Coetze & Masse Hit Acropolis Open Records While Andrew Wins 50 Breaststroke

2023 ACROPOLIS SWIM OPEN

• Friday, May 5th – Sunday, May 7th
• Athens Olympic Aquatic Center, Athens, Greece
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Site
• World Championships/2024 Olympic Games Qualifier
• Day 1 Recap
• Results
• Livestream

The 2023 Acropolis Swim Open rolled on from Athens with two of day one’s championship record-breakers back in action.

South Africa’s Pieter Coetze got it done for gold in the 50m back, stopping the clock in a time of 24.67. That earned a new meet record and marked the sole performance of the field under 25 seconds.

Runner-up status went to host nation swimmer Apostolos Christou who touched in 25.00 while American Michael Andrew was next in 25.20 for bronze.

Coetze already ranks as the 4th fastest swimmer in the world, courtesy of the 24.36 season-best he produced at April’s South African National Championships.

24-year-old Andrew was back in the water contesting the men’s 50m breast later in the session. He topped the podium in a time of 27.56. Andrew owns a season-best result of 26.84 from March, a time which ranks him 5th in the world.

Canadian Olympian Kylie Masse also established a new meet record while racing in the women’s 50m back. The 27-year-old hit a time of 27.97 to get the job done, just over half a second outside her 27.38 season-best which ranks her 3rd in the world on the season.

South African Matt Sates dove in twice in tonight’s session, with the 19-year-old former Georgia Bulldog taking on the 200m free and 200m IM.

The former event saw Sates earn gold in a time of 1:48.20 while the latter saw him register a time of 1:58.77 for a new meet record while grabbing the top spot.

The 2IM marks a season-best for Sates, overtaking his earlier time of 1:59.19 he earned at the Lausanne Swim Cup this past February.

Additional Winners

• Slovenia’s Katja Fain was tonight’s gold medalist in the women’s 200m free, touching the wall in a time of 2:01.27.
• Lithuania’s Kotryna Tetervkova put up a winning time of 30.88 to win the women’s 50m breaststroke.
• The men’s 100m fly saw Anastasios Kougkoulos beat the competition, posting 53.14 as the gold medalist. A pair of swimmers from Kazakhstan also landed on the podium, with Adilbek Mussin securing silver in 53.13 while Maxim Skazobtsos rounded out the top 3 in 54.15.
• Lisa Nystrand of Sweden won the women’s 200m IM in 2:16.93.
• National record holder Anna Ntountounaki of Greece posted a time of 58.18 to win the women’s 100m fly event.