Mireia Belmonte, the best Spanish swimmer of all time, was able to maintain her dream of competing at the world swimming championship, to be held in Russia on 24 July, despite her shoulder injury.
Belmonte has a history full of achievements: she won two silver medals at the London Olympics 2012; and three medals at the FINA World Swimming Championship 2010 in Dubai, for first place in the 200 metre butterfly race, first place in the 200 metre freestyle single race, and third place was for the 400 metre freestyle single race.
She also won two gold medals in the 2008 European Aquatics Championship in the Netherlands for a 200 metre single freestyle race and in the 2012 championship in Hungary for the 1,500 metre freestyle race. This is in addition to the five gold medals she won in the European Short Course Swimming Championships, as she won the 400 metre freestyle single race in 2008. The other four were in Poland in 2011 for the 400 metre freestyle, the 200 metre butterfly, the 200 metre single freestyle, and the 400 metre single freestyle races.
Belmonte broke many world records, including setting the record for the 800 metre freestyle race in the world championships in Germany 2013, after she finished the race in 7.59.34 minutes. This made her the first woman to set a record of less than 8 minutes in this race as she broke the French swimmer Camille Muffat’s 2012 record by a 2 second difference.
She also set a world record in the 200 metre butterfly race in the world championship held at the Qatari capital, Doha, in December 2014, as she finished the race in 1.59.61 minutes.
Belmonte did not completely recover from her injury, as she still feels pain in her shoulders. The Spanish champion is depending on strong trainings she had before her injury in addition to the mental training which made her ready to compete at the Russian World Cup.
Belmonte’s name was listed for competing in seven races in the upcoming world swimming championship, including: the 200 metre freestyle; the 200 metre butterfly; the 400 metre freestyle; the 800 metre freestyle; the 1,500 metre freestyle; and the 5,000 metre races.
However, she will not participate in all of these races although she was finally able to participate in the competition, as her trainer Fred Vergnoux precluded her from participating in the 5,000 metre, the 1,500 metre, and the 800 metre races.
