Danas Rapsys Puts Up First 1:45 200 Freestyle Since Tokyo Olympics

2023 SWIM OPEN STOCKHOLM

• Thursday, April 13th – Sunday, April 16th
• Stockholm, Sweden
• LCM (50m)
• World Championships Qualifier
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Entries/Results

Day two of the 2023 Swim Open Stockholm brought one of the swiftest men’s 1500m freestyle performances of all time.

21-year-old Daniel Wiffen of Ireland scorched a new lifetime best and Irish national record of 14:34.91 to become the 4th fastest man in history.

• Daniel Wiffen Cranks Out 14:34.91 to Become #4 Performer All-Time

There were several other notable swims tonight on both the men’s and women’s sides to keep the speed rolling.

Lithuanian Olympian Danas Rapsys got it done for gold in the men’s 200m free, logging a time of 1:45.69. Opening in 51.57 and closing in 54.12, 27-year-old Rapsys beat out Austrian Felix Auboeck and Great Britain’s Max Litchfield.

Auboeck clocked a time of 1:46.22 for the silver while Litchfield rounded out the top 3 with a result of 1:48.93.

As for Rapsys, his effort tonight easily surpassed the relatively disappointing result of 1:46.82 he put up for 14th place at last year’s World Championships. In fact, his 1:45.69 checks in among his top 10 best personal performances in the event and his first sub-1:46 performance since the 2020 Olympic Games.

Rapsys now ranks 5th in the world this season.

In a Sarah Sjostrom-less women’s 100m fly final, it was still a trio of Swedes who landed on the podium this evening.

Louise Hansson produced a time of 57.00 to easily take the gold, getting to the wall over 2 seconds ahead of the next-closest competitor. Sara Junevik was next in 59.12 while Emmy Hallkvist bagged bronze in 59.25.

Hansson’s effort here shaved .25 off her previous season-best of 57.25 she put up at January’s Luxembourg Euro Meet. She now ranks 4th in the world on the season.

Hansson was back in the water later on in the session, competing in the women’s 100m back. She fell short of the podium, clocking 1:00.88 for 4th place.

Taking the women’s 1back gold was Loughborough teammate Cate DeLoof of the United States. The former Michigan Wolverine punched a time of 1:00.25 to just get the edge over Poland’s Adela Piskerska.

Piskerska settled for silver in 1:00.30 while French swimmer Mary-Ambre Moluh earned bronze in 1:00.44

Additional Winners

• Estonia made it 1 & 3 in the men’s 100m fly, as Daniel Zaitsev grabbed gold in 52.46 while teammate Alex Ahliainen collected bronze in 52.93. In between was French speedster Maxime Grousset who secured silver in 52.76.
• Czech racer Miroslav Knedla was the men’s 50m back gold medalist, producing a result of 24.93 as the only sub-25-second swimmer of the field. That mark ties the national record which Tomas Franta put on the books at the Eindhoven Qualification Meet just earlier this month.
• 16-year-old Eneli Jefimova was just over half a second off her own Estonian national record en route to winning the women’s 50m breast. Jefimova topped the podium in 30.61, just .03 ahead of runner-up Sophie Hansson of Sweden.
• Germany’s Lucas Matzerath won the men’s 100m breast in 1:00.66.
• The women’s 400m IM saw Sweden’s Lisa Nystrand earn the top prize in 4:50.84. She’s just 16 years of age.