2023 Lausanne Swim Cup – Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2023 LAUSANNE SWIM CUP

• Friday, February 24th – Sunday, February 26th
• Centre Aquatique Vaudoise Arena, Lausanne, Switzerland
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entries/Results
• Livestream

We’ve arrived at the final session of action at the 2023 Lausanne Swim Cup and the star power will be on full display.

Reigning 100m backstroke World Record holder Thomas Ceccon landed lane four in the men’s 100m free, so we’ll see him try to grab the top prize against the likes of British teen Jacob Whittle and multi-Olympic medalist Florent Manaudou of France.

Matt Sates of South Africa will gun for gold in the men’s 100m fly, but he’ll be facing Olympic bronze medalist Noe Ponti among the field.

Swedish ace Louise Hansson will attempt to top the podium twice, taking on the women’s 100m fly and 50m back just minutes apart.

World Record holder Tatjana Schoenmaker is set to race her bread-and-butter 200m breast while British European champion James Wilby is the top competitor to beat the men’s edition.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

GOLD – Noe Ponti (SUI), 52.17
SILVER – Matt Sates (RSA), 52.35
BRONZE – Huille Stanislas (FRA), 52.81

19-year-old South African Matt Sates might have taken the top seed of the morning but it was Olympic medalist Noe Ponti of Switzerland who ultimately got his hand on the wall first in this men’s 100m fly final.

Ponti touched in a time of 52.17 to lead Sates who was .18 behind in 52.35. Frenchman Huille Stanislas rounded out the top 3 with a result of 52.81.

Sates’ lifetime best rests at the 51.83 he put up in Durban in 2021 while 21-year-old Ponti earned bronze in this race at the Tokyo Olympic Games, punching the Swiss standard of 50.74 in the process.

Ponti slides into the season’s world rankings in slot #14 with his performance tonight.

WOMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

GOLD – Louise Hansson (SWE), 57.71
SILVER – Marie Wattel (FRA), 59.33
BRONZE – Farida Osman (EGY), 1:00.31

After claiming the top seed out of the morning heats with a time of 58.99, Louise Hansson of Sweden put up another strong performance tonight to take the women’s 10m fly.

Hansson cracked a time of 57.71 to top the podium, holding over a second advantage ahead of Marie Wattel of France. Wattel snagged silver in 59.33 while Egyptian swimmer Farida Osman secured bronze in 1:00.31.

26-year-old Hansson opened in 27.02 and brought it home in 30.69 to earn her second sub-58 second result of the season. She’s already been as quick as 57.25 last month at the Luxembourg Euro Meet to rank #1 in the world.

Hansson owns a lifetime best of 56.22, a time she produced at the 2020 Olympic Games. She wound up 5th there in Tokyo, while last year she became the Europen champion in the event.

She’ll be taking on the 50m back in a matter of minutes.

MEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

GOLD – Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 25.08
SILVER – Roman Mityukov (SUI), 25.71
BRONZE – Thierry Bollin (SUI), 25.79

The top 3 men’s 50m backstrokers separated themselves from the rest of the pack with each hitting a 25-point result.

Leading the way was reigning 100m backstroke World Record holder Thomas Ceccon of Italy, with the 22-year-old posting a time of 25.08. That ranks as the world’s 10th fastest time of the season. He’s slated to race the 100m freestyle later in this finals session.

Swiss record holder Roman Mityukov was next to the wall in 25.71 while teammate Theirry Bollin produced a mark of 25.79 for bronze.

WOMEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

GOLD – Louise Hansson (SWE), 28.53
SILVER – Melanie Henique (FRA), 28.68
BRONZE – Nina Stanisavljevic (SRB), 28.96

Minutes after her 100m fly victory, Hansson grabbed her second gold of the night in the women’s 50m backstroke.

Knocking nearly half a second off her prelims time, Hansson checked in with a result of 28.53. That gave her the edge over French swimmer Melanie Henique who got to the wall just .15 later for a silver medal-worthy 28.68.

Serbia’s Nina Stanisavljevic also landed on the podium in 28.96 for bronze.

MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

GOLD – Will Licon (USA), 2:11.28
SILVER – James Wilby (GBR), 2:11.59
BRONZE – Matthew Randle (RSA), 2:15.32

In what wound up being a two-man race, USA’s Will Licon beat out British European champion James Wilby in the men’s 200m breast.

Wilby split quicker on the front end with 1:03.21 to Licon’s 1:03.59 but the American surged slightly ahead on the back half to ultimately get to the wall first. South African Matthew Randle posted 2:15.32 behind the leaders for 3rd place in the race.

Last year Wilby earned silver at the Commonwealth Games in this event while he topped the podium at the European Championships. The 29-year-old owns a lifetime best of 2:07.49 from 2019.

Licon’s lifetime best rests at the 2:07.62 he produced for gold at the 2019 Pan American Games where the former Texas Longhorn also won the 200m IM.

WOMEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

GOLD – Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:24.45
SILVER – Martina Carraro (ITA), 2:27.54
BRONZE – Abbie Wood (GBR), 2:28.71

Reigning Olympic champion and World Record holder Tatjana Schoenmaker grabbed the gold in this women’s 200m breast, clocking a time of 2:24.45. That eases the 25-year-old into the season’s world rankings as the 5th fastest performer thus far.

Italy’s Martina Carraro fell one spot short of completing a golden trifecta of breaststroke wins here as she already topped the podium in both the 50m and 100m distances. Tonight she settled for silver in 2:27.54 while British swimmer Abbie Wood cleaned up bronze in 2:28.71.

MEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

GOLD – Mikel Schreuders (ARU), 49.53
SILVER – Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 49.58
BRONZE – Roman Mityukov (SUI), 49.70

The men’s 100m free saw a tightly-packed top tier roar to the wall within less than half a second among the 5 of them. When the dust settled it was Aruban national record holder Mikel Shreuders who came out on top, securing gold in a time of 49.53.

That sneaked in just ahead of Ceccon’s 49.58 while Mityukov was also right there in 49.70 for bronze.

Additional contenders included British teen Jacob Whittle placing 4th in 49.79 while French Olympic multi-medalist Florent Manaudou took 5th in 49.91.

WOMEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

GOLD – Anna Hopkin (GBR), 54.44
SILVER – Marie Wattel (FRA), 55.04
BRONZE – Isabella Hindley (GBR), 56.39

Two British sprinters found themselves on this women’s 100m free podium as Anna Hopkin and teammate Isabella Hindley scored respective gold and bronze.

Hopkin produced the sole time of the field under 55 seconds with her result of 54.44 while Hindley touched nearly 2 seconds later in 56.39.

Between them was Wattel who already captured silver in the 100m fly earlier in this session. Wattel hit a time of 55.04 for silver.

Hopkin is the fastest British woman in history in this 100m free event, owning a career-quickest time of 52.75 from the prelims at the 2020 Olympic Games. The 26-year-old ultimately touched in 52.83 to place 7th in the Tokyo final.

Her time here shaved .05 off of her previous season-best of 54.49 logged at the Southport Olympic Prep Meet at which she raced amidst the British training camp on the Gold Coast, Australia.