Close Races Highlight Opening Night of Jose Finkel Trophy

2017 JOSE FINKEL TROPHY

• August 8th-12th, 2017
• Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil – UNISANTA hosting
• 50 LCM pool
• Live results

The opening night of the Brazilian Jose Finkel Trophy being held in Santos, Sao Paulo was anything but boring, as the finals session featured close races across the board.

The most surprising upset came in the men’s 100 breast, which featured Felipe Lima and Joao Gomes, who are coming off 10th and 11th place finishes in the event at the World Championships, and 2016 Olympic finalist Felipe Franca.

However, amid the stacked field, it was Pedro Cardona of Pinheiros who prevailed in a time of 1:00.58. The win is hardly a shock, as Cardona was 3rd at the Maria Lenk Trophy this year ahead of Franca, but he was a surprising winner given his competition. Lima touched 2nd in 1:00.79, and Franca (1:00.83) and Gomes (1:01.17) both added a bit from the prelims to take 3rd and 4th.

The women’s race saw Jhennifer Conceicao, also of Pinheiros, book the win in 1:08.27 over Argentinians Julia Sebastian (1:08.71) and Macarena Ceballos (1:09.10).

Henrique Martins, who finished 11th in the 100 fly in Budapest, established himself as the clear front-runner in that race in this morning’s prelims putting up a time of 52.05. However, tonight he faltered a tad, conceding the win to Indiana Hoosier Vinicius Lanza. Lanza won in 52.56, with Martins out-touched in 52.63. Iago Amaral emerged from a crowded field to take 3rd in 53.39.

Daiene Dias of Unisanta and Daynara de Paula of SESI-SP duked it out in the women’s 100 fly, with Dias coming out on top in 59.44 to de Paula’s 59.63.

The women’s 400 free was an absolute dogfight, as could have been anticipated after the heats where the eight ‘A’ finalists qualified within 1.1 seconds of each other.

With the top six women within eight tenths of each other with just 50m remaining, Pinheiros’ Manuella Lyrio maintained her slight lead to take the win in 4:16.52. Poliana Okimoto held her runner-up position in 4:16.60, and Larissa Oliveira charged home in 30.85 to snag bronze from Rafaela Raurich, 4:16.70 to 4:16.80. Nathalia Almeida slipped a bit on the final 50, ending up 5th in 4:17.18.

A similar battle transpired in the men’s race, with 2nd through 5th all in the 1:55-range at the halfway mark, with Luiz Altamir leading in 1:54.14.

Nearly even-splitting it, Giuliano Rocco and national record holder Brandonn Almeida began to pull away from the field, with Rocco winning the final sprint thanks to a 27.87 final 50. He won in 3:51.42, with Almeida right there in 3:51.55. Altamir held on for 3rd in 3:52.67.

The night closed with the 4×50 free relays, where we saw more separation from the medalists than we did individually.

In the women’s event, Unisanta won in a time of 1:41.67, propelled by a 24.47 anchor from Alessandra Marchioro. SESI-SP took 2nd with a 24.77 3rd leg from Etiene Medeiros, and GNU, who placed 5th, also got a sub-25 split from Graciele Herrmann (24.85) on the 2nd leg.

Gabriel Santos led off in 22.74 for Pinheiros in the me’s race, and then Cesar Cielo (21.59), Pedro Spajari (21.62) and Marcelo Chierighini (21.70) threw down three scintillating legs to secure the gold medal in 1:27.65. Accurate splits were unavailable for Minas as they took 2nd in 1:28.26, and Unisanta took 3rd in 1:30.10 with a 22.13 anchor from Nicholas Santos.

TEAM RACE

After day 1, Minas leads the men’s race with 207 points to Pinheiros’ 183. Pinheiros has an overwhelming lead on the women’s side with 243, which puts them well ahead in the combined race as well.