FLASH! Ben Proud Sets European S/C 50 Free Record Of 20.18
Ben Proud roared to a European short-course 50 freestyle record of 20.18 at the continental meet in Otopeni, Romania.
The Briton split 9.64/10.54 to go within 0.02 of Caeleb Dressel’s WR of 20.16 with the second-fastest performance all-time.
He took 0.08secs from Florent Manaudou’s European standard of 20.26 that had stood since the World Short-Course Championships in December 2014.
It was Proud’s first European short-course gold with Manaudou and defending champion Szebasztian Szabo sharing silver in 20.74.
Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
It was also a Championship record for the 29-year-old who has won every available title in the last two years: world short and long course, European short and long-course and Commonwealth.
The only medal missing from his extensive armoury is an Olympic one.
Cesar Cielo’s long-course WR of 20.91 has stood since December 2009 with Fred Bousquet’s 20.94 still atop the European rankings, also from the supersuit era.
The next two fastest men in history – Dressel and Cam McEvoy – are both still active, the Australian having won the world title in Fukuoka in 21.06, 0.02 outside the American’s PB of 21.04.
Proud – fifth all-time in the long-course pool with 21.11 from the 2018 European Championships – said:
“When Caeleb Dressel came along I knew I was not going to be the best sprinter and now we have Cam McEvoy too, so it’s about being consistent, and to be 29 and doing PBs feels great.“Coming here I said I wanted that title. It’s the only one outside of the Olympics I didn’t have and now, regardless of what happens at the Olympics next year I feel I can retire happy.”
“That’s really bizarre.
“I came into this meet just really wanting to chase that title – I did that, I was after Championship mindset racing, my mentality towards the race was really my only focus.
“I delivered that, and the time was just a bonus.
“It’s frustratingly close to that world record, but I’m not chasing that, it’s a great way to end the season!”
Rivals Pay Tribute To “Astonishing” Record
Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Manaudou, the Olympic 2012 champion, paid tribute, saying:
: “I knew Ben would be really fast, though not that fast, I thought he would make 20.3, 20.4, congrats for this amazing record.”
Szabo, the defending champion, echoed his sentiments:
“We’ve been training together with Ben (Proud) recently and I can tell you there wasn’t such a gap that time – so he was really fast today and he clocked an astonishing record, credit to him.”
All-Time Rankings
20.16: Caeleb Dressel, ISL Final, Dec 2020
20.18: Ben Proud, European Short-Course Championships, Dec 2023
20.26: Florent Manaudou, World Short-Course Championships, Dec 2014
20.30: Roland Schoeman, South African National Championships, Aug 2009
20.31: Jordan Crooks, World Short-Course Championships, Dec 2022
It was the second European record of the six-day meet after Noe Ponti went 48.47 in the 100 fly on Wednesday.
- Ben Proud: Conversations With Anthony Ervin Amid Life-Changing Journey
- Link to results
- Link to Otopeni 2023 website & streaming
- Day 1 prelims
- Day 1 finals
- Day 2 prelims
- Day 2 finals
- Noe Ponti Sets European s/c 100 Fly Record
- Day 3 prelims