Top 5 Races To Watch At 2023 Lausanne Swim Cup

2023 LAUSANNE SWIM CUP

• Friday, February 24th – Sunday, February 26th
• Centre Aquatique Vaudoise Arena, Lausanne, Switzerland
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Site
• Entries/Results

The 2023 Lausanne Swim Cup kicks off on Friday with a plethora of international talent heading to the 3-day meet. The host country of Switzerland will see representation from several of their national record holders, while France, South Africa, Italy, Great Britain and more are set to join the party.

Prelims begin at 9:00 am local (4:00 am EST) with finals starting at 6:00 pm local (1:00 pm EST) on Friday/Saturday and 5:00 pm local (12:00 pm EST) on Sunday.

Below is the event lineup for each day of the competition, with live finals recaps forthcoming.

Key Players Entered in 2023 Lausanne Swim Cup

• Egypt – Farida Osman
• Estonia – Kregor Zirk
• France – Florent Manaudou, Melanie Henique, Marie Wattel, Marc-Antoine Olivier, Damien Joly
• Great Britain – Luke Greenbank, Isabella Hindley, Anna Hopkin, Joe Litchfield, Adam Peaty, Jacob Whittle, James Wilby, Abbie Wood, Stephen Clegg, David Cumberlidge
• Israel – Meiron Cheruti
• Italy – Martina Carraro, Thomas Ceccon
• Russia – Anna Egorova, Nika Godun (both of whom train outside of the country)
• South Africa – Matt Sates, Tatjana Schoenmaker
• Sweden – Louise Hansson
• Switzerland – Roman Mityukov, Nils Liess, Lisa Mamie, Noe Ponti, Antonio Djakovic
• Ukraine – Andrii Govorov
• United States – Will Licon

5 Races to Watch

Men’s 200m Breaststroke

British Olympic champion Adam Peaty is entered in his bread-and-butter 50m and 100m breaststroke events, but the 28-year-old’s name also appears among the 200m breast entries. We’ve seen Peaty in this spot before where he ultimately dropped the longer event at other meets, so we’ll have to see if he lines up behind the blocks for this race on Sunday.

Assuming Peaty races, he’ll be pitted against the likes of American Will Licon. 28-year-old Licon has a podium history in the LCM 2breast event, having won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games as well as bronze at the 2021 Short Course World Championships. He owns a lifetime best of 2:07.62 from 2019 and most recently raced at the U.S. Summer Nationals last year where he notched a mark of 2:09.86.

The reigning Commonwealth Games silver medalist James Wilby of Great Britain is the top-seeded swimmer of the field, carrying an entry time of 2:07.49. He put up a result of 2:08.59 there in Birmingham to earn runner-up status behind champion and reigning World Record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia.

Women’s 100m Butterfly

Sweden’s Louise Hansson is joining her Loughborough crew after having spent several weeks with them down under at their annual Gold Coast training camp. She’s set to take on this women’s 100m fly where she is the top seed with an entry time of 56.48. Hansson placed an agonizing 4th in this event at last year’s World Championships, just .07 outside of taking the bronze.

Racing mainstay Farida Osman of Egypt will be a contender in this event, with the 28-year-old having just produced a new African Record of 57.66 en route to 7th place last year in Budapest.

French ace Marie Wattel will be in the mix as well. She is the national record holder with her lifetime best of 56.14 from when she snagged silver last year behind world champion Torri Huske of the United States.

Men’s 200m Backstroke

Great Britain’s Luke Greenbank leads the field in terms of the top entry time of 1:54.43, but with a block of heavy training on his shoulders, he may be given a run for the gold. Greenbank does have the World Championships silver medal in his pocket for ammunition, having produced a quick 1:55.16 last year in Budapest.

On his heels will be host nation swimmer Roman Mityukov, fresh off his newly-minted 100m and 200m backstroke national records clocked at last year’s World Championships. Specifically in the 2back, Mityukov clocked a time of 1:56.22 in the semi-finals before settling for 4th place in a time of 1:56.45.

Versatile Thomas Ceccon is entered in this event as well, ready to improve upon his personal best of 1:59.81 from last summer. The 22-year-old is still fueled by his World Record-setting swim in the 100m back at last year’s World Championships and recently set a new personal best in the 200m free competing at the Euro Meet in January.

Women’s 100m Breaststroke

The top 4 seeds enter this competition positioned less than a second apart, with Italy’s Martina Carraro leading the way. The 29-year-old holds the only sub-1:06 time of the field, with South African 200m breast World Record holder Tatjana Schoenmaker right behind in 1:06.06.

Switzerland’s Lisa Mamie and Russia’s Nika Godun are also ready to make a run at the podium.

Carraro raced the 1breast at January’s Euro Meet, putting up a time of 1:07.47 to rank 8th in the world while Mamie posted a time of 1:08.84 at that same meet.

As for Schoenmaker, she is coming off of a silver medal in this race from the Commonwealth Games where she saw teammate Lara van Niekerk top the podium.

Men’s 400m Freestyle

On paper, Swiss swimmer Antonio Djakovic looks to be the top contender for gold, owning a seed time over 3 seconds ahead of the next closest swimmer.

Djakovic enters the meet with a 3:43.93, his lifetime best and national record posted en route to earning silver at last year’s European Championships. Next in the ranking is Estonian standout Kregor Zirk, the national record holder with a career-quickest of 3:47.05.

Lurking among the field in Lausanne, however, is South African dynamo Matthew Sates. The 19-year-old is taking on a packed schedule, entered in the 100m and 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m IM and 400m IM events in addition to the 400m free.

The teen’s personal best in this mid-distance race rests at the 3:49.27 he produced for gold at last year’s Mare Nostrum in Monaco, putting him right among the field which also contains France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier and Spain’s Carl Garach.