2026 Bergen Swim Festival Day 2 Prelims: Mathias Set Up For Another Big Evening Swim In The 50 Fly

2026 Bergen Swim Festival

• Friday, April 17th – Sunday, April 19th
• Prelims at 9:00am local (3:00am ET)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon ET)
• Bergen, Norway
• Alexander Dale Oen (AdO) Arena, Bergen (50m Olympic pool)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entries
• Live Results
• Livestream
• Recaps:
  • Finals: Day 1

After setting a massive lifetime best to move up to 5th all-time in the 100 breaststroke last night, Van Mathias could be in line for a similar jump in the 50 fly today.

He posted 23.13 this morning at the Bergen Swim Festival, just 0.07 off his lifetime best from the Pro Swim Series in January. This was only his third swim ever under 23.5, and having rocketed up the U.S. rankings in the 100 breast yesterday a move upwards from his current #5 ranking in the 50 fly is likely for tonight.

Dare Rose and Michael Andrew are tied for 2nd in those rankings in 22.79, just 0.34 seconds faster than Mathias’ swim this morning. The Indiana swimmer does have history in this stroke, having been a mid-distance fly swimmer for the majority of his career before switching to breaststroke at the start of the 2022-23 season.

He won Pan Pacific Junior silver in the 200 fly in a time of 1:57.64 in 2018, behind current world champion Luca Urlando, but did not drop time in either the 100 fly or 200 fly for another four years. While a return to the 200 fly is unlikely, a comeback swim in the 100 could be on if he sets a big lifetime best in the 50 today.

Marrit Steenbergen claimed the top seed in two events this morning, posting 54.70 in the 100 free and 2:16.92 in the 200 IM. She touched out Siobhan Haughey in the former, with the Hong Kong athlete clocking 54.77 after clocking 1:54.31 in the 200 free final last night to come within half a second of her national record.

Barbara Janickova was just behind the two big hitters, clocking 54.90 to take 3rd as the only other woman under 55 seconds.

Haughey was also 2nd in the 50 breast, touching in 31.68 behind Olivia Klint Ipsa‘s 31.30. Haughey owns the Hong Kong record of 30.36 in this event as well, one of 19 individual national records she holds.

Lukas Maertens was too hot to handle in the men’s 200 free, clocking 1:46.79 to lead the heats by more than two seconds. That was the exact same time as Oliver Klemet posted at the Berlin Swim Open last night, and sits 1.57 seconds off Maertens’ season best of 1:45.22 from the China Open last month.

Robin Hanson, who took bronze in the 100 free last night, was 2nd in 1:48.93, three seconds off his Swedish record of 1:45.90. Norwegian record holder Sander Sorensen was 6th this morning in 1:52.31, six seconds off his lifetime best of 1:45.78 from the World Championships last summer.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic medalist Matti Mattsson was the top seed in the 200 breast this morning in 2:12.53, ahead of Hong Kong’s Adam Chillingworth in 2:14.02.

Arno Kamminga, the #10 performer in history with his PB of 2:06.85, was 3rd in 2:15.71, with Indiana’s Josh Matheny 5th in 2:17.66. Both swimmers were in the 100 breast final last night, with Matheny placing 3rd in 1:00.32 and Kamminga 5th in 1:00.64.

Matheny’s teammate Luke Barr topped the men’s 100 back in 55.66, just 0.17 seconds off his entry time. Louis Hansson was the only woman under 1:00 in the 100 fly, clocking 58.00 to sit half a second off the 57.50 she posted at the Malmstein Swim Open last week.

Anna Peplowski was the fastest woman in the 200 back by nearly four seconds, clocking 2:11.76 to move into tonight’s final as the top seed.