Gonzalez wins Spain’s first world swimming medal in seven years

2024 World Aquatics Championships

Hugo Gonzalez I’m not used to the international stage. He is a two-time Olympian, finishing sixth in the 100 backstroke at the Tokyo Games. But today, at his fifth World Championships, he finally checked a World Championships medal off his to-do list with a silver medal in the 100 backstroke.

Gonzalez, 24, found a new gear last season. He started showing signs of that in his fifth and final season at Cal, especially in the backstroke event. After finishing his NCAA career, it was taken over by long course pool. He reached the World Championship finals for the first time in the 200 back/200 IM. His 7th place in the 200 back with a time of 1:56.33 was his best time at the event since 2017.

With a number of big names absent from Doha, Gonzalez was one of the swimmers we circled as having a real advantage on the entry list. But that wasn’t necessarily Gonzalez’s main goal. “I didn’t have high expectations coming here,” he said after the 100 backstroke final. “The plan was to get as close to my personal record as possible and make sure I was on the right path for the Olympics this summer.”

In the first event of the tournament, Gonzalez more than came close to setting a personal best. The 52.70 he swam in the final beat his old standard by eight-hundredths. This is her first personal record in the 100 backstroke since the Tokyo Games. He is ranked 4th in the world this season and 22nd among all-time participants.

This is not only a memorable medal for Gonzalez, but also an important medal for Spanish swimming. Gonzalez becomes the first Spanish man to win a medal at the world championships since 2009. Ashwin Wildeboer He won a bronze medal in the 100 backstroke. He also became the first Spanish swimmer, male or female, to win a medal since 2017.

It was clear that what this moment meant for his country was on Gonzalez’s mind after the race.

“Coming here, one of my main goals is to inspire people back home to swim. Compared to basketball or soccer, we have a much smaller fan base, so swimmers back home “I hope I can inspire others that they can do it, and that if you dream it, you can achieve it,” he said. “we [Spanish swimming] It’s getting better little by little and we want to get more people into the sport and make things even better. ”

Gonzalez will have even more chances to medal over the next five days. He is the No. 4 seed in the 200 IM, No. 8 seed in the 200 back, and No. 18 seed in the 50 back.

quick hit

• Danas Lapsis Today I finally made it to the podium of the World Championship. In 2019, he appeared to win gold in the 200m free, but was disqualified for a block move. He got his revenge here in Doha, winning the silver medal in 1:45.05. This is the third fastest swim of his career, behind his personal best (1:44.38) and the 1:44.96 he swam in the semifinals.
• Germany continues to play well in Doha. Isabel Gorse. She won a bronze medal in the women’s 1500 freestyle, her second bronze medal of the competition. Gose recorded a time of 15 minutes 57.55 seconds, finishing about 1 second behind. Lee Bingjie (15:56.62). Although he didn’t win a medal, Lucas Mertens In the 200m free race, she showed a strong swim and finished 4th in 1 minute 45.33 seconds. In fact, Mertens posted the fastest closing split in the field (26.88 seconds), leaving him with just enough room to catch Hobson for a podium spot.
• Tess Schouten In the women’s 100m breaststroke final, she timed it just in time to reach the podium. Schouten made her breakthrough in 2023, when she won a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke at the Fukuoka Games, which caught her attention. Now she has added 100 silver medals in breaststroke to her medal tally. She was sixth in Schouten’s turn (31.46 points). She charged through the field over the next 50 meters and came back with a field-best split of 34.36.Schouten won in touch Siobhan Hoey He won the silver medal with a time of 1:05.82, just 0.11 seconds off his personal best.
• We did a little better after posting a mid 1:54 time as we looked to pass lane 4 for tomorrow’s 200 butterfly final. Krzysztof Chmielewski Disqualified for non-simultaneous touch on the first turn. As the previous silver medalist, the 19-year-old was the favorite to win gold. Even without Chmielewski, this is still a heavy European final.Six of the eight swimmers represent European countries, including the top qualifiers. Alberto Lazzetti (Italy), martin espernberger (Austria), Cregor Zirk (Estonia), Richard Merton (Hungary), twin brother of K. Chmielewski Michal Chmielewski (Poland).

Other continental and national records

• Estonian Cregor Zirk He set both a national record and a Baltic Sea record in the men’s 200 butterfly heats. He already owned both records (1:55.62) in the semifinal swim at the 2022 World Championships. Here Zirk clocked a time of 1:55.58, four hundredths better than his own standard. After qualifying fifth, Zirk will have another shot at his record in tomorrow night’s final.
• After resetting their respective 400 freestyle national records to open the season, both men viktor johansson and Lucas Henvoe I was doing it again. Both men broke their own records, with Johansson shaving 2.10 seconds off the Swedish record set at the Tokyo Games. He swam a time of 7:47.04 and qualified for the finals in fourth place. Ambeau further improved his time, shaving 3.54 seconds off his Belgian record of 7:52.10, which he swam at the Knoxville Pro Swim in January.
• Dimitrios Marcos He also broke the Greek record in the men’s 800m freestyle heat.He swam 7 minutes 49.97 seconds, breaking his record. Konstantinos EngrezakisHe marked a time of 7 minutes 51.27 seconds, 1.30 seconds faster than the Tokyo Games. Marcos’ previous personal best was 7:52.60 in 2022, so this is the first time he has broken 7:50.

European medal table by day 3