Torneio Regional Juvenil A Senior
Brazilian superstar and World Record holder Cesar Cielo took to a small local meet in Sao Paulo at Pinheiros on Saturday for his first racing since missing the 2016 Olympic Team 11 months ago.
“I rested a lot, I thought in a lot of things, but in the end, I missed the pool, the routine, my teammates, training everyday and overcoming the difficulties,” Cielo said of his time away. “I am happy to be back, my first competition only to break the ice, I hope from now on, I can swim faster.”
Cielo had entered 3 events for the meet, but wound up racing just two: a 50 free and a 50 fly, both in long course. In the 50 free he swam 22.44, which puts him in the top 25 in the world this year, and in the 50 fly he swam 23.75, which ties him for 9th-best this season.
2016-2017 LCM MEN 50 Fly
SANTOS
22.61
| 2 | Henrique MARTINS | BRA | 22.70 | 05/26 |
| 3 | Benjamin PROUD | GBR | 22.75 | 07/24 |
| 4 | Caeleb DRESSEL | USA | 22.76 | 07/23 |
| 5 | Andrii GOVOROV | UKR | 22.77 | 07/23 |
| 6 | Joseph SCHOOLING | SIN | 22.93 | 07/23 |
| 7 | Michael ANDREW | USA | 23.22*WJR | 08/27 |
| 8 | Cesar CIELO | BRA | 23.22 | 05/05 |
| 9 | Oleg KOSTIN | RUS | 23.24 | 07/01 |
| 10 | Tim PHILLIPS | USA | 23.25 | 07/23 |
The 30-year old Olympic gold medalist dropped the 100 free, as he’s done frequently over the last few years of his career. Cielo said that he was not very satisfied with his times, but that he didn’t expect much faster because of the phase of his training.
Cielo has returned to training with coach Alberto Pinto, who tends to be more of a high-volume coach.
This Pinheiros pool holds a special spot in Cielo’s personal history. The last time he swam here, in 2009, was when he swam his 20.91 World Record in the long course 50 meter freestyle.
WR is a 20.91
21.19 is the world record actually. Technology doping doesn’t count.
It was 2009 when he broke the 50 free world record and it is 20.91