LIMA, Peru – The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is still a year away, but both Santiago Grassi and Luis Martinez qualified for their respective countries in the 100m fly on Wednesday at the Pan-American Games in Peru.
Grassi, a rising senior at Auburn, placed fourth in the finals with a time of 52.15. However, his time in the prelims (51.90) put him under the Olympic A Cut and earned him his first trip to the Olympics where he will represent his home country of Argentina.
In 2017, Grassi competed at the World Championships in Budapest where he finished 25th overall in the 100m fly with a time of 52.59.
Martinez, who swam at Auburn from 2014 to 2018, destroyed the Pan Ams record for the 100m fly with a 51.48 in the prelims. He then followed that by swimming a 51.63 to finish second in the finals. The native of Guatemala also placed under the Olympic A Cut with his times and will represent his home country for the second straight Olympics. He finished 19th in the 100m fly (52.22) at the 2016 Olympics.
So proud of #LuisMartinez for what he's done this past year. He broke the Pan Am Record this morning in prelims & just placed 2nd tonight. #NationalRecord #WDE #AuburnSprint 🦅 #tokyobound🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/Q2NOgfKYj5
— Duncan Sherrard (@dswsherrard) August 8, 2019