Guilherme Pereira da Costa (born 1 October 1998) is a Brazilian

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. He is the 400m freestyle bronze medalist at the 2022 World Championships. At the Pan American Games, he was champion of the 400, 800 and 1500 metre freestyle. He is also currently the South American record holder in the 400, 800, and 1500 metre freestyle.

International career

2017–2021

He competed in the men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships () were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

, finishing in 19th place. On 6 December 2017, participating in the Brazil Open (long course) in Rio de Janeiro, he broke the South American record in the 1500-metre freestyle with a time of 14:59.01. It was the fourth time in 2017 that he broke the South American record of this race. At the

2018 South American Games The 2018 South American Games was a multi-sport event that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was the 11th edition of the ODESUR South American Games. A total of 373 sporting events are scheduled to be contested across a variety of sports. ...

in Cochabamba, he won the gold medal in the 400m and the silver medal in the 1500m freestyle. On 30 June 2018, participating in the Sette Colli Trophy (long course) in Rome, he broke the South American record in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 7:50.92. At the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, he finished 4th in the Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, 4th in the Men's 800 metre freestyle and 4th in the Men's 1500 metre freestyle. At the

2019 World Aquatics Championships The 2019 World Aquatics Championships were the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, held in Gwangju, South Korea from 12 to 28 July 2019. The city had previously hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade aquatics events in the same venues.

Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, he finished 21st in the Men's 800 metre freestyle, and 25th in the Men's 1500 metre freestyle. At the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games (), officially the XVIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Lima 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminar ...

held in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, Costa won his biggest title, the gold medal in the Men's 1500 metre freestyle, with a time of 15:09.93. Brazil has not won this event at the Pan American Games since Tetsuo Okamoto won it in the first edition of the Games, in 1951. In December 2019, participating in the U.S. Open (long course) in Atlanta, he broke the South American record in the 400-metre freestyle, with a time of 3:46.57, in the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 7:47.37 and in the 1500-metre freestyle, with a time of 14:55.49. On 19 April 2021, participating in the Brazilian Olympic Selection Trials, he lowered his South American record in the 400m freestyle with a time of 3:45.85.

2020 Summer Olympics

At the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo, Costa almost broke the South American record in the Men's 400 metre freestyle heats, with a time of 3:45.99. He finished in 11th place, 0.32s from getting a place in the final. In the 800 metre freestyle, he broke the South American record at heats with a time of 7:46.08, ranking 5th for the final. Costa finished 8th in the 800m freestyle final, and later, 13th in the heat of the 1500m freestyle.

2021-24

He did not attend the 2021 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, because he felt some symptoms such as fever and malaise, which made him withdraw from the competition. At the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. These championships included five disciplines, with high diving not staged for this edi ...

, in Budapest, Hungary, he became the first Brazilian and South American in history to win a medal in the 400-meter freestyle event, obtaining bronze with a time of 3:43.31, a new South American record. It was the first medal by a South American in the men's 400 free from any major international meet since Argentinian Alberto Zorrilla at the 1928 Olympics. No South American had ever even qualified for the 400m freestyle final at the World Championships. In the 800m freestyle, Costa broke the South American record with a time of 7:45.48, finishing in 5th place, the best position ever obtained by a South American in the event (no South American swimmer had even reached the final of this event in World Championships). In the 1500m freestyle, Costa broke the South American record at heats, with a time of 14:53.03, qualifying 4th for the final. In the final, Costa destroyed the South American record, lowering it by more than 4 seconds, with a time of 14:48.53, finishing in 6th place and equaling the best mark in the history of Brazil in the race (6th place of

Luiz Lima Luiz Eduardo Carneiro da Silva de Souza Lima (born 10 December 1977) is a long-distance freestyle swimmer and Federal Deputy of Rio de Janeiro from Brazil, who competed at two consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1 ...

in 1998). After the pool events, he swam in the open waters in the Mixed 6km Relay Team, where Brazil finished in 5th place. In September 2022, at the José Finkel Trophy in

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

, he broke the short course South American record in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 7:41.23. and in the 1500-metre freestyle, with a time of 14:39.42. He did not attend the

2022 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) The 16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) took place from 13 to 18 December 2022 in Melbourne, Australia at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

, in Melbourne, Australia, despite having an index for the competition. At the

2023 World Aquatics Championships The 2023 World Aquatics Championships, the 20th edition of the World Aquatics Championships, were held in Fukuoka, Japan, from 14 to 30 July 2023. Originally scheduled to be held in 2021 as the 19th championships, the championships were postpo ...

, in Fukuoka, Japan, he remained among the best in the world, finishing 4th in the 400 metre freestyle, 7th in the 800 metre freestyle and 8th in the 4x200 metre freestyle relay. He chose not to participate in the 1500 m freestyle, to swim the relay. At the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games (), officially the XIX Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santiago 2023, were an international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, held in Santiago, Chile from 20 October to 5 Novem ...

held in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, Costa won 4 gold medals in the Men's 400 metre freestyle, with a time of 3.46.79, Pan American Games record; in the Men's 800 metre freestyle, with a time of 7:53.01, Pan American Games record; in the Men's 1500 metre freestyle, with a time of 15:09.29; and in the Men's 4 x 200 metre freestyle, with a time of 7:07.53, Pan American Games record. At the

2024 World Aquatics Championships The 2024 World Aquatics Championships, the 21st edition of the World Aquatics Championships, were held in Doha, Qatar, from 2 to 18 February 2024. Originally scheduled to be held in November 2023, the championships were postponed until February ...

, he remained among the best in the world, finishing 4th in the 400 metre freestyle. Putting the 200m freestyle in his range of events for the first time, he reached the final with a time of 1:46.06 (Olympic index) in the semi-finals, being only the 2nd Brazilian in history to reach a World Championship final in this event. With the Doha calendar having been made with several freestyle events accumulated in the first few days, he swam the 800m freestyle heats but ended up running out of energy to finish the race properly - in the middle of the race, he gave up the attempt, finishing 27th with time of 7:58.02. In the 200m freestyle final, at night, he finished 8th with a time of 1:46.87. With him not qualifying for the final of the 4x200m freestyle, his coach opted to return immediately to training, continuing his preparation for the Olympic Games, removing him from the 1500m freestyle competition.

2024 Summer Olympics

At the

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris, Costa reached the final of the 400m freestyle, breaking the Americas record and finishing in 5th place, with a time of 3:42.76, just 0.26 seconds away from obtaining the bronze medal. It was the second best result in Brazil's history in this event at the Olympics, behind only Djan Madruga who obtained two 4th places in

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

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Personal bests

Achievements

Olympic Games

* 400m freestyle: 5th (Paris 2024) * 800m freestyle: 8th (Tokyo 2020) * 1500m freestyle: 13th (Tokyo 2020)

FINA World Championships

* 200m freestyle: 8th (Doha 2024) * 400m freestyle: Med 3

(Budapest 2022) * 800m freestyle: 5th (Budapest 2022) * 1500m freestyle: 6th (Budapest 2022) * 4x200m freestyle relay: 8th (Fukuoka 2023) * Open water swimming Team: 5th (Budapest 2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Guilherme 1998 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) South American Games gold medalists for Brazil South American Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2018 South American Games Competitors at the 2022 South American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games swimmers for Brazil Pan American Games gold medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games Brazilian male freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for Brazil Swimmers from Rio de Janeiro (city) World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Costa, Guilhermo Costa, Guilherme_(swimmer) Military World Games silver medalists for Brazil Military World Games medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Esporte Clube Pinheiros swimmers