, Fratus and Duarte currently sit at the top of the roster for the Rio selection.

100 Breast

Although two women finished under the 1:10 barrier in finals, nobody was able to achieve the Olympic A standard of 1:07.85, with Jhennifer A Da Conceicao grabbing the win in 1:09.35. Ana Carla Carvalho followed from lane five to pick up the silver in 1:09.97.

The men’s event saw Felipe Franca within a tenth of his morning race, touching for gold in 59.62. Although four people finished under the A standard, it was Joao Gomes Jr who became the second fastest swimmer of the meet, touching second in 1:00.00. Pending sub-1:00 results from the Maria Lenk meet, Franca and Gomes are currently in position to represent Brazil at home next year. Pedro Cardona and Felipe Lima followed the pair in 1:00.14 and 1:00.29.

200 Fly

Joanna Maranhao retained her top seed to win the event in an Olympic B time of 2:11.95, falling over two and a half seconds short of the A standard. Gabriela Rocha and Maria Pessanha claimed silver and bronze in 2:14.59 and 2:15.20.

Leonardo de Deus dropped nearly three seconds from his morning swim to take the win from lane three in 1:56.14, becoming the sole Brazilian to swim under the qualifying standard of 1:56.97 at this meet. Kaio Almeida snagged the runner-up spot in 1:57.67, followed by Lucas Salatta (1:58.62). All but one finalist achieved the Olympic B standard of 2:01.06.

400 Free

Manuella Lyrio dominated the women’s 400, touching exactly five seconds ahead of runner up Maria Heitmann. Lyrio’s time of 4:09.96 fell short of the Olympic A standard by nearly a second, but her new best time breaks her own national record as she becomes the first Brazilian under 4:10. Heitmann’s B 4:14.96 was good for second while Larissa Oliviera put up a 4:16.29 to claim bronze.

En route to victory, Luiz Melo cracked the A standard by a tenth of a second, winning the event in 3:50.32. Melo’s time marks his first A cut of the meet and, barring results from the Maria Lenk meet, is in contention to place him on the Rio squad. Giovanny Lima and Marcos Oliveira rounded out the podium in 3:53.20 and 3:56.47.