Jakub Bursa, 22, shattered the long-standing Czech record in the men’s 400 IM at this week’s Grand Prix Pardubice. Bursa clocked a personal best 4:15.30, soaring under the former record of 4:18.34, which Pavel Janeček swam in 2016. Bursa’s swim took 3.04 seconds off the nine-year-old mark.
It was an even bigger time drop for Bursa. He had not swum a lifetime best in this event since the 2021 LEN European Junior Championships, where he won silver in 4:19.20. This swim improved on that medal-winning time by 3.90 seconds.
Split Comparison
| Bursa – New Czech Record | Janeček – Former Czech Record | Bursa – Former PB | |
| 100 | 57.83 | 58.08 | 59.07 |
| 200 | 2:02.89 (1:05.06) | 2:04.01 (1:05.93) | 2:06.21 (1:07.14) |
| 300 | 3:13.84 (1:10.95) | 3:19.04 (1:15.03) | 3:19.08 (1:12.87) |
| 400 | 4:15.30 (1:01.46) | 4:18.34 (59.30) | 4:19.20 (1:00.12) |
Bursa jumped on the race, opening in 57.83, a full 1.24 seconds ahead of the pace from his former personal best. He continued to out-split himself by even wider margins on the middle 200 meters. His backstroke split at the Grand Pardubice was a whopping 2.08 seconds ahead of his backstroke split from 2021, and his breaststroke split was 1.92 seconds faster.
He only ceded ground to his former self on the freestyle leg, splitting 1:01.46 compared to 1:00.12. It’s also the only stroke where he did not best Janeček’s pace. Janeček brought his record swim home under 1:00 in 59.30, but Bursa was already so far ahead of the record line that it did not make a difference that he was over two seconds slower than Janeček on the freestyle.
Bursa formerly held the national record in the long-course 200 IM until Miroslav Knedla took over the mark in 2023 with a 2:00.26. Bursa nearly took that record back this week as he won gold in the event at the Grand Prix. He swam a lifetime best 2:00.31, touching five-hundredths from the mark. Like the 400 IM, this was his first lifetime best in the event since the 2021 European Junior Championships.
He also won the 200 breaststroke in a lifetime best 2:13.17, improving from the 2:16.04 he swam two years ago.
Glad to see that swimmers can work through ups and downs (with regards to swimming times) and come back with PB’s 4 years later, with his age, he could easily have 2 more Olympics in him