Unlike what happened a year ago in Albufeira, in which Sporting, the current women’s champion, reached the end of the first day of the National Club Championship leading in the women’s division, this time Benfica closed the first two rounds of the 46th edition of the championship, which takes place at the Quarteira Municipal Swimming Pool, both ahead in the men’s (144 pts) and women’s (141) categories.
In the men’s sector, where the eagles, who have double world medalist Diogo Ribeiro, collected the maximum number of points in the afternoon session by winning the four events – 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, 4×100 styles – that closed the nine of the day, the advantage over FC Porto (124) is 20 points, with Algés still in the fight for the podium. (118), Sporting (91) and V. Guimarães, SC Braga and Louletano, all with 90. A balance that promises excitement for this Sunday.
It should be noted that, in 2024/25, when Benfica achieved the first three consecutive championships in its history, something only achieved by Algés and Sporting in men, the reds had a 27-point lead over FC Porto.
But, as expected at the start, the biggest expectation is how the women’s competition will end, where the swimmers led by Miguel Frischknecht only have a nine point advantage over Sporting (132), with FC Porto (112) occupying third place and with little chance of entering the fight for a title they won eight consecutive times (2008/09-2015/16): Now they have the shadow of Algés (109) and SC Braga (100) on the top step of the podium.
Last season, at the start of the second day, the Lionesses had 14 more points than the Eagles and 22 more than the Porto players.
During the two sessions, Sporting’s women’s 4×100 free relay (3.42.27m) set a new national record, as did the 4×100 style relay (4.05.43), which belonged to FC Porto.
