Guy Snags Double Gold, Anderson Impresses In 100 Free At Flanders Cup

2020 FLANDERS SWIMMING CUP

• Saturday, January 18th & Sunday, January 19th
• Olympic Aquatic Centre Wezenberg, Antwerp, Belgium
• 50m (LCM)
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Preview
• Live Results

18-year-old Freya Anderson had a stellar 2019, capping off a series of best times with 2 gold medals at the European Short Course Championships. The Ellesmere Titan is already making moves in the right direction in this Olympic year, starting off strong at this weekend’s Flanders Cup in Antwerp, Belgium.

Joined by fellow Brits to the tune of James Guy and Charlie Hutchison, Anderson nabbed the 100m free gold to kick-off her Flanders Cup campaign. The teen put up a winning effort of 53.81, composed of splits of 26.29/27.52, to give her a mark that fell just .07 shy of Dutch Olympian Ranomi Kromowidjojo’s meet record of 53.74 from 2018.

For Anderson, she owns a 100m free personal best of 53.31 from last year’s FINA World Aquatic Championships, a competition in which she ultimately placed 8th overall in a final time of 53.44. Tonight’s effort checks-in among her best-ever, representing Anderson’s 6th fastest time of her career.

She is now ranked 10th in the world this season:

As for Guy, the Bath athlete also made his presence known by stepping onto the podium twice on the evening. The 24-year-old 200m fly European Short Course bronze medalist from last year first clocked a time of 1:47.50 to take gold in the men’s 200m free. His time rendered a comfortable lead over runner-up Alexandre Marcourt‘s time of 1:48.32.

Guy now enters the 2019/20 season rankings in slot #5:

Next on Guy’s agenda was the 100m fly, where he struck gold once again in a time of 52.25. Splitting 24.45/27.80, Guy overtook the previous Flanders Cup Record of 52.67 set by Francois Heersbrandt back in 2009.

Silver medalist tonight was the home nation’s Louis Croenen, who touched in 52.99 to represent the only other 100m fly finalist under the 53-second threshold. The 25-year-old’s time fell within .25 of his 52.74 lifetime best and also represents just the 2nd occasion Croenen has been in the 52-range.

Dutch racer Maaike De Waard was another double gold medalist on the evening, reaping the top prize across the 50m back and 50m fly events. In the former, the 23-year-old put up a time of 28.20 for the gold, off her personal best of 27.85 from last year, but enough to get her hand on the wall .15 ahead of runner-up Mie Nielsen of Denmark.

In the 50m fly, 26.47 is what it took De Waard to pull out the win, with teammate Kinge Zandriga the next in line in 26.86.

Although Dutchman Jesse Puts led the men’s 50m freestyle prelims with a top-seeded 22.80, it was young gun Kenzo Simons, also of the Netherlands, who got the job done for gold when it counted in the final.

After settling for the 2nd seed in 22.97, Simons took things up a notch to ultimately get to the wall first in the final in a time of 22.50, just edging out Puts who snagged silver in 22.54.

Just last month 18-year-old Simons became the first Dutchman ever to get under the 21-second threshold in the short course edition of the 50m freestyle. His time of 20.98 established a new Dutch record, overtaking the previous mark of 21.05 put on the books by Puts when he took the 2016 Short Course World Championships title in Windsor, Canada.

Slovenia’s Peter John Stevens was good enough for gold in the men’s 50m breast, producing a time of 27.63 to out-touch Lithuanian Andrius Sidlauskas and his silver medal-worthy 27.99. The pair beat out Giedrius Titenis who had earlier than the 200m breaststroke victory in a time fo 2:12.59, only after Irishman Darragh Greene was deemed disqualified.

Greene registered a time of 2:12.29 but was disqualified for not touching with 2 hands, either at a turn or the finish, the DQ didn’t specify on the results. Of note, German Marco Koch was originally entered in the meet but was no longer listed as of today.

Shane Ryan of Ireland got his nation on the board by taking the men’s 100m back. He scored a time of 54.71, while teammate Conor Ferguson collected silver in 55.11. Ferguson had earlier notched the top seed in 54.83, less than half a second off his own 54.38 PB from last year.

Additional Notes:

• Ellen Walshe Ireland reaped gold in the women’s 200 fly, posting a time of 2:14.15.
• Lithuanian Kotryna Teterevkova got the job done in the women’s 100m breast with an effort of 1:08.36 to beat out Fanny Lecluyse‘s 1:08.39.
• 17-year-old Hutchison of Great Britain was tonight’s 200m IM victor in a time of 2:03.34.
• Danish freestyle ace Anton Ipsen logged the only sub-3:50 time of the men’s 400m free, putting up 3:49.95 for the top prize.
• British dynamo Katie Matts got her hand on the wall in 4:50.11 for gold in the women’s 400m IM tonight.