Spanish swimming returned to the past in Paris. As in Beijing 2008, a standard of obscurity in modern history, in the La Défense pool the Spanish team swam just two finals and was far from getting on the podium. The shipwreck was total and especially points to the groups that are preparing in the High Performance Centres of Madrid and Barcelona, both under the supervision of the Irishman Sean Kelly. The British coach’s project, inaugurated in 2019, was the great renewing bet of Fernando Carpena, president of the federation. With the British model, the aim was to give the team a boost towards the Tokyo 2021 Games, while training swimmers capable of moving towards a new era without Mireia Belmonte. The new leaders fired experts such as Fred Vergnoux and Raúl Arellano, and promised that if things did not work out in Tokyo, they would do so in Paris. The truth is that in Paris the Spaniards recorded worse times and swam fewer finals – two against four – than in Tokyo.
Spain competed in two finals in Paris. Both were led by Hugo González, who trains in California, and he finished sixth in both. The Spaniards participated in seven finals, two with Carmen Weiler (who trains at Virginia Tech University), two with África Zamorano (Club Sant Andreu), one with Jessica Vall (Sant Andreu), one with Arbidel González, (CAR de Madrid), one with Laura Cabanes (CAR de Madrid), and one with Emma Carrasco (CAR de San Cugat).
“I only ask my swimmers to improve their personal bests,” Kelly declared before travelling to Tokyo three years ago. Three of the nine he brought responded positively: Hugo González, Nicolás García and Juanllu Pons. In Paris, only one member of the delegation of the eight selected to swim individual events lowered her personal best: Carmen Weiler in 100m backstroke, under the supervision of Sergi López, the coach from the University of Virginia – outside Kelly’s control – who accompanied her in the pool on his own. No one expressed Spain’s frustration better than Hugo González after finishing sixth in the 200m backstroke final and someone asked him about the peak of preparation that led him to world gold in Doha.
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