Flanders Cup Day 1: Rapsys Rages To 200 Free FINA A Cut

2019 FLANDERS CUP

• Saturday, January 19th – Sunday, January 20th
• Olympic Swimming Center, Antwerp, Belgium
• LCM
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Start Lists/Live Timing

Tatiana Belonogoff of Great Britain raced her way to a huge personal best tonight in Antwerp to take the women’s 100m breaststroke. Clocking 1:07.84, the teen European Junior Champion blew away her previous PB of 1:08.63. That time was earned at last year’s British Championships.

Belonogoff now sits as the 6th fastest swimmer in the world so far this LCM season:

Also making waves in breaststroke on this first finals session was Dutchman Arno Kamminga, who held off former world champion Marco Koch of Germany in the men’s 200m breast.

Kamminga came into the wall in 2:10.64, while Koch touched just .21 later in 2:10.84. Koch holds the meet record with the 2:09.74 he notched last year. Both men’s efforts cleared the FINA ‘A’ cut of 2:11.00.

Ireland’s Darragh Greene pulled off the bronze in the race, registering a time of 2:12.89 to round out the top 3 men’s 200m breaststrokers. Greene would go on to win the men’s 50m breaststroke at the end of the session, stopping the clocking at 27.72 to come within half a second of the Irish National Record.

Fellow Irishman and Short Course World Championships bronze medalist Shane Ryan notched the winning time in the men’s 100m back tonight. The former Penn State standout took gold in 54.69 to lead a 1-2 Irish punch, as Conor Ferguson wrangled up silver in 55.29. British teen Nick Pyle also made the podium in 55.36 for bronze.

Hungary’s Liliana Szilagyi busted out her fastest 200m fly time of the season, dipping under the 2:10 threshold with a winning mark of 2:09.80. That wiped out her mark of 2:10.15 registered last December at the Gyor Open.

Finishing far behind in silver was her teammate Katinka Hosszu, who touched the wall in 2:13.33.

Hosszu did strike gold, however, in her specialty 400m IM event where the 29-year-old multiple Olympic gold medalist easily won in 4:44.75, the only time under 4:50.

Lithuanian beast Danas Rapsys topped the podium twice tonight, first in the men’s 200m free where he notched a big-time 1:46.69. Rapsys’ effort now ranks him as 3rd fastest in the world, although he was faster last year, having set the meet record at 1:45.35. His time tonight also falls under the FINA A cut of 1:47.40 needed to qualify for this year’s World Championships.

British rising athletes Tom Dean crushed a runner-up time of 1:47.83, a mark less than .20 off of his previous best of 1:47.64 established at last year’s European Junior Championships. The University of Bath swimmer now checks-in among the world rankings as well, inserting himself as the 7th fastest swimmer on the globe this season.

Dean made things happen in the 200m IM event as well, where the 18-year-old earned the gold in 2:01.53, beating seasoned racer David Verraszto of Hungary. Dean’s PB is 1:59.17, just for perspective. Verraszto tonight took silver in 2:02.11.

Freya Anderson, a relay weapon both at last year’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships, was the women’s 100m freestyle victor with an effort of 54.16. She was the World Junior Champion in this event at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Indianapolis.

Although the British World Championships squad will be decided at this year’s National Championships, Anderson’s time does slide under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 54.49 needed for Gwangju.

Also under 55 tonight was Danish racer Signe Bro, who touched in 54.42 for the 3rd fastest time of her career and also a FINA ‘A’ cut time.

Finally, British swimmer Chloe Golding shut out the field in the women’s 200m back, registering a winning time of 2:12.11. Although that’s well off her own PB of 2:09.93 that made her the 10th fastest Brit of all-time, it was enough to stay ahead of teammate Jess Fullalove, who took silver in 2:13.08.

Of note, after her earlier events, Hosszu faded all the way to 8th with a time of 2:20.75.

Additional Winners:

• Silver medalist at last year’s European Junior Championships, Alexander Norgaard of Denmark, took the men’s 800m freestyle in a time of 8:12.53.
• Great Britain’s Maisie MacCartney came within 3 seconds of her personal best with a winning effort of 8:52.14 in the women’s version of the 800m free.
• A close race ensued in the women’s 50m back, but Mie Nielsen came away with the win by must .01 ahead of Maaike de Waard. Nielsen of Denmark won in 28.42 to de Waard’s 28.43. Of note, Hungarian Hosszu finished 4th in 29.07.
• De Waard got it done in the women’s 50m fly, topping the podium in 26.42.
• National Record holder and 2016 Short Course World Champion Jesse Puts of Netherlands was tonight’s 50m freestyle winner for the men with his effort of 22.41.
• Dutchman Mattheys Goosen earned the men’s 100m fly win in 52.78. Singaporean Olympic champion laid low in this event, finishing 5th in a time of 53.61.