The Spanish Swimming Federation has released the list of shortlisted for the Fukuoka World Swimming Championships, from July 23 to 30, in which Mireia Belmonte is notable. The 32-year-old multi-champion from Badalona will complicate the path to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, her great dream, if she does not end up participating in Fukuoka.
The road to Paris 2024 is marked on the calendar, very demanding to reach the Olympic event: first, the 2023 World Cup in Fukuoka (July), and then the 2024 World Cup in Doha (February), just five months before the Games. But to be in Fukuoka, you first have to get the minimum in one of the two selective tests: the first came from the Spring Spanish Open in Palma de Mallorca last weekend, and the last option will be the Mare Nostrum-Ciutat tournament. Barcelona, ​​on May 17 and 18, in the Pere Serrat swimming pool of the CN Sant Andreu.
This will be the last qualifying option for the 2023 World Cup for Mireia Belmonte, who has not competed in international events since the European Championship in Rome last August 2022, in which she failed to qualify for any final in five distances.
Since the summer European Championships, the swimmer from Badalona has continued her training at the CAR in Sant Cugat with Ben Titley (now without Olaf Wildeboer) and his work group. She registered for the Palma Open, but withdrew due to physical problems, according to the RFEN technical management. Although she was present at a 12 km athletic race on the neighboring island, Eivissa, as an ambassador for a sports brand.
The list of the provisional team of Spain for the 2023 World Cup, selected with the minimum obtained in the Spring Open in Palma de Mallorca last weekend, is made up of 8 swimmers in individual events: Emma Carrasco (200 and 400 styles), Ãngela MartÃnez (800 freestyle), Paula Otero (400 and 1,500 freestyle), Alba Vázquez (400 styles), Carmen Weiler (100 backstroke) and Ãfrica Zamorano (200 backstroke) in women; and Carles Coll (200 IM) and Carlos Garach (800 and 1,500 freestyle), in men.
In the relay events, the swimmers Carmen Weiler, Jessica Vall, Paula Juste and Ainhoa ​​Campabadal have been shortlisted for the 4×100 styles, and in the 4×100 mixed styles Weiler, Coll, Juste and Luis DomÃnguez.
The first two components of the quartets of the men’s 4×100 freestyle (Luis DomÃnguez and Sergio de Celis), the men’s 4×200 freestyle (DomÃnguez and César Castro) and the women’s 4×200 freestyle (Ainhoa ​​Campabadal and Alba Herrero) have also been selected for the relay. The other two components must come from the brands of the second qualifying championship, the Marenostrum-Ciutat de Barcelona tournament in May.
The list of eight shortlisted for the Fukuoka World Cup in July is not closed. Still aspiring to qualify for the Ciutat de Barcelona tournament (May 17 and 18) are some of the assets of Spanish swimming absent in Palma such as Hugo González, who was participating in the NCAA finals in the US, and Joanllu Pons, focused on his studies. They are also close to the minimum -pending the Federation- Nico GarcÃa (200 backstroke) and Jimena Pérez (800 and 1,500 free).
