After the prelims of the men’s 200 breast at the 2015 FINA Junior World Championships, a new Russian breaststroke star holds the Championship Record. Anton Chupkov, the Junior World Record holder in this event, cemented his status as the fastest ever 200 breaststroker at a Junior World Championships.
Chupkhov was in a league of his own in prelims this morning. He finished in a time of 2:10.73, just enough to claim the meet record that previously belonged to Russia’s Alexander Palatov at 2:10.75. He was well ahead of the next fastest finisher, Australia’s Matthew Wilson, who clocked a 2:12.36.
That’s off of his 2:09.64 that he posted at the FINA World Championships to set the World Junior Record, but he still has finals to lower the mark.
Chupkov’s Splits:
FINA Junior World Championships: 2:10.73- 30.63/33.28/33.18/33.64
FINA World Championships: 2:09.64- 29.64/33.07/32.98/33.95
The biggest difference in his splits from his prelims swim and his Junior World Record swim comes in the front half. He was almost exactly 1 second slower on the 1st 50 in today’s prelims. That makes up almost the entire 1.09 difference between the times.
He was out in a 1:03.91 at the 100 compared to his 1:02.71 split from Worlds. However, his back half was faster at this meet in prelims. He came home today in 1:06.82, compared to his 1:06.93 from Kazan. With some more front half speed in finals, Chupkov has a shot at breaking the Junior World and Championship Record again if he can hold on to that back half.