The Royal Spanish Swimming Federation has already closed the squad list for the Fukuoka World Cup, after the Nacional de Mallorca was held in April and this week the City of Barcelona-Mare Nostrum, the only two tests in which it was possible, according to his criteria, to achieve the minimum for the great competition of the year. In both, up to 17 swimmers (counting the relays) will go to the Japanese city, but there is an eighteenth passenger for whom a decision must be made, and it is not a young swimmer, but Hugo González: Without Mireia Belmonte, the swimmer with the best record.
The 24-year-old Spaniard, who has been in the United States since 2017 and in recent seasons has been training at the University of California, was unable to travel to Barcelona due first to a bacterial process in his throat and then to problems with his visa to extend his stay with the training team of Dave Durden, where among others is the Olympic champion Ryan Murphyone of the back references of the last ten years, a specialty in which Hugo González was a finalist in Tokyo 2020.
But Hugo has done the minimum, specifically this weekend in the Pro Swim Series of Mission Viejo (California). He has lowered the mark required by the RFEN in three tests. In the 50 backstroke he managed 25.05, in the 200 he reached 1:57.72 while in the 200 medley, a test in which he is European champion, he recorded 1:58.52, one hundredth less than the time required by the Spanish technical direction. The swimmer awaits a decision from the RFEN this week to prepare for the World Cup or, failing that, focus on the Olympic Games in Paris.
In addition, the swimmer who was trained in the Technification Center of Madrid, He got the best time in the heats of the 100 backstroke (54.36), although he finally gave up swimming in the final when it coincided with the 200 medley. The level of Hugo González has helped him to stay in times of another World CupAlthough everything will depend on the decision of Sean Kelly, Spanish technical director.