2023 BELGIAN OPEN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, April 21st – Sunday, April 23rd
- Wezenberg Olympic Swimming Center, Antwerp, Belgium
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Entries
- Results
The 2023 Belgian Open Swimming Championships kicked off today with two national records biting the dust.
First, in the women’s 50m breast, Florine Gaspard got it done for gold at 30.53. That outing shaved .03 off her own previous Belgian standard of 30.56 put on the books 2 years ago.
Her time also dips under the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard needed to qualify for this summer’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
21-year-old Gaspard now ranks 11th in the world on the season.
2022-2023 LCM Women 50 Breast
Meilutyte
WR 29.16
| 2 | Benedetta Pilato | ITA | 29.60 | 07/29 |
| 3 | Lilly King | USA | 29.72 | 06/28 |
| 4 | Lara Van Niekerk | RSA | 29.75 | 05/21 |
| 5 | Lydia Jacoby | USA | 29.81 | 06/29 |
| 6 | Anita Bottazzo | ITA | 30.02 | 07/29 |
| 7 | Imogen Clark | GBR | 30.05 | 05/21 |
| 8 | Qianting Tang | CHN | 30.08 | 07/29 |
| 9 | Mona McSharry | IRL | 30.29 | 04/03 |
| 9 | Satomi Suzuki | JPN | 30.29 | 07/29 |
| 11 | Veera Kivirinta | FIN | 30.33 | 07/29 |
| 11 | Anna Elendt | GER | 30.33 | 07/29 |
The other Belgian national record which fell on day one in Antwerp came by Lucas Henveaux in the men’s 200m free.
Competing in the heats of the 2free this morning, Henveaux posted a massive personal best of 1:46.31 to not only claim the top seed but hack just under 2 seconds off of his best-ever outing.
Entering these championships, Henveaux’s career-quickest rested at the 1:48.30 logged at this same competition last year. However, splitting 51.92/54.39, Henveaux clocked a new PB en route to slicing .30 off the longstanding Belgian record of 1:46.91 Glenn Surgeloose put on the books in 2016.
Henveaux would up hitting a slightly slower time of 1:48.48 this evening but that still rendered him the gold medalist and qualified for Fukuoka this summer.
Of note, Henveaux competed for the Cal Bears during the most recent NCAA season, but his future is still to-be-determined at this point.
Additional Notes
- Jade Smits topped the women’s 200m back podium in a time of 2:18.13 while Erikas Grigaitis earned the men’s 2back top prize in 2:00.28.
- The women’s 800m free saw Alisee Pisane get to the wall first in 8:44.25, just out-touching Lucie Hanquet who settled for silver in 8:44.51. The pair were over 13 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
- Valentine Dumont clocked a time of 1:58.59 to earn Fukuoka qualification en route to winning the women’s 200m free. She beat out Roos Vanotterdijk, the only other sub-2:00 swimmer of the field, who hit 1:59.62 as tonight’s silver medalist.
Do we get a day 2 recap as well, Retta? Flo was looking very good!
Lucas Fraudveaux. Get this ring chaser out of Berkeley asap
Henveaux’s “future is still to-be-determined” as a Cal Bear? I thought he was a 5th year with a one and done type of commitment?
I think the “future is still to be determined” is pertaining to where he’ll be training – not pertaining to the uncertainty of his NCAA career since he only had one year of eligibility. We don’t know if he’ll continue training at Cal or not.
Maybe he is going to appeal to get 1 or 2 years back? Not sure what the reason would be, but I am guessing here.
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My math says that he lowered the record by 0.60 seconds, not 0.30 as he swam 1.46.31