Hugo González wins silver in the 100m backstroke at the Doha World Cup

Hugo González from the Balearic Islands, who this Tuesday won silver in the 100 backstroke final at the Doha World Championships, added the seventeenth medal for Spanish inline swimming in the history of the World Championships. A championship to which the best do not attend in this edition because they are preparing for the Paris Games. Four golds, six silvers and six bronzes to which we can add the silver achieved in the Qatari capital by González, which put an end to a seven-year absence of Spanish swimmers from the World Cup podiums. Since 2017, when Mireia Belmonte achieved gold – 200 butterfly – and two silver – 1,500 freestyle and 400 medley – in Budapest, no Spanish swimmer had won any medal. A medal that the Balearic Joan Lluis Pons came close to at the 2019 Gwanju World Championships, fourth in the final of the 400 styles, the best Spanish performance in the last three world championships.

The first medal for Spanish online swimming in a World Cup came in 1991 in the Australian city of Perth, where Martín López Zubero, Olympic champion a year later in Barcelona, ​​won gold in the 200 backstroke and bronze in the the 100. López Zubero returned to the podium twice three years later at the 1994 Rome World Championships in which the Spaniard won gold in the 100 backstroke and silver in the 200. Nine years he had to wait for swimming in Spain to achieve a medal again in a World Cup event, after seeing how in 2003 in Barcelona Nina Zhivanevskaya was crowned universal champion of the 50 backstroke. Metals that were multiplied by three in the 2009 Rome World Championships in which Rafa Muñoz took bronze in both the 50 and 100 butterfly, while Aschwin Wildeboer climbed to the third step of the podium in the final of the 100 backstroke.

Four years later, in 2013, the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona witnessed the best performance by Spanish swimmers in a World Cup, as witnessed by the four medals – three silver and one bronze – achieved by the Spanish delegation. Mireia Belmonte, who a few years earlier had achieved two silver medals at the London Olympic Games, won two silver medals – 200 butterfly and 400 medley – and a bronze – 200 medley – while Melanie Costa was second in the final of the 400 freestyle.

A harvest that was reduced to just one metal in the World Championships held in 2015 in the Russian city of Kazan, where Jessica Vall climbed to the third step of the podium in the final of the 200 breaststroke. A medal to add to the three she achieved in 2017 in Budapest Mireia Belmonte who not only completed the triple crown – Olympic, world and continental champion – in the 200 butterfly, after winning gold, but also added two more silvers in the 1,500 and the 400 styles.

The last medals for Spanish inline swimming in the World Championships until this Tuesday when Hugo González climbed to the second step of the podium in Doha in the final of the 100 backstroke.

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