Danas Rapsys Becomes 3rd Fastest Performer Of All-Time In Men’s 400 FR

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
• Hangzhou, China
• Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
• SCM (25m)
• Provisional Entry List
• Entries Book
• Meet Schedule
• Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00 am ET
• S. Live Stream (Finals – First Three Days)
• S. Live Stream (Prelims, Finals Last Day)
• FINA TV Livestream (All Sessions)
• Live Results (Omega)

After smashing his Lithuanian Record in the preliminaries by close to four seconds, Danas Rapsys made another significant drop in the final, knocking another 2.6 off as he won gold and became the 3rd fastest performer in history in the men’s 400 free.

Rapsys had gone 3:36.65 in the prelims to lower his national record of 3:40.57 and take the top seed for the final, a time that put him 12th all-time in the event. In the final he was out aggressively, leading by over seven-tenths after 50 metres, and would not be denied as he had the fastest split in the field on six of the eight 50s to win by well over two seconds in 3:34.01.

That swim bumps him up to 3rd all-time in the event, and lowers the Championship Record of 3:34.32 set by Peter Bernek of Hungary in 2014. He now only trails Yannick Agnel and Paul Biedermann in the historical rankings, both of whom have been down in the 3:32s.

Norwegian Henrik Christiansen broke his National Record to take silver in 3:36.64, and Italian Gabriele Detti snagged bronze in 3:37.54.

ALL-TIME TOP PERFORMERS, MEN’S 400 FREESTYLE

1. Yannick Agnel (FRA), 3:32.25
2. Paul Biedermann (GER), 3:32.77
3. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:34.01
4. Peter Bernek (HUN), 3:34.32
5. Grant Hackett (AUS), 3:34.58