Two Argentinian Records Go Down at National Selection Meet

Second National Selection Meet

• February 22-25, 2021
• Parque Roca, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Long Course Meters (50m)
• Timed Finals, separate sessions for Men/Women
• Results

Argentina’s Second National Selection Meet, a selection event for the upcoming South American Championships, was held this week in Buenos Aires, with a pair of National Records going down on Wednesday.

The first came in the men’s session, where Juan Ignacio Mendez swam 2:01.82 to shave .01 seconds off his own National Record of 2:01.83 done in November 2019. When Mendez, now 21 but at the time 19, broke that record, it was the oldest on the Argentinian record books, having stood since 1995.

Mendez has represented his country internationally several times, including at the 2017 World Junior Championships, 2018 Youth Olympics, and 2019 World University Games.

The second National Record of the day was swum by 26-year old Macarena Ceballos, who won the women’s 100 fly in 1:00.51. That took almost half-a-second off the old National Record of 1:00.93 that was set by Virginia Bardach in 2016. Bardach, one of the country’s most celebrated swimmers, won 3 medals at the 2019 Pan American Games including gold in the 200 fly.

Many of the country’s biggest names, including for example the aforementioned Bardach and breaststroker Julia Sebastian, were absent from this second test. The country’s top distance swimmer, triple Pan American Games champion Delfina Pignatiello, did race, however, coming away with victories in the 400 free (4:15.51), 800 free (8:39.78), and 1500 free (15:40.96). All three swims were substantially slower than her National Records in those events.

The 2021 South American Swimming Championships are the delayed edition of the 2020 championships that were due to start just as the world was beginning to feel the crush of the coronavirus pandemic. The rescheduled event will take place in Buenos Aires from March 14-19 and include open water, diving, swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo competitions.

At the last edition of the South American Swimming Championships in 2018 in Peru, Brazil topped the medals table with 27 gold, 18 silver, and 7 bronze. Argentina was 2nd with 11 gold, 17 silver, and 16 bronze medals.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Brazil (BRA)	27	18	7	52
2	Argentina (ARG)	11	17	16	44
3	Colombia (COL)	1	3	10	14
4	Paraguay (PAR)	1	3	2	6
5	Ecuador (ECU)	1	0	1	2
6	Chile (CHI)	1	0	0	1
7	Venezuela (VEN)	0	1	1	2
8	Peru (PER)*	0	0	5	5
9	Bolivia (BOL)	0	0	1	1
Totals (9 nations)		42	42	43	127