2021 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Swimming: Monday, May 17th – Sunday, May 23rd, 2021
- Budapest, Hungary
- Prelims at 10:00 am local/Finals at 6:00 pm local
- Event Site
- Entry List
- Live Results
- Live Stream
The men’s 200m breaststroke saw Swedish swimmer Erik Persson snag the top time of the semi-finals, reaping the pole position in a performance of 2:07.85. That not only beat out the likes of Russia’s Anton Chupkov and Dutchman Arno Kamminga to land lane 4 for tomorrow night’s final, but Persson’s outing also tied his own Swedish record.
27-year-old Persson put up his first 2:07.85 result in Stockholm at the 2017 Swedish Open. In his native country, the man opened in 1:01.59 and closed in 1:06.26 to produce the new record. Tonight, the Swede took off first and led the entire way, pushing the field to a 1:01.67 opener before bringing it home in 1:06.18. He’ll be the man to be tomorrow, although the aforementioned Kamminga already nailed a morning swim of 2:07.39 in the heats and has been under 2:07 already this year.
Another national mark was broken tonight in this event, courtesy of Finnish standout Matti Mattson. The 27-year-old powered his way to the wall in a time of 2:08.26 to claim the 3rd seed after Persson and Chupkov. His previous national record entering this meet stood at the 2:08.51 notched just this past April before he brought it down to 2:08.43 in this morning’s heats. his 2:08.26 is edging the man closer to the 2:08 barrier, so we’ll be on the lookout for that tomorrow evening.
What a strange event. Lots of comments recently talking about 205 being imminent (not even bringing up Nagy’s remarks), but no one looked like they were holding back 2-3 seconds worth today. Maybe there will be some big taper drops, but at this point, I would guess we will see a 149 2 fly before we see a 205 2 breast. Two weeks ago I never would have expected to be saying that.
Props to Mattsson for sticking with it all these years since his bronze in Barcelona
What does Caspar Corbeau need to go to make the OLY team? Or is it to late?
This is the last chance. 2.08.52 is the cut. Was 2.08.57 in December.