2025 FLANDERS SWIMMING CUP
- Friday, February 7th – Sunday, February 9th
- Olympic Swimming Centre, Antwerp, Belgium
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Live Results
- Livestream
This year’s edition of the annual Flanders Swimming Cup kicked off today from Antwerp with the 3-day competition representing a qualification opportunity for the 2025 World Championships, European Junior Swimming Championships and European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF).
Roos Vanotterdijk of the host nation made her presence known on day one, capturing gold in the women’s 50m back race.
20-year-old Vanotterdijk clocked a time of 27.98 to beat the field, coming within .01 of her own Belgian national record of 27.97 logged in 2023.
Teammate Fleur Verdonck was next to the wall in 29.32 followed by Lotte Vanhauwaert who bagged bronze in 29.81.
The men’s 200m back saw Irish national record holder John Shortt stake his claim on the event, posting a winning result of 1:58.58 to beat the pack by nearly 8 seconds.
Shortt, who turned 18 years of age today, owns the Irish national standard in this 2back with the 1:57.68 he produced to become the 2024 European Junior Championships gold medalist.
Milou Van Wijk of the Netherlands did damage in the women’s 50m free, topping the podium in an effort of 24.70.
Right behind her was Florine Gaspard, Belgium’s national record holder, hitting 24.77 as the silver medalist. Vanotterdijk also landed on the podium in 25.02, good enough for bronze.
On the men’s side, it was Belgium’s Vincent Van Hooydonck who got to the wall first, turning in a time of 22.64. Ireland’s Shane Ryan posted 22.72 as the silver medalist followed by countryman Evan Bailey who rounded out the podium in 22.96 as the only other sub-23-second competitor of the field.
Additional Notes
- Siri Vanderlinden of Belgium was too quick to catch in the women’s 400m free, putting up a winning result of 4:18.59 as the only swimmer to delve under the 4:20 barrier.
- Ireland’s Evan Bailey hit a time of 54.12 to win the men’s 100m fly event, with Belgium’s Van Hooydonck next in line at 55.41.
- The women’s 200m breast saw Ireland’s Ellie McCartney get it done for gold in 2:27.10, holding a healthy advantage over the next closest swimmer, Lisa Mamie of Switzerland who notched 2:31.41.
- Hungary’s Eszter Szabo Feltothy reaped gold in the women’s 200m fly, courtesy of her 2:15.84 result.
