In the middle of the desert of Spanish in-line swimming, a hopeful green shoot: the 4x100 freestyle, the most explosive short relay, in which the Spanish quartet touched the bronze at the European Championships in Rome. He was just 1.03 seconds short of the last medal, which went to Great Britain, although he rubbed shoulders with the continental powers, with Italy (gold) and Hungary (silver), and left a new Spanish record for the distance. The future knocks at the door.
The good sensations of the Spanish speed arrived in the morning series. The Spanish 4x100 relay entered the final with the fourth fastest time (3:15:24), with which the Spanish quartet established a new national record for the distance.
There were the four boys, Carles Coll, 20 years old, and Sergio de Celis, 22, both from CN Sabadell, Mario Mollà, 20, from CN Terrassa, and Luis Domínguez, 19, from EM El Olivar, who already on Friday he set a new Spanish record for the 100 free in 48s98.
In the final, the Spanish quartet jumped into the pool of the Foro Italico without complexes. In the first relay, Sergio de Celis was sixth in the 50m and fourth in the 100m, a great progression with which the Balearic swimmer set a new Spanish record for the 100m (48.41).
In the second post, Luis Domínguez rose to Spain to provisional fourth place; Mario Mollà maintained the level, side by side with France, who ended up disqualified, and Carles Coll finished off to establish the definitive 3m13s73, Spain's new record for the 4x100, lowering the national record set at the Rio Games by three seconds.
The 4th. position in Rome is the best position in Spain in men's relay in its entire history. The previous best result was fifth in the 4x100 freestyle relay at the 1970 European Championships in Barcelona.
