Andreas Vazaios Stuns Men’s 200 IM Field With 1:50.85 European Record

2019 LEN EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Almost immediately after Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich set a new European Record in the men’s 100m breaststroke at 55.89, Greek speedster Andrea Vazaios accomplished the same feat in the men’s 200m IM.

The 25-year-old Olympian Vazaios busted out a monster personal best of 1:50.85 to land atop the podium, clearing the rest of the stacked field by just under a second. In doing so, Vazaios blew away the previous European Record of 1:51.36 Hungarian Olympic icon Laszlo Cseh put on the books at the 2015 edition of these European Short Course Championships.

Vazaios’ road to the podium here in Glasgow started with his 1:52.38 morning prelim swim, a new national record in itself. Splits for his morning swim included 25.12/27.17/32.51/27.58 to claim the 2nd seed behind British powerhouse Duncan Scott, who notched a new British national record of 1:52.33 this morning.

Flash forward to tonight’s final, however, and Vazaios was a man on a mission, splitting 25.23/26.97 (52.20), 31.88/26.77 (58.65) to come on strong at the end and get the gold. Runner-up in the race went to Tomoe Hvas, the young Norwegian who lowered his own national record in a silver medal-worthy effort of 1:51.74. Bronze went to the 2017 winner Philip Heintz of Germany, who put up a time of 1:52.55.

Vazaios was the silver medalist in this event in Copenhagen behind Heitz with a then-national record of 1:53.27. He had earlier taken the long course European Championships gold medal in this 200m IM event in London in 2016.

Not only did Vazaios make history by producing a new European Record, but his 1:50.85 swim now inserts him onto the list of all-time performers as slot #3. Only American Ryan Lochte has been faster with his World Record of 1:49.63, while Japan’s Kosuke Hagino is ranked #2 in his fastest time of 1:50.47.

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2 Cents
4 years ago

was he as obnoxious celebrating this as he was winning a race at the ACC Champs?

Joking aside, congrats to him and that is beyond a fantastic swim. Can’t wait to see what he does later in the meet with the 200 Fly. Congrats again!!

Texas swims in a short pool
Reply to  2 Cents
4 years ago

i think you might be thinking of marcelo acosta with the obnoxious celebration

2 Cents
Reply to  Texas swims in a short pool
4 years ago

It was definitely Vazaios, but I am just ribbing or roasting here. I can’t say I would react any differently if I ever did what he did.

I could also roast him for his broken English interview afterwards, but again… all in good nature and being that out of breath after a race my own interview would have probably sounded the same but only with more “4 letter” words.

CourtneyCaldwellSuperFan
Reply to  2 Cents
4 years ago

You could only dream of being fast enough to win a race at ACCs against this guy bud

anonymoose
Reply to  CourtneyCaldwellSuperFan
4 years ago

thats what he said, essentially

AuggieBuschFan
Reply to  anonymoose
4 years ago

Why talk about his broken English in interviews and about his obnoxious cheering then? He is the 3rd fastest performer in history and last i checked he was at “European Championships.” How terrible it is that his first language isn’t English……

Swimfan
Reply to  2 Cents
4 years ago

Why would you try and “roast” a foreigner for having broken english? Very disrespectful and rude.

CHESwimmer
Reply to  2 Cents
4 years ago

“Broken english” for you, “second language” for him. Now, let’s hear your Greek!

You’re such an obnoxious UVa fan.

CourtneyCaldwellSuperFan
Reply to  Texas swims in a short pool
4 years ago

Nah I think he is talking about Zach Harting out of any ACC B final….

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Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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