even debutants make up a team of eighteen that will represent Brazil in the pool at Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The next generation of Brazilian swimming will be on show at Paris 2024 with twenty one year-old’s Maria Fernanda Costa and Guilherme Caribe Santos carrying the hopes of the South American nation.
Fernanda Costa announced herself to the swimming world at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha earlier this year by recording the best finish by a Brazilian woman in an Olympic-length event. Finishing fourth in the final of the Women’s 400m Freestyle and fifth in the final of the Women’s 200m Freestyle, Costa also broke the all-time South American record over the eight laps by stripping more than three seconds off the decade-old continental mark.
Breakout sprinter Caribe Santos will line up in the Men’s 50m Freestyle and Men’s 100m Freestyle in Paris after sneaking under the qualifying times in both events at the recent Brazilian National Championships. The Paris Olympics will be the University of Tennessee swimmer’s second major international competition after finishing 12th in the 100m Freestyle at Fukuoka 2023.
Fellow University of Tennessee alumni Kayky Mota has also booked his spot for Paris with no Brazilian swimmer bettering his 100m Butterfly time from Fukuoka 2023 during the qualifying period. Mota missed Tokyo 2020 qualification in the 100m Butterfly by just 0.17 seconds, and Paris 2024 will serve as a perfect redemption opportunity for the 25 year-old who is beginning to thrive as part of the next generation of Brazilian swimming.
Mota started his international career at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships at Indianapolis 2017, a meet that also featured fellow Paris 2024 team member Nicolas Albiero – although Albiero was a member of ‘Team USA’ at the time. Last year the then 23 year-old Abliero made the decision to move back to his family’s home-country of Brazil, with the switch paying instant dividends with the University of Louisville alumni, clocking a career-best time in the 200m Butterfly at the recent Brazilian Championships to book his spot on the plane for Paris 2024.
“My first personal best in three years and a ticket to Paris… I don’t have all the words quite yet… it’s been the hardest and most uncomfortable year of my life but the most rewarding,” Albiero posted on social media after qualifying for his first Olympics.
Maria Paula Heitmann, Eduardo Moraes, and Giovana Reis Medeiros round out the list of Brazilian Olympic debutants, who will join eleven returning swimmers from Tokyo 2020 in Paris next month.