2026 MARIA LENK TROPHY
Day four of the 2026 Maria Lenk Trophy unfolded last night from Rio de Janeiro, with two swimmers making the cut for the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships.
Olympic finalist Guilherme Costa led the charge in the men's 800m freestyle, putting up a time of 7:50.24 to grab the victory.
He held off Stephan Steverink, already a three-time gold medalist here, who settled for silver just over a second behind in 7:51.55 in essentially the two-man race.
Victor Moreno rounded out the podium in 8:00.33.
For Costa, his outing checks in as the 7th-best performance of the 27-year-old's career, one which boasts a lifetime best and Brazilian national record of 7:45.48 put on the books at the 2022 World Championships. He now ranks 16th in the world at the moment.
The women's 1500m free saw Beatriz Dizotti handily defeat her competitors, with the 26-year-old Olympian stopping the clock at 16:04.63 for a new meet record.
The next-closest swimmer was Leticia Romao, who touched in 16:25.63, while Gabrielle Roncatto bagged the bronze in 16:25.72.
Dizotti owns the Brazilian national record as a result of the 16:01.95 she produced for 8th place at the 2023 World Championships.
An additional highlight of the evening was the fact that 34-year-old Etiene Medeiros made her return to competition after taking multiple years off as a new mom.
Medeiros topped the women's 50m backstroke podium in 28.43 in a solid return to the pool.
The veteran owns a trio of medals in this event across three World Championships, including silver in 2015, gold in 2017, and silver again in 2019.
Finally, Guilherme Basseto dipped under the 25-second barrier to successfully capture the gold in the men's edition of the 50m back.
He was the only one to clear the threshold, with Hugo Gonzalez hitting 25.42 and Pedro Motta logging 25.50.
Basseto's effort was within reach of his best-ever 24.61 from the 2025 edition of this competition, a time which rendered him Brazil's #3 performer of all time in the event.
