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Aussie Stubblety-Cook Becomes 7th Fastest 200 Breast Performer All-Time

2019 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

While competing on the first non-relay day of Queensland Championships racing at the Brisbane Aquatic Center, 20-year-old Zac Stubblety-Cook became the 7th fastest 200m breaststroke performer of all-time.

After claiming the top seed of the morning in a time of 2:10.24, Stubblety-Cook dropped the hammer to power his way to a ferocious 2:07.28 to take the state title in a Queensland Record and QLD All Comers Record. That easily beat out runner-up Olympian Yasuhiro Koseki and his time of 2:12.48. Koseki and his fellow compatriots are competing in Queensland in the midst of a training camp.

Splitting 1:01.71/1:05.57, Stubblety-Cook’s 2:07.28 shaves .08 off of the swimmer’s previous lifetime best of 2:07.36 produced in Gwangju, Korea this summer at the World Championships.

With all eyes on fellow Australian Matt Wilson, who logged a World Record in the morning of that meet and ultimately finished with the silver, Stubblety-Cook quietly finished in 4th place. Splits for that 2:07.36 outing included 1:02.04/1:05.32, showing how the man relied on quicker speed on the front end when comparing the two races.

The only other time Stubblety-Cook had been sub-2:08 was en route to winning silver at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships. He earned runner-up behind former World Record holder Ippei Watanabe in a time of 2:07.89.

Even with just a .08 best time drop to his new low of 2:07.28, Stubblety-Cook moves from having been the 11th fastest performer to now entering the top 10 at slot #8, according to the USA Swimming database. That’s a huge confidence boost for the man from down under heading into the final months of Olympic Trials preparation.

#1-2:06.12 Anton Chupkov RUS 2019 World Champs 7/26/2019 Gwangju
#2-2:06.67 Ippei Watanabe JPN 10th Tokyo Swimming Championships 1/27/2017 Tokyo
#2-2:06.67 Matthew Wilson AUS 2019 World Champs 7/25/2019 Gwangju
#4-2:07.01 Akihiro Yamaguchi JPN 67th Japan National Sports Festival – Swimming Com 9/15/2012 Gifu
#5-2:07.17 Josh Prenot USA 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials 6/30/2016 Omaha
#6-2:07.18 Yasuhiro Koseki JPN 4/13/2017 Aichi
#7-2:07.23 Daniel Gyurta HUN 2013 World Champs 7/28/2013 Barcelona
#8-2:07.28 Zac Stubblety-Cook AUS 2019 Queensland Championships 12/15/19 Brisbane

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Gheko
4 years ago

Good swim from Zac PB by 0.08, hope he can get down to 59mid in the 100 this meet!

Verram
Reply to  Gheko
4 years ago

Yup 100 breast is still a problem depth wise for Australia .. it’s what could cost a medley relay medal in Tokyo … I think Jake Packard has plateaued as well as he’s just hovering 59.2 at his best while others are passing him now into 58s territory

Swimmy
4 years ago

The current global depth in the 200 br is amazing. Going 7th fastest time in HISTORY and most people still won’t consider him as a favorite or even a lock for a medal

Verram
Reply to  Swimmy
4 years ago

I’m loving the domestic rivalry happening with matt wilson though.. like the good old days of Rickard v Sprenger .. there was a big hole in men’s breastroke for a while

Superfan
Reply to  Verram
4 years ago

Russians and Japanese have been deep in breast talent at the top end and lately Australians have show they are competitive too!

nuotofan
4 years ago

Sublime breastroker, Zac Stubblety-Cook, one of the brightest talents in the 200 br. And he has lot of room for improvements in his weakest parts: the start and the turns.

Yozhik
Reply to  nuotofan
4 years ago

I don’t understand what you mean saying “weak start”. His reaction time was 0.7sec. How much do you think he has for improvement here and how much it’s important. It isn’t a 50FR sprint, it is 200BR.

Samboys
Reply to  Yozhik
4 years ago

He isn’t talking about getting off the blocks. It’s about once happens when he hits the water before he starts the swimming part of the race.

Yozhik
Reply to  Samboys
4 years ago

You mean his underwater part of the race: from start and from walls. And how weak is this guy with that (in meters, seconds, whatever) and how much the improvement of this part of the race can give him (in seconds).

nuotofan
Reply to  Yozhik
4 years ago

Hi Yozhik, like Samboys and Samuel Huntington wrote, I meant the whole “start phase”, not just the RT.
The same about the turns (so, also the underwaters). You can watch the 200 breastroke final on last June at Aussie trials in comparison of Matt Wilson or, even more visible, the Worlds final in Gwangju vs the other finalists. Was fairly impressive the amount of tenths at the start and every turn lost by Stubblety-Cook.

Yozhik
Reply to  nuotofan
4 years ago

Thank you. I just wanted to be clear about your terminology. Also since backstroke rules allow only one dolphin kick I thought that underwater part of the race shouldn’t be much different for different swimmers. So I was wondering how much in seconds can be saved by improving significantly this part of the race.

Troyy
Reply to  Yozhik
4 years ago

Have you never watched Peaty in SCM as he loses his lead every turn?

Jred
Reply to  Yozhik
4 years ago

It’s completely terrible.

He would be the slowest 100 breaststroker to the 15 in every world class meet he has ever been at. And comfortably so.

Mediocre age groupers would beat him to the 15.

He is like anti-dressel. Imagine the lead dressel has at 15m, and that’s how far Zac is behind.

The rest of the race he is unmatched.

Samuel Huntington
Reply to  Yozhik
4 years ago

A start is a lot more than just reaction time!

Cc Rowdy Gaines

Jred
Reply to  Yozhik
4 years ago

Imagine thinking reaction time = start

Yozhik
Reply to  Jred
4 years ago

Old man you still don’t get it. I’m not bashing a swimmer Mrs. Hosszu. I’m criticizing those who are spreading some BS about her.

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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