Malyutin Joins 1:44 Club En Route To 200 Free Euros Gold

2021 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The men’s 200m freestyle was a lights-out race, as another member of the 1:44 club has been officially initiated with Russia’s Martin Malyutin‘s 1:44.79 victory.

Firing off an opening half of 51.28 before closing in 53.51, Malyutin kept the edge over the British duo of Duncan Scott and Tom Dean who finished with the silver and bronze in respective efforts of 1:45.19 and 1:45.34. Both are also co-members of the 1:44 club and the former tied Malyutin for bronze in this event at the 2019 FINA World Championships.

It was 200m fly world record holder and victor here, Kristof Milak of Hungary, who scorched the fastest opening half of 51.03 before backing off to wind up 5th, with Lithuanian ace Danas Rapsys also landing off the podium in 4th in 1:45.72.

Robin Hanson broke the Swedish national record last night with his semi swim of 1:46.50 but added nearly a second to place 7th this evening.

For Malyutin, the Russian’s previous personal best in this 200m free event rested at the 1:45.18 he posted at this April’s Russian Championships. That was faster than the 1:45.63 he and Scott both registered for bronze in Gwangju.

Scott owns a lifetime best of 1:44.47 in this one of his many events, while teammate Dean also recently got under 1:45 with his big-time 1:44.58 also from just this past April. As such, his result here bumps him up to become the 4th fastest performer in the world this season.

2020-2021 LCM Men 200 Free

TomGBR
Dean
07/27
1:44.22
2Duncan
Scott
GBR1:44.2607/27
3Hwang
Sunwoo
KOR1:44.6207/25
4Katsuo
Matsumoto
JPN1:44.6504/05
5Fernando
Scheffer
BRA1:44.6607/27
View Top 26»

Malyutin now ranks as the 12th fastest performer all-time, inching closer to the seemingly untouchable Russian national record of 1:43.90 Danila Izotov logged at the supersuited 2009 FINA World Championships. As a consolation, Malyutin’s 1:44.79 lifetime best overtook the previous European Championships record of 1:44.89 Pieter van den Hoogenband scored at the 2002 edition of this meet.

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John26
3 years ago

Malyutin’s last 50 reminded me of 2009 Biedermann.

Mikeh
3 years ago

Malyutin has an insane freestyle technique. He picks his head up almost out of the water, violently jerking it to the side on every breath. This probably makes his head and hips drip on every stroke. He also stops kicking during every stroke cycle.

How in the world can he go so fast?

small bird
3 years ago

maybe we have a bunch of americans primed for 1:44s this year, but what does it say about USAswimming (and ncaa system) that we’ll be fighting to medal in the 800FR?

one of the largest selection pools (population), a whole slew of 47. freestylers, but seemingly lacking on 200, 400, 800 capabilities. is the world catching up due to our constant short course focus?

Swammer
Reply to  small bird
3 years ago

Id love to read a swimswam article about this with a little more in-depth analysis!

There's no doubt that he's tightening up
3 years ago

PVDH’s 1:44.89 from 2002 has got to be the oldest Championship record on the books?

Malyutin now number 12 all time, in between Matsumoto and Park.

Khachaturian
3 years ago

Russia vs. GB…… the battle of the 4 x 200 free relay.

Samesame
Reply to  Khachaturian
3 years ago

And Australia

Troyy
Reply to  Samesame
3 years ago

Only if we can get one or more swimmers who can do 1:44 flat start on demand. All 1:45s doesn’t seem enough anymore.

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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