Marco Koch uncorked one of the fastest men’s 200-meter breaststrokes of all time at the 2016 Luxembourg Euro Meet.
Koch blasted his way to a 2:07.69 that crushed his previous meet record of 2:09.61. The swim also far-surpassed his own record for the fastest January 200 breast ever of 2:09.31 set last week in France. That’s the 14th-fastest 200-meter breast of all time as well, which is stunningly fast considering it is still January.
All Time 200 Breast
Laurent Carnol took second tonight in 2:11.61 with Arkadii Grigorev placing third in 2:14.79.
Katinka Hosszu collected a meet record in the women’s 200-meter free with a time of 1:56.81. That swim cleared the 1:57.48 set by Annika Lurz back in 2007. Melani Costa (1:59.20) and Annika Bruhn (1:59.29) finished second and third.
While that time is a second-and-a-half behind Hosszu’s top time last year of 1:55.41 that ranked her fifth in the world, she’s still well behind the likes of Katie Ledecky, who dropped a ridiculous 1:54.43 at the Austin stop of the Arena Pro Swim Series this month.
Hosszu took down a second meet record with a 26.62 in the women’s 50-meter fly. That swim lowered the 26.80 set by Inge Dekker back in 2005. Dorothea Brandt earned second in 26.82 with Emilia Pikkarainen taking third in 26.89.
Hosszu snagged her third meet record with a 1:00.00 in the women’s 100-meter back. That swim cleared her 1:00.48 from prelims. Daryna Zevina took second in 1:00.65 with Duane Da Rocha placing third in 1:02.33.
Hosszu remained on fire after a few weeks of being sporadic in terms of her top-level swims with a fourth title tonight. She posted a meet-record 2:10.70 in the women’s 200-meter IM, an event in which she owns the world record. That swim clipped the 2:10.75 she clocked in prelims as the record. Zsuzsanna Jakabos placed second in 2:14.71 with Hannah Miley earning third in 2:15.41.
Velimir Stjepanovic made a run at the top January time of all time in the men’s 200-meter free with a sizzling 1:46.10. That swim broke the meet record of 1:47.13 set by Paul Biedermann back in 2014, and would have ranked in the top 10 last year.
The swim also came up just short of Yannick Agnel’s January record of 1:45.76 set at the 2014 edition of the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin.
Welson Sim (1:48.46) and Victor Martin (1:49.61) finished second and third tonight.
Alex Murphy downed the meet record in the men’s 50-meter breast with a time of 27.61. That swim cleared the shared mark of 27.91 set by Johannes Neumann in 2009 and Giedrius Titenis in 2014.
Andrea Toniato (28.06) and Hendrik Feldwehr (28.12) rounded out the podium.
Ben Proud uncorked a sizzling 23.26 in the men’s 50-meter fly. That swim blasted the meet record of 23.66 set by Steffen Deibler in 2014 and came up just shy of Proud’s season best last year of 23.24 from Worlds that ranked him ninth in the world.
Laszlo Cseh took second in 23.50 with Konrad Czerniak winding up third in 23.60.
Proud doubled up with a 21.96 meet record to win the men’s 50-meter free. That swim eclipsed his 22.11 set in prelims. Ari-Pekka Liukkonen placed second in 22.24 with Krisztian Takacs earning third in 22.56.
Shane Ryan posted a 54.70 to touchout Jan-Philip Glania (54.71) in the men’s 100-meter back. Both swims cleared Glania’s meet record of 54.93 set during prelims. Conor Ferguson placed third in 56.40.
Cseh returned with a meet-record time of 1:59.01 in the men’s 200-meter IM. That downed his own 2:00.02 from 2014. Raphael Stacchiotti took second in 2:00.35 with Philip Heintz snaring third in 2:00.50.
Cseh doubled up in the men’s 200-meter fly with a time of 1:56.58. That effort cleared Viktor Bromer’s meet record of 1:56.89 from last year. Ioannis Drymonakos took second in 1:59.71 with Brendan Hyland placing third in 1:59.77.
Martina Carraro won the women’s 50-meter breast in 31.28. Moniek Nijhuis took second in 31.70 with Jinq En Phee placing third in 32.11.
Jessica Vall placed first in the women’s 200-meter breast with a time of 2:27.50, while Jessica Steiger took second in 2:28.32. Vanessa Grimberg put up a third-place time of 2:28.40. Hosszu wound up ninth with a 2:36.88.
Franziska Hentke unleashed a 2:08.64 to win the women’s 200-meter fly. That swim broke the meet record of 2:09.54 set by Judith Ignacio during prelims. Ignacio took second in 2:08.82 with Jakabos third in 2:10.32.
Hosszu, clearly showing signs of fading out badly on the tail end of a long night, placed 10th in 2:20.39.
Dorothea Brandt won the women’s 50-meter free in 25.22. Julie Meynen took second in 25.31 with Cecilie Johannessen placing third in 25.58. Hosszu wound up seventh in 25.72.
Jo Murphy
Marcinho Maes
2.07.69 Simon-Pierre Bélanger
J’ai vu hier
this guy really knows how to swim!