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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.
Several National Records fell by the wayside during last week’s Belgian Championships (SCM) in Ghent, including five going down at the hands of Noah Verreth.
Verreth was fresh off breaking the Belgian Record in the men’s 50 backstroke at the Dutch Qualifiers meet in Rotterdam in late October, clocking 23.71, and then at the Belgian Championships, he went on a record-breaking spree.
The 20-year-old lowered his newly minted 50 back record on the opening day of the meet, leading off his club’s 200 medley relay in 23.66, and then the following day, he knocked it down two more times, clocking 23.47 in the prelims and ultimately 23.42 in the final.
Prior to him breaking the record in late October, Verreth had tied the Belgian Record on Oct. 11 in 24.12, matching the mark produced by Iarre Lafort in 2019.
Despite the new record, Verreth narrowly missed the SC European Championship qualifying time by just four one-hundredths of a second (23.38).
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The following day, Verreth solidified his spot at SC Europeans in the 100 back, blasting a time of 51.04 in the prelims to shatter the previous Belgian Record of 51.76, set by Alexandre Marcourt in 2021, while going well under the Euro qualifying time of 51.30.
Then, in the final, Verreth upped his game again, clocking 50.36 to become the first Belgian sub-51.
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At the Rotterdam qualifier meet in late October, Verreth had set his previous best in the 100 back at 51.85.
Split Comparison
| Marcourt, 2021 | Verreth, Belgian Qualifier | Verreth, Belgian Champ Prelims | Verreth, Belgian Champ Final |
| 25.01 | 25.16 | 24.25 | 23.91 |
| 26.75 (51.76) | 51.85 (26.69) | 51.04 (26.79) | 50.36 (26.45) |
The 100 back swim ranks Verreth 8th this season among Europeans, while in the 50 back, he ranks 11th.
He also won the 200 back at the meet in a time of 1:54.91, just over a second shy of the National Record held by Lander Hendrickx (1:53.75).
Verreth also owns the Belgian Record in the 100 back in long course, having clocked 54.19 this past summer at the Belgian Championships. In late June, he represented Belgium at the LEN U23 European Championships, placing 7th in the 100 back, 11th in the 50 back and 29th in the 200 back.
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