Diogo Ribeiro, a “phenomenon” who always wants more and does what has never been done. The swimmer won a third world junior title, now in the 50 butterfly and with a record.

Portuguese swimmer Diogo Ribeiro has been the main young phenomenon of the national sport for many years, and this Monday he achieved a silver medal in the 50 butterfly at the World Championships, which no one has yet achieved in modality.

In Fukuoka, Japan, an 18-year-old young man “overcame” the barrier that Portugal had missed by reaching the podium at the World Swimming Championships, placing second in the World Swimming 50 Butterfly, confirming the prediction of a “phenomenon” he had held for years, adding national records, a junior world maximum and countless achievements along the way, from three junior world titles to a bronze in his debut. in Europe and, today, silver in his senior World Cup debut.

The young swimmer, born in Coimbra, was accompanied by Brazilian coach Alberto Silva, who used the results of pure Portuguese swimming and has since overcome all barriers.

A three-time junior world champion in Lima, Peru in 2022, he only managed to reach Portugal’s third podium in Europe, breaking national records and the junior world record, and when he reached the 50 butterfly final on Sunday, he became only the third Portuguese in history to do so, after Alexandre Yokochi (Madrid, 1986) and Ana Barros (Perth, 1991).

He performed even better and at the end of the race got the final boost that allowed him to reach silver at this non-Olympic distance, in which he is the young world record holder, and remove 16 hundredths from his previous maximum record.

He is already an isolated athlete in terms of awards, leaving any other behind with this unprecedented record, and expectations can only be raised for Paris 2024, the Olympics for which he is already qualified in three different distances.

Long before the “shine” in Fukuoka, the national record holder in the 50 and 100 freestyle and 50 and 100 butterfly had already shown, as always, some shyness and introspection, limiting himself to the promise of “swimming well” in this “big dream”, which is his debut at the adult world championship.

“I have always worked on it and now being able to be there in very competitive times is a huge dream come true. I hope everything goes well,” he said.

His stinginess with words, also due to his young age, friendliness and availability go hand in hand with work and dedication, which he never tires of emphasizing when working alongside the technical team and colleagues.

Moreover, in July 2021, a serious motorcycle accident “caught” by a heavy vehicle left him on the verge of retiring from the sport, missing part of his right index finger, broken foot, bruises and burns.

Physiotherapy allowed him to gradually return to training and to be in the spotlight of a talent who was almost ready to leave the pool.

In his still very short but already eventful career, he went through the Náutico Académico de Coimbra and União de Coimbra, but it was after the “jump” to Benfica in the 2021/22 season that the Coimbra native became famous, and in 2022 he achieved results that gave him another status.

In July, he “warned” in Algiers, at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran, the first Portuguese gold in swimming, precisely in the 50m butterfly, that he was already a national record holder and became a championship record holder.

If “I already thought about it” before leaving, the gold came after I didn’t do so well in qualifying.

“But I talked to my coaches, who always helped me psychologically, and in the afternoon we did something that I didn’t think to do,” he told reporters at the Orange Olympic Complex.

In addition, he said that the podiums he won in Algeria boded well for the Europeans in Rome next month, and in terms of gold, “there could have been a lot more” for him.

“It’s a job, we have to keep working, and that’s what happens. (…) I hope that at the European Championships I will again be able to make history,” he fired.

Said and done: on August 12 in Rome, he won bronze in the 50 butterfly, which has forever entered the history of Portuguese sports, only the third podium in the history of the European Championships, after Yokochi, of course, and Alexis Santos.

“It’s time to keep working. I feel like I can go further,” said Diogo Ribeiro, then only 17 years old, in the final with “echoes” in this: the Italian Thomas Ceccon won, and the Frenchman Maxime Grousset became silver – he switched places with the Frenchman, succumbing only to the dominance of the transalpinist.

If he used sleep to feed himself, as he explained in Rome, then in Peru he preferred to emphasize the “hard work” that leads to podiums when he was a three-time world champion and junior world record holder in the only non-Olympic distance he dominates.

“Now I simply have to dedicate this medal to my family and everyone who supported me, my technical team, my coach, my club and federation,” he stressed.

Portuguese Swimming Federation president António José Silva calls him a “great champion”, believes he may have “a lot to develop” and believes he is “before an outstanding athlete” who will bring “great achievements”, as he explained to Luce.

The bar is thus raised for the rest of the Fukuoka World Cup as he will swim in other distances and above all his eyes are already on Paris 2024 for which he is already qualified in three distances, with the confidence that he has gone through every stage of evolution to show the best results for Portugal.

In addition, in the French capital, you can “attack” another brand that was elusive for the Portuguese, the presence in the Olympic finals, which only Alexandre Yokochi has achieved, but before that there is still a year of competition and podiums.

“I am very excited about all the work that my team and I have done over the past year. It’s incredible. As you probably know, I got into a motorcycle accident. To come from there to get here and win a medal, a first for Portugal, it’s so important,” he said, having received silver, into the microphones of World Aquatics.