Three Portuguese reach the semi-finals of the World Swimming Championships

Diogo Ribeiro in the 100m freestyle, Gabriel Lopez in the 200m freestyle and Mariana Cunha in the 200m freestyle qualified this Wednesday for the semi-finals of the World Aquatics Championships in Doha.

Two days after Portugal clinched an unprecedented world title in the 50m butterfly, Diogo Ribeiro faced the 100m freestyle qualifiers, progressing to this Wednesday’s semi-finals with 12 half to go.

The 19-year-old swimmer from Coimbra, who already won a silver medal at the 2023 World Championships also in the non-Olympic 50 butterfly, completed the 12th 100 stroke in third place with a score of 48.72, behind the Hungarian. Nandor Nemeth, 48.03, and Briton Matthew Richards, 48.05.

China’s Pan Zhanle, the world record holder, completed both pools fastest with a record of 47.82.

In the 200, Gabriel Lopez advanced to the semi-finals with the sixth-fastest time in qualifying, swimming in 01:59.80 minutes to give him the fourth series win by almost half a second over South African Matthew Seites (02:00.28).

The 26-year-old from Lausanne will compete for one of the places in the course final this Wednesday, in the semi-finals, a stage in which the Swiss Jeremy Desplanche, who won bronze in the distance at Tokyo 2020, will achieve the best result in the series.(01.58.17 ).

Also this Wednesday, 19-year-old Mariana Cunha will compete in the semi-finals of the 200m butterfly, finishing in 16th and final place with a time of 02.12.59 minutes and placing sixth in the third series.

Denmark’s Helena Rosendahl Bach was the fastest in this Wednesday’s qualifying session with a time of 09/02/21.

Camila Rebelo, 21, was the only Portuguese elimination at this Wednesday’s world championships as she failed to clear 27th place in the 50 backstroke qualifying in 29.19 seconds. Canada’s Ingrid Wilm, who had already won a silver medal in the 100m backstroke in Doha, clocked a best time of 27.81.