2024 AP Race International Day 2: Wellbrock, Corbeau & Kohler Grab Gold

2024 AP RACE INTERNATIONAL

• Saturday, May 25th – Monday, May 27th
• London Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap
• Results

The final night of action took place at the 2024 AP Race International, with impressive performances established on both the men’s and women’s sides.

In its 2nd year of operation, the AP Race International is rapidly becoming a go-to event on the global racing calendar, with talent attracted from Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and beyond.

Last night’s silver medalist in the 400m free, Germany’s Florian Wellbrock upgraded to gold in tonight’s 800m free event.

27-year-old Wellbrock stopped the clock in 7:52.49 to get to the wall exactly 2 seconds ahead of the 400m free champion here Oliver Klemet, also of Germany.

This evening, Klemet settled for silver in 7:54.49 in the 2-main race, as 17-year-old Danish swimmer Sander Johnsen rounded out the podium well back in 8:20.36.

British Olympian Anna Hopkin made her presence known in the women’s 100m free, posting a winning effort of 53.49 as the sole competitor of the field under 54 seconds.

Behind her was 17-year-old British ace Eva Okaro, the 2021 European Junior Championships bronze medalist in the 50m free, who touched in 54.64. Iceland’s Snaefridur Jorunnardottir bagged bronze in 55.01.

Hopkin took this event at this year’s British Olympic Trials, notching a time of 53.33 en route to beating the domestic field by over a second. This means tonight’s effort was only .16 off that result.

Germany’s female freestyle dynamo Isabel Gose dove in for the 800m free, decisively grabbing the gold in a result of 8:23.35.

That crushed the field, one which included 15-year-old Amelie Blocksidge and Loughborough’s Fleur Lewis. Blocksidge settled for silver in 8:34.22 while Lewis also landed on the podium in 8:44.10 for bronze.

Gose earned silver in this event at this year’s World Championships, clocking a time in Doha of 8:17.53 to touch only .19 away from Italian Simona Quadarella’s gold medal-worthy result.

Britain’s red-hot backstroker Oliver Morgan demonstrated once again why he’s the one to watch when it comes to the 100m sprint in Paris.

The Birmingham star clocked a time of 53.91 to top the podium this evening, outperforming Olympic bronze medalist Luke Greenbank who touched in 55.35. Bath’s Jack Skerry bagged the bronze in 56.12.

Morgan currently ranks 5th in the world in this event, courtesy of the 52.70 British record he pumped out at this year’s Olympic Trials.

Reigning world champion Angelina Kohler was too quick to catch in her signature 100m butterfly race. The 24-year-old produced an outing of 57.14 to get to the wall over a second ahead of the remainder of the field.

Keanna MacInnes, qualified for the British squad for Paris, hit 58.38 as the runner-up and Lucy Grieve logged 58.80 for 3rd place.

Kohler won this event in Doha in a time of 56.28 after establishing a new German national record of 56.11 in the semi-finals.

The men’s 200m breast saw a pair of Dutchmen go 1-2, with teammates Casper Corbeau and Arno Kamminga wreaking havoc on the competition.

Former University of Texas Longhorn Corbeau earned the edge, putting up 2:08.72 to Kamminga’s 2:08.80 to top the podium. Bronze went to Loughborough’s Greg Butler who was a mile away in 2:13.21.

Corbeau has been as quick as 2:07.99 this season, a time he posted at last December’s Rotterdam Qualification Meet. Kamminga, the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the event, owns a season-best of 2:08.30 from that same competition.

Finally, Olympic multi-medalist Duncan Scott got the job done for gold in the men’s 200m free, leading a handful of teammates to the wall.

Scott secured gold in 1:46.70 while teammate James Guy hit 1:47.17 as the silver medalist. Stirling ace Jack McMillan rounded out the podium in 1:47.58 and Matt Richards, the 2023 world champion in this event, earned 4th in 1:48.11.

Additional Winners

• Czech national record holder Daniel Gracik punched a time of 23.23 to take the men’s 50m fly, just .01 ahead of Germany’s Luca Armbruster who settled for silver in 23.24.
• After a powerful performance last night where she earned a new British national record of 1:05.54 in the 100m breast, Stirling’s Angharad Evans fell to 2nd in the 50m breast this evening. She touched in 30.55 while Estonian teenager Eneli Jefimova procured gold in 30.09, only .01 outside her own national record from the 2022 World Championships.
• The women’s 200m back saw Holly McGill post an effort of 2:11.42 to earn the top prize by over 5 seconds.
• Olympic finalist Abbie Wood was the top performer in the women’s 200m IM, with the Loughborough star clocking 2:10.42. Czech Republic’s newly-minted national record holder in the 200m free, Barbora Seemanova, was next to the wall in 2:11.25 while reigning 400m IM world champion Freya Colbert rounded out the top 3 in 2:12.27. New mom and Hungarian Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu placed 4th in 2:14.37 this evening.