arena Swim of the Week: NAIA Record Holder Noel de Geus Rips 59.98 In 100 Breast

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

German native Noel de Geus has parlayed a standout sophomore year at Keiser University into a successful start to the long course season, dropping a massive best time in the men’s 100 breaststroke.

de Geus put up a time of 59.98 in the 100 breast on Friday at the German Championships in Berlin, which not only marked his first time under the 1:00 threshold, but was close to two seconds faster than he had ever been coming into the meet.

He came in with a personal best of 1:01.91, set at the 2023 German Championships, and brought his PB down to 1:00.55 in the prelims before eclipsing the minute barrier in the final.

Split Comparison

de Geus was the runner-up to Melvin Imoudu in the final on Friday, with Imoudu just shy of his lifetime best set earlier this month (59.07) in 59.15.

de Geus is the eighth German swimmer to break 1:00 in the 100 breast and the third to do so in 2024, joining Imoudu and National Record holder Lucas Matzerath, who clocked 59.30 at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.

In the historical rankings, Max Pilger joined de Geus in cracking the German top 10, dropping four-tenths on Friday in 1:00.30.

All-Time German Performers, Men’s 100 Breaststroke (LCM)

1. Lucas Matzerath, 58.74 – 2023 World Championships
2. Fabian Schwingenschlogl, 58.95 – 2021 GER Qualification Heidelburg
3. Melvin Imoudu, 59.07 – 2024 Eindhoven Qualification Meet
4. Hendrik Feldwehr, 59.15 – 2009 World Championships
5. Christian Vom Lehn, 59.47 – 2017 German Nationals
6. Johannes Neumann, 59.63 – 2009 German Nationals
7. Marco Koch, 59.80 – 2009 German Nationals
8. Noel de Geus, 59.98 – 2024 German Championships
9. Max Pilger, 1:00.30 – 2024 German Championships
10. Wassili Kuhn, 1:00.55 – 2019 Irish Summer Nationals

de Geus joined Keiser University in the fall of 2022, winning the men’s 100 and 200 breast at the Sun Conference Championships and then topping the field in the 50 free and 100 breast at the NAIA Championships during his freshman year.

This past season, de Geus went three-for-three individually at both meets, highlighted by a new lifetime best of 51.43 in the short course 100 breast to rank in the top 20 nationally in the U.S., including Division I.

He also swam a best time of 19.57 in the 50 free and won the 200 breast in 1:56.29 after posting a PB of 1:54.65 in December at the Zippy Invitational.

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