Hugo González, with an Olympic minimum, enters the 100 backstroke final, in which Carmen Weiler will not be there
MADRID, 12 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish swimmer Mario Mollá finished in sixth position this Monday in the 50-meter butterfly final of the Swimming World Championships, which are being held in Doha, while Hugo González has entered the 100-meter backstroke final, a distance in which that Carmen Weiler has been left at the doorstep of the same.
The Catalan, who had sealed his place in the fight for the medals with the third best time in the semifinals (23.17), made a good start, but lost ground to finish with a time of 23.29, which gave him sixth place. .
The Portuguese Diogo Ribeiro, world runner-up in Fukuoka 2023, won the gold medal as he was the only one able to go under 23 seconds (22.97), beating the great favorite, the American Michael Andrew (23.07). Australian Cameron McEvoy completed the podium (23.08).
For his part, Hugo González, who in the morning had achieved the third best mark of the qualifying rounds (53.61), which allowed him to achieve the Olympic minimum – set at 53.74 – in the 100 meter backstroke, advanced to the final of the distance by repeating third best time in the semifinals.
The Mallorcan, somewhat behind at the start, came back in the last 50 meters of his semifinal to stop the clock at 53.22, only behind the South African Pieter Coetze (53.07). Only he and the American Hunter Armstrong, the fastest of the 'semi' (53.04), managed to surpass him in the overall, so the medals are an affordable prize.
With this, González, who was a finalist in Tokyo 2020 precisely in that same distance, completes a round day in Doha, where the Olympic minimum in the morning joins the minimum for Paris 2024 already achieved in 200 styles and 200 backstroke at the World Championships from Fukuoka 2023. The Spaniard will swim the three backstroke events and the 200 medley in the Qatari competition.
In the women's 100 backstroke event, Carmen Weiler was close to being among the best eight, which offers a pass to the final, after being ninth in the semifinals. Her 1:00.81 left the Valencian 13 hundredths away from qualifying and only earned her fifth place in her semifinal, dominated by the American Claire Curzan (58.73), who also leads the global calculation.
In the morning session, César Castro, who swam the 4×100 free relay on Sunday, clocked 1:47.40 in the 200 freestyle event, a mark that left him seventeenth far from the minimum (1:46.2). The Spanish distance record holder – he achieved a 1:47.13 in Budapest 2021 – could only get into the 'Top 16', which allows swimming in the 'semies', due to a last-minute drop.
For her part, in the 100 breaststroke, Jimena Ruiz, junior world medalist in Netanya 2023, finished twenty-first (1.08.74) and could not continue in competition.