2022 DANISH OPEN (DEN)
- Friday, April 15th – Tuesday, April 19th
- Bellahøj Svømmestadion, Copenhagen, Denmark
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships & European Championships Qualifier
- Start Lists/Results
The 2022 Danish Open got underway yesterday, with the annual competition running through Tuesday. World Championships roster spots are on the line as swimmers vie to snag FINA ‘A’ cuts for Budapest at the end of June.
Mainstay racer Julie Kepp Jensen topped the women’s 100m freestyle event, punching a time of 55.30. Opening in 26.93 and closing in 28.37, the 22-year-old Olympian beat the field by over half a second, with Camille Lilly Mei Cheng securing silver in 55.95 while Elisabeth Sabroe Ebbesen rounded out the top 3 in 55.98.
Kepp Jensen has been as fast as 54.88 in this 100m free, a mark she produced last year in Stockholm. Even that would have to be cut by a significant amount of time to reach the FINA ‘A’ cut of 54.25 set forth for Budapest.
For the men, so far junior swimmer Nicholas Castella has made some major noise, putting up some solid freestyle times at just 14 years of age.
The teen’s most impressive performance so far came in the men’s 200m free, where the Herlev Swimming emerging star put up a massive time of 1:50.44 in the men’s 200m freestyle.
After logging a morning swim of 1:51.75, Castella went on to split 53.48/56.96 to establish a new personal best time of 1:50.44. He only finished .03 out of the gold medal position, with Andreas Hansen topping the podium in 50.41.
Entering this meet, Castella, who turns 15 in June, held a career-quickest 2free mark of 1:54.27 from last June. As such, in a matter of less than a year, the Dane has managed to hack over 4 seconds off of that PB to now check-in as one of the fastest 14-year-olds of all time. Castella is coached by Ricki Clausen  and Ejnar Larsen.
For perspective, the United States’ national age group record sits at the 1:51.27 Thomas Heilman logged as a 14-year-old at December’s U.S. National Championships.
As such, Castella’s outing here beats that impressive time by nearly one solid second with a couple of months as a 14-year-old left to go.
That’s a monster swim.
The Us record is a 1:51 by Thomas? I thought Crocker was a 1:50 at 14 back in the day or am I remembering that wrong?
he was 1:53.87 at 14, might have confused him with Thorpe
“ less than a year, the Dane has managed to hack over 4 seconds off of that PB”
so he is slowing down 🙂
humor is overrated
Blazin’ fast. What did Thorpe go at 14?
1:50.07 and then 1:46.7 at 15
everyone waiting for the next Thorpe. But then again, so am I.
Thomas is quaking