4 NATIONS MEET
Nearly immediately after Austrian Felix Auböck fired off a new national record in the men’s 200m freestyle, his countrymate Valentin Bayer accomplished the same feat in the men’s 100m breaststroke.
While competing on day 1 of the 4 Nations Meet in Hungary, 20-year-old Bayer produced a 1breast mark of 1:00.27 to take the gold, but also get under the previous Austrian standard of 1:00.53. That record was set by Christopher Rothbauer just this past February at the Berlin Open.
Rothbauer was also in tonight’s race, but finished well behind Bayer, touching the wall in 1:01.65 to settle for silver tonight.
For Bayer, his splits to get to 1:00.27 included 28.31/31.96 to inch him closer to the 1:00 threshold.
The fastest Bayer had ever been in the men’s’ 100m breast before tonight was represented by the 1:00.83 he threw down in Debrecen in the spring of 2019. Splits for that previous personal best came in at 28.32/32.51, showing how the man was able to bring it home much quicker on the back half with his standout performance this evening.
