Matti Mattsson Mints Finnish 200 BR National Record (2:08.51) in Helsinki

2021 Helsinki Swim Meet

During day one finals of the 2021 Helsinki Swim Meet, Matti Mattsson highlighted the session with his newly-minted Finnish national record in the 200 breast. After the preliminaries session, Austrian Christopher Rothbauer led the morning swims at a smooth 2:14.62, ahead of German Marco Koch (2:15.61) and Mattsson (2:15.62).

Into the final, Mattsson valiantly took his race out in a 29.18, establishing an early lead that couldn’t be broken down. Mattsson touched in at 2:08.51, taking down his 7-year-old national record/lifetime best of 2:08.95 from the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, ESP. Mattson now jumps from No. 23 to No. 15 all-time in European history, as well as No. 10 in the world for the 2020-2021 season.

Mattsson’s Post-Race Interview

All-Time European Rankings — Men’s 200 BR LCM

  1. Anton Chupkov (RUS), 2:06.12 — 2019
  2. Arno Kamminga (NED), 2:06.85 — 2020
  3. Daniel Gyurta (HUN), 2:07.23 — 2013
  4. Ross Murdoch (GBR), 2:07.30 — 2014
  5. Michael Jamieson (GBR), 2:07.43 — 2012
  6. Marco Koch (GER), 2:07.47 — 2014
  7. James Wilby (GBR), 2:07.49 — 2019
  8. Andrew Willis (GBR), 2:07.73 — 2016
  9. Giedrius Titenis (LTU), 2:07.80 — 2009
  10. Erik Persson (SWE)/Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 2:07.85 — 2017/2020
  11. (tie)
  12. Ilya Khomenko (RUS), 2:08.09 — 2017
  13. Adam Peaty (GBR), 2:08.34 — 2015
  14. Loris Facci (ITA), 2:08.50 — 2009
  15. Matti Mattsson (FIN), 2:08.51 — 2021**

2020-2021 LCM Men 200 Breast

2Shoma
Sato
JPN2:06.4004/07
3Arno
Kamminga
NED2:06.8512/04
4Anton
Chupkov
RUS2:06.9905/20
5Ippei
Watanabe
JPN2:07.0812/06
6Matti
Mattsson
FIN2:07.1307/19
7Nic
Fink
USA2:07.5506/17
8Ryuya
Mura
JPN2:07.5804/07
9Erik
Persson
SWE2:07.6605/20
10Kirill
Prigoda
RUS2:07.8510/03
View Top 26»

German Koch finished in second place at 2:10.35, improving six-tenths from his winning time at the 2021 Swim Open Stockholm earlier this month. Koch is currently the No. 6 all-time European in this event at 2:07.47.

Austria’s Rothbauer settled for third at 2:12.43, just a second over his Stockholm swim at 2:11.53. Rothbauer did walk away with the men’s 50 breast win, clocking in a sub-28 effort of 27.83.

Koch’s Post-Race Interview

 

More Session Highlights:

Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu was another session highlight, casually topping three events in Helsinki. The Hungarian star put up winning times in the 100 fly (59.93), 200 IM (2:12.83), and 200 back (2:15.25). At the 2021 Hungarian Nationals, Hosszu picked up this year’s 200 IM national title at 2:11.47, which ranks within the top-20 times in the world this season.

Placing second to Hosszu in the IM was Finland’s Jenna Laukkanen, registering a time of 2:17.44. Laukkanen also picked up another runner-up finish in the 100 breast at 1:08.46 behind country-mate Ida Hulkko, splitting 31.29/36.03 to win the event at 1:07.32.

Picking up two wins in Helsinki on the men’s side was Hungarian Richard Bohus, first winning the 100 free by 0.09s over Finland’s Anton Herrala 50.34 to 50.43. Bohus then picked up a second win in the 100 back at 55.66.

Finals for the second and last day of the 2021 Helsinki Swim Meet is scheduled to begin at 6pm local time. Missed out on this morning’s prelims session? Check out our prelims recap here.

More Day One Winners:

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Khachaturian
3 years ago

Another guy who is probably going to join the 2:07 club

Ghost
3 years ago

Is this their Trials? Can they use these times to qualify for Olympics?

Anon. Swammer
Reply to  Ghost
3 years ago

I believe this meet should count ! This is not their trials meet this is an annual international meet.

Lotta
Reply to  Ghost
3 years ago

Mattsson has already qualified for the Olympics and been chosen to Olympic Team Finland. But yes, these times can be used to qualify.

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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