Watch Anton Chupkov Annihilate Watanabe/Wilson Shared World Record

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Reported by Lauren Neidigh.

MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

Medalists:

  1. GOLD- Anton Chupkov (RUS), 2:06.12
  2. SILVER- Matthew Wilson (AUS), 2:06.68
  3. BRONZE- Ippei Watanabe (JPN), 2:06.73

The men’s 200 breast brought the 3rd World Record and the 3rd Russian victory of the night. Minutes after Efimova nabbed 200 breast gold, Anton Chupkov brought it home for Russia in the men’s race. Chupkov was in 8th at the halfway point, but put himself into position on the 3rd 50 to make his big move down the stretch. He closed in 31.89 to blow by the field en route to a 2:06.12 World Record.

Before tonight, Australia’s Matthew Wilson and Japan’s Ippei Watanabe shared the World Record at 2:06.67. Wilson, who set the mark in semis, was just a hundredth slower tonight with a 2:06.68 for silver. Watanabe’s 2:06.73 for bronze was the fastest he’s been since he set that former World Record back in 2017. Another Australian, Zac Stubblety-Cook, was just off the podium at 4th in 2:07.36. Behind him, Germany’s Marco Koch was just over a tenth shy of his German Record to take 5th in 2:07.60.

Team USA’s Andrew Wilson was out in 2nd at the halfway point, but couldn’t match the field’s back-half pace as he took 6th in 2:08.10. Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin, the reigning Olympic Champion in this race, finished 7th in 2:08.25. Sweden’s Erik Persson (2:08.39) nearly ran down Balandin on the back half.

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Ol’ Gator
5 years ago

Imagine this: it’s 2020, the Olympic final of the men’s 200 breastroke, at the 100, the whole heat is ahead of world record pace. Everyone’s jaw drops, but then, the world record line flies by everyone and no world record is broken, id just like to talk about how realistic this is.

Texas Tap Water
Reply to  Ol’ Gator
5 years ago

Imagine Rowdy’s pitch goes to 1,0000000 decibels

mcgillrocks
5 years ago

Surprised but impressed that he did that wearing a necklace the entire time.

Dcswim
Reply to  mcgillrocks
5 years ago

Kliment Kolesnikov likes to wear a chain too. I guess Russians are bringing back the 70s swim bling!

Snarkier
5 years ago

Well, I saw the last 15 seconds.

HonestObserver
5 years ago

Now that Chupkov has swum his record after taking it out in 1:02.2, how many times are we going to have to hear someone excitedly say, in future races, “He’s under world record pace!”

Lpman
5 years ago

His back half was unreal. Now whenever there is an A final, probably half the heat will be under world record pace at the 100 because his first half was so relatively “slow”.

CraigH
5 years ago

Headline is a bit misleading. More like, “Watch Chupkov swim 20 meters and touch the wall under the former World Record.”

Anton
5 years ago

Can someone please post a link to a full race video. Greatly appreciated in advance!

Who
Reply to  Anton
5 years ago

Bro you literally swam the race yourself

Anton
Reply to  Who
5 years ago

Hahahahaha! It’s true. But I want to see how my technique looked from the side 😉

Yabo
Reply to  Anton
5 years ago

Wait is this actually Anton chupkov

Anton
Reply to  Yabo
5 years ago

Almost 😉 But in all seriousness my name is actually Anton. Not Chupkov though…)

Dcswim
Reply to  Anton
5 years ago

Do you know how to roll tide, Mr Anton?

Texas Tap Water
Reply to  Anton
5 years ago

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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