2019 FLANDERS CUP
- Saturday, January 19th – Sunday, January 20th
- Olympic Swimming Center, Antwerp, Belgium
- LCM
- Meet Site
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap
- Start Lists/Live Timing
British teenager Freya Anderson doubled up on her 100m freestyle victory from earlier in Antwerp with another victory in the 200m distance this evening. Wrapping up her race in 1:59.17, the Ellesmere Titan represented just one of two swimmers to dip under the 2-minute threshold, with the other coming from Denmark’s Signe Bro.
Bro finished in 1:59.19 to give the women the same 1-2 finish as transpired in the 100m.
Tonight’s 50m freestyle was won by Dutch maestro Kim Busch, who registered a winning effort of 25.10. That mark falls shy of the FINA ‘A’ cut for this year’s World Championships, but the 20-year-old was even closer this morning. Her AM time of 25.05 fell just .01 outside of the 25.04 QT.
Achieving an ‘A’ cut on night 1 in the men’s 200m free was Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys and the Short Course World champion returned to the pool this evening for the 200m back. Rapsys notched 1:59.52 to win the event as the only racer under the 2:00 barrier
Runner-up Geoffroy Matthieu of France notched 2:00.21 for silver, while bronze went to British youngster Elliott Clogg. The 19-year-old City of Sheffield athlete scratched the men’s 100m free B-Final to focus on the 200m back and it paid off. Clogg earned a mark of 2:02.47 to round out the top 3. Clogg’s PB rests at the 2:00.41 from 2016’s British Summer Championships.
Ireland’s Shane Ryan made it happen in the men’s sprint backstroke, collecting a FINA ‘A’ cut with his 50m win. Topping the field in 25.13, the Short Course World Championships bronze medalist in the event slid under the LCM qualifying mark of 25.17 en route to gold here in Antwerp.
Danish Olympic medalist Mie Nielsen also roped in a World Championships qualifying time with her victory in the women’s 100m back. Firing off a final time of 1:00.24, Nielsen comfortably swam within the 1:00.59 QT for Gwangju. Behind her was British backstroker Jessica Fullalove who touched in 1:01.33 for silver, while Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu was right behind in 1:01.81.
Hosszu was back in the water to contest the 200m IM, where the Iron Lady easily captured the top spot in 2:14.53. She completed her night of racing with a B-Final appearance in the women’s 100m fly, where she finished with the win in 1:02.67.
Taking the A-Final of the women’s 100m fly was Danish athlete Emilie Beckman. Beckman’s time of 59.03 led a quartet of sub-1:00 swimmers, which included runner-up Kimberly Buys of Belgium (59.37), Kinge Zandringa of Netherlands (59.59) and Liliana Szilagyi of Hungary (59.61).
European Championships medalist Fanny Lecluyse got her home nation crowd excited with a FINA ‘A’ cut-quality performance in the women’s 200m breaststroke. Winning by over 4 seconds, Lecluyse got her hands on the wall in 2:24.73, easily dipping under the minimum time standard of 2:25.91 for Gwangju.
Finally, the men’s 100m free saw Olympic silver medalist Pieter Timmers soar to the top of the pack in 49.38, denying Rapsys another freestyle gold. Instead, the Lithuanian finished in 49.97 for runner-up.
However, the fastest time of the night came in the B-Final, where Belgium’s Jasper Aerents raced his way to 49.37, a personal top 10 time.
Additional Winners:
- Dutch National Record holder Matthys Goosen took the men’s 50m fly in 23.75.
- Wycombe District swimmer Joshua Willliams of Great Britain beat out the field in the men’s 1500m, clocking 16:25.22 to stand atop the podium
- Belgium’s own Louis Croenen was tonight’s winner in the men’s 200m fly, notching 1:57.11 for the gold.
- Dutch National Record holder Arno Kamminga came close to the 59.95 FINA ‘A’ cut in the men’s 1200m breaststroke, producing a solid 1:00.37 for the victory this evening.
- Hungarian David Verraszto wiped out the competition in the 400m IM, punching a time of 4:19.48 to win by over 5 seconds.
