Melanie Costa made a little bit of history with her silver medal in the women’s 400-meter freestyle on Sunday — and the Spaniard didn’t even know it.
By finishing second behind runaway winner Katie Ledecky at the raucous Palau Sant Jordi pavilion on Sunday, Costa became the first woman born in Spain to win a medal at a long-course swimming world championships.
“I didn’t even know that. I am surprised, but now I am even happier,” Costa said with a look of disbelief after asking if two-time Olympic silver medalist Mireia Belmonte had won one.
Belmonte, the host nation’s great medal hope, hasn’t yet. She missed qualifying with the ninth-best time in morning heats, falling short of reaching the field-of-eight final. Belmonte will race in another five events.
Spain has won one previous medal in a women’s race. That was Nina Zhivanevskaya, a nationalized Russian who captured gold in the 50 backstroke at the 2003 worlds in Barcelona.
“I always wanted to be at the top,” said Costa. “I knew that this could be my time. I’m in the best moment of my career, a silver medal says that I’m among the elite. I’m going to move forward to the next competition with a lot of confidence.”
The 24-year-old Costa is from the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, home to perhaps Spain’s biggest sports star of all, tennis star Rafael Nadal.
While Nadal will still be king for some time to come, Costa has also earned her moment in the spotlight. Newspaper El Mundo splashed on its website: “Costa, Surprise Silver,” and Publico gushed: “Melanie Costa achieves historic silver.”
Grabbed by Spanish national television after she had been draped with her medal, Costa was speechless.
“To win the silver medal and do it at home, I’m just so happy,” she said.
Costa’s day started in spectacular fashion and kept getting better as she lowered her personal best by four seconds.
By qualifying with the second-best mark behind Ledecky in the morning heats, Costa set a Spanish national record of 4:04.20. She then lowered that mark by 1.93 seconds in the final.
A year ago, Costa failed to make the final in the 400 free at the London Olympics. She won gold in this event last year at the short-course worlds in Istanbul, but finished eighth in the 2011 long-course worlds in Shanghai.
Ledecky’s victory was never in doubt after taking a huge lead. Yet Costa slotted in beside the American and used that to her advantage.
“I knew that Ledecky was going to go out at full speed, and after this morning I saw myself with the strength necessary to follow her for the first 200 meters,” Costa said. “And that’s what I did. I grabbed onto her and didn’t let her go until she could keep going and I couldn’t.
“To swim 4:20 is incredible. It makes everything worth it. This erases all the rest.”
