He wanted to test himself, to see where he was and where he needed to go. Mireia BelmonteHe returned to international competition after a break after the Tokyo 2020 Games and made his debut in the event in which he was fourth in Japan and bronze in Rio 2016.
It was an intense race that took a long time for the woman from Badalona, who complied with herself by lowering her best time of the season by more than two seconds (4:48.18 minutes), but who could not reach, by just 15 hundredths, the marks court to enter the end of the afternoon. Alba Vázquez will be there, seventh overall, but sixth on the list due to the elimination of Katinka Hosszu due to the rule that only allows a certain number of swimmers from the same country.
Belmonte suffered in the 100 backstroke, although he was able to recover a position in the final crawl. However, he does not have the body yet for those times in which he was in the 4: 32.39 with which he achieved, for example, the bronze in Rio.
The Badalonese competes in these Europeans with an exception in the minimum entry marks to test herself and also allow her coach Ben Titley to observe how her preparation is and how to guide her set-up with her sights set on Paris 2024.
However, this was the first test for her, who eliminated the 800 and 1,500 for this European, but she still has to face herself more than her rivals in the 400 free, 100 and 200 butterfly (where it was gold in Rio 2016) and 200 styles.
