2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
- Budapest, Hungary
- LCM (50m)
- Full Competition Schedule
- Meet Info
- Psych Sheets
- Omega Results
- Pick ’em Contest
- Event-by-Event Previews
Russia’s Anton Chupkov pulled off a stunner in the final of the men’s 200m breaststroke on Friday in Budapest. Eighth at the 50, seventh at the 100, and fourth at the 150, he upped his tempo over the final 50 meters and overtook Japan’s Ippei Watanabe and Yasuhiro Koseki, as well as Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch, en route to winning the gold medal with 206.67. Chupkov broke both the Championship record and the European record with his swim, which you can watch, courtesy of NBC Sports, below:
Write-up from Lauren Neidigh:
MEN’S 200 BREAST – FINAL
- World Record: Ippei Watanabe, 2:06.67, 2016
- Championship Record:
Anton Chupkov, 2:07.14, 2017 - Junior World Record: Qin Haiyang, 2:08.71, 2017
- GOLD: Anton Chupkov, RUS, 2:06.96
- SILVER: Yasuhiro Koseki, JPN, 2:07.29
- BRONZE: Ippei Watanabe, JPN, 2:07.47
Japan’s World Record holder Ippei Watanabe set the pace through the front half, beating his own World Record pace by a tenth through the 100-mark. He fell off the pace on the back half, however, and Russia’s Anton Chupkov blew by him with a 31.99 on the final 50. Chupkov set a new Championship Record with his 2:06.96 and became the 2nd man in history to break 2:07.
Watanabe’s teammate Yasuhiro Koseki (2:07.47) ran him down on the back half, but the Japanese got two on the podium with Koseki taking silver and Watanabe taking bronze.
Chupkov is wearing a necklace and he streamlines with his arms apart in a superman-like formation. This is very peculiar yet interesting to watch because it was a strategy that worked! Congrats to this man and I will certainly be keeping up with him in the future
While the breaststroke kick has gotten narrower through the years, it looked like Watanabe’s kick was so small it cost home the race with has countryman for ailver