2023 BELGIAN OPEN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, April 21st – Sunday, April 23rd
- Wezenberg Olympic Swimming Center, Antwerp, Belgium
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Entries
- Recap #1
- Results
While competing at the 2023 Belgian Open Swimming Championships, Lucas Henveaux fired off a huge personal best to establish a new national record in the men’s 400m free.
Henveaux got to the wall in a time of 3:46.59, obliterating the previous Belgian standard of 3:50.66 Lander Hendrickx put on the books in 2015. This means he just became the first-ever Belgian to get under the 3:50 threshold in this event.
Entering the competition, Henveaux’s career-quickest 400m free rested at the 3:51.99 he produced at this same meet last year. He blew that to bits in Antwerp this weekend, slicing more than 5 seconds off to check in as the 14th fastest performer in the world this season.
2022-2023 LCM Men 400 Free
Short
3:40.68
2 | Ahmed Hafnaoui | TUN | 3:40.70 | 07/23 |
3 | Lukas Martens | GER | 3:42.20 | 07/23 |
4 | Elijah Winnington | AUS | 3:43.48 | 06/13 |
5 | Guilherme Costa | BRA | 3:43.58 | 07/23 |
6 | Kim Woomin | KOR | 3:43.92 | 07/23 |
7 | Antonio Djakovic | SUI | 3:44.22 | 07/23 |
8 | Petar Mitsin | BUL | 3:44.31 WJR | 07/09 |
9 | Daniel Wiffen | IRL | 3:44.35 | 04/13 |
10 | Marco De Tullio | ITA | 3:44.69 | 04/13 |
11 | Felix Auboeck | AUT | 3:44.14 | 07/23 |
12 | Olivier Klemet | GER | 3:45.34 | 04/23 |
13 | David Johnston | USA | 3:45.75 | 06/30 |
14 | Kieran Smith | USA | 3:45.77 | 07/23 |
15 | Sven Schwarz | GER | 3:45.92 | 07/09 |
Splits for Henveaux’s 3:46.59 new Belgian record included 54.58/58.14/57.57/56.30.
The men’s 400m free event has been taking a beating as of late, with the top 6 times on the season all coming within the month of April. Leading the charge worldwide is Australian Sam Short who ripped a massive 3:42.46 at this month’s Australian National Championships.
Henveaux already unleashed a personal best and new Belgian record of 1:46.31 in the heats of the 200m free at this competition. You can read about that feat here.
Of note, Henveaux competed for the Cal Bears during the most recent NCAA season, but his future is still to-be-determined at this point.
#marsheffect
How good were the 1992 Olympics (31 years ago)?
The Top 3 times from the final in the men’s 400m Free at that Olympics would currently rank (on the SwimSwam 2022-2023 ranking):
Yevgeny Sadoyvi 3.45.00 (6th)
Kieren Perkins 3.45.16 (7th)
Anders Holmertz 3:46.77 (15+3 = 18th)