2023 ROTTERDAM QUALIFICATION MEET
- Thursday, November 30th – Sunday, December 3rd
- Zwemcentrum Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- LCM (50m)
- 2024 World Championships and 2024 Olympic qualifying competition
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Live Results
- Livestream
The 2023 Rotterdam Qualification Meet saw its penultimate night of action unfold with Dutch swimmers vying for qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games.
However, it was 19-year-old Jacob Whittle who stole the show in the men’s 100m freestyle final.
After producing a solid morning outing of 48.48 in the heats, Whittle fired off a new lifetime best of 48.03 to ultimately claim the gold.
Whittle opened in 23.34 and brought it home in 24.69 for the new PB, overtaking his previous career-quickest effort of 48.11 from 2 years ago. He held off Dutch swimmers Stan Pjnenburg and Sean Niewold who notched respective results of 48.76 and 48.84 for silver and bronze.
British teammate and former national record holder Lewis Burras notched a prelims swim of 48.40 this morning before being disqualified during the final. He reportedly just raced for the 50m distance tonight and ‘time trialed’ a result of 21.85 to register the 7th-best time of his career.
Whittle’s time presents solid evidence the teen’s change of training base from Loughborough to Bath has been just the catalyst he needed to kick his career back into gear heading into Paris. Reconnecting with former Derventio eXcel coach Jamie Main at Bath, we’ll see what Whittle can produce tomorrow when the 50m free event takes place.
In the meantime, Whittle’s new 48.03 PB maintains his position as the 5th-quickest performer in British history in the 1free event.
Top 5 British Men’s LCM Performers All-Time
- Matthew Richards – 47.45, 2023
- Lewis Burras – 47.63, 2022
- Tom Dean – 47.83, 2022
- Duncan Scott – 47.87, 2019
- Jacob Whittle – 48.03, 2023
On the season, Whittle now ranks 6th in the world.
2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Free
PAN
WR 46.40
View Top 31»2 David
POPOVICIROU 46.88 06/19 3 Jack
ALEXYUSA 47.08 06/18 4 Chris
GUILIANOUSA 47.25 06/18 5 Maxime
GROUSSETFRA 47.33 06/18 6 Kyle
CHALMERSAUS 47.48 07/31 7 Nandor
NEMETHHUN 47.49 06/19 8 Caeleb
DRESSELUSA 47.53 06/18 9 Josh
LIENDOCAN 47.55 05/16 10 Hunter
ARMSTRONGUSA 47.59 02/17
Why is Ben Proud not in the Top 5 British Men’s LCM Performers All-Time list?
Because his focus is on the 50, and his best in the 100 is 48.52, which doesn’t qualify him for the list.
I recon…
Lead off – burras
2nd whittle
3rd scott
4tu richards
And let deano and jimmy do the heats
Low-key Dean over Burras
Dean has stated he wants 5 medals. In order to do so he’d need to be top 2 in the 100Fr or he won’t get the medley relay. I expect him to be higher up the pecking order. Scott maybe to ropiest?
Dean’s 100 Free slightly dropped off this year, Dean most vulnerable imo.
Don’t think we have evidence for that tbh – His hands separated as he dived in at trials, and he didn’t swim another tapered 100fr due to the 4×1 DQ. He was actually a lot faster at Sette Colli & AP than he usually is at that time of year. He looked rough this weekend though, so we’ll see how it unravels – Good problems to have though.
He swam heats of both the mixed free and men’s medley at Fukuoka, 47.93 and 48.36 respectively from flying starts, almost causing the medley to miss the final. I know it was at the end of a gruelling champs for him but in Budapest he had just as gruelling a programme and split 47.45 in the medley at the end of those champs.
Oh we are so back
Feel like we’ve been saying this for the last 3 years straight when it comes to the 4×1 Free. Hopefully this is the year tho.
You never left.
Hopefully they don’t DSQ again
It’s crazy that Whittle will still be a teenager in Paris – It feels like he has been around an age. Encouraging to be setting a PB in his first meet post training switch, and it will be huge for GB if he can resume his progression and reach the heights that looked likely as a 16yo.
Burras did a 50 trial as GB travel to Romania tomorrow, meaning he’ll be unable to race the 50 here. Tom Dean looked very heavy and well off his best – But the group just came back from a very long altitude block and, as we know, different people respond differently coming back down and racing.