Argentina's Agostina Hein wins 400m medley in Monaco by 11 secs | OneFootball

Argentine swimmer Agostina Hein once again showed her talent in the pool and this Saturday claimed another gold medal at the prestigious international Mare Nostrum Swim Tour, which has its first stop in Monaco. The Campana native, 18 years old, finished first in the 400-meter individual medley final, confirming her strong form in swimming.

Hein combined the strokes to perfection and led the race from start to finish, opening up a wide gap over her rivals. The Argentine finished the event in 4 minutes, 36.21 seconds. Behind her were Italians Ludovica Patetta (4:47.78) and Olympic medalist Simona Quadarella (4:48.58). With this achievement, Agostina now has a total of 17 gold medals in 2026, 14 of them in individual events.

Meanwhile, Argentine swimmer Ulises Saravia finished second in the 100-meter backstroke and took the silver medal, finishing behind Russia’s Pavel Samusenko and ahead of Hungary’s Adam Jaszo with a time of 58.59 seconds. This tour-format meet, which will continue tomorrow in Monte Carlo, will then move on to Canet-En-Roussillon (France) on May 27 and 28 and conclude in Barcelona on May 30 and 31.

Agostina Hein was born on April 24, 2008, in Campana, Buenos Aires Province, and from her very first contact with the water at the age of three, at the Aquarium swimming school in her hometown, she never let go of her passion for swimming. By age seven, she was already competing in tournaments organized by the Northern Buenos Aires Province Amateur Swimming Federation (FANNBA), at the Club Ciudad de Campana.

At 11, her coach Sebastián Montero spotted her at a federation tournament and brought her to Independiente de Zárate, which became the central pillar of her development. When the club let the coach go, Hein followed him and began training at SER Natación Alto Rendimiento in Zárate, the club she still competes for today. During her development years, she also worked on physical training with coach Alberto Beto Montoya.

In 2022, at just 14 years old, Hein competed in the South American Games in Asunción, where she won the silver medal in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay, finished fourth in the 1,500-meter freestyle, and sixth in the 200- and 800-meter freestyle events.

The following year, at the 2023 Pan American Games, she placed fifth in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle and sixth in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter medley relay. At the 2023 World Junior Championships, held in Israel, she won the bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:33.90.

At the 2024 World Championships in Doha, at 16 years old, Agostina finished fifth in the 800-meter freestyle and eighth in the 400-meter freestyle. Those results earned her a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which she entered as the youngest athlete in the entire Argentine delegation. In the French capital, she finished 14th in the 800-meter freestyle (8:37.43) and 18th in the 400-meter freestyle (4:14.24). “When I came back from Paris, I got the Olympic rings tattooed on my shoulder,” she said.

In March of that same year, at age 15, she had already set the absolute Argentine record in the 100-meter butterfly with 59.36 seconds, becoming the first Argentine swimmer to break the one-minute mark in that event. The previous record belonged to Macarena Ceballos (1:00.27).

The year 2025 marked her consolidation as one of the most outstanding young swimmers in the world. At the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, she collected eight medals: three gold (400-meter freestyle, 400-meter individual medley, and 200-meter individual medley, all with junior Pan American records), four silver, and one bronze.

Without a break, she traveled from Paraguay to Romania for the World Junior Championships. On August 19, 2025, she was crowned junior world champion in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4:34.34, breaking the national and South American record held by Georgina Bardach since the 2004 Athens Olympic Games (4:37.51). The following day, she won the silver medal in the 800-meter freestyle with 8:26.19, her personal best in that event.

In September 2025, at the South American Junior Aquatics Championships in Rio de Janeiro, she collected 10 medals: eight gold and two silver. That same year, she received the Olimpia de Plata Award. At the 2026 South American Youth Games, Hein once again showed her regional dominance with another 10 medals: nine gold and one silver, in events ranging from the 100-meter butterfly to the relays.

Having just turned 18, Hein is already setting her sights on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, where experts see her as a contender to reach an Olympic final.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.