This Friday morning at the Swimming World Championships, currently ongoing in Doha, the Spanish men’s 4×200 freestyle relay team was the star of the show. They not only broke two Spanish records but also qualified for the final, making it a significant day for the Spanish delegation present.
The team, which is composed of Luis Domínguez, César Castro, Sergio de Celis, and Carlos Quijada, performed outstandingly to surpass the national record. This very same team set the previous national record last summer at the Fukuoka World Cup final with a time of 7:10.63 in Japan. However, they managed to exceed it this time with a new impressive time of 7:10.85.
Furthermore, Luis Domínguez, who was tasked with the first relay, set a brand new Spanish record for the 200 freestyle. He clocked in at 1:47.02, which is eleven hundredths faster than the record previously held by teammate César Castro from 2021. Following his feat, Domínguez shared, “I have found myself in very good shape, both individually and as a substitute. We’ll see what happens this afternoon. The healthy competition among us always drives us to improve and move forward,” according to a statement collected by the ‘RFEN’.
In their series, the Spanish relay team finished third, behind China (7:06.93) and Lithuania (7:09.97), but outperforming a strong contender like the United States by seven hundredths (7:10.70). They secured a place amongst the eight finalists with the seventh-best time.
In addition, the morning session brought more good news from the Spanish camp. Mario Mollá advanced to the semifinals in the 100 butterfly category, clocking the eleventh best time of 52.12. He will strive to further improve this time to qualify for the Olympic minimum ‘A’ time of 51.67. Africa Zamorano also advanced in the 200 backstroke category, recording the twelfth best time of 2:12.55. Although her time was not close to the minimum time for Paris 2024 (2:10.39) and her personal best time (2.09.35), it was still a commendable effort.
