World Championships, Day Six Finals: Tatjana Schoenmaker Wins First World Title in 200 Breast

Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa competes in the 200m Breaststroke Women Final during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 28th, 2023.

Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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World Championships, Day Six Finals: Tatjana Schoenmaker Wins First World Title in 200 Breast

She’s the reigning Olympic champion, and now she can add world champion to her resume.

Tatjana Schoenmaker pulled away and then held off the field the women’s 200 breaststroke Friday night at the World Aquatics Championships, the world record holder pulling away in a time of 2:20.80 to win gold at Marine Messe Hall.

Kate Douglass surged late for silver, with Tes Schouten of the Netherlands getting gold. It locked Lilly King out of the podium, the top breaststroker of her era 0-for-2 in medals at Worlds with the 50 still to come.

King is the reigning world champion, having gone 2:22.41 in Budapest last year with Douglass getting bronze around Jenna Strauch of Australia. But Schoenmaker passed on Worlds last year, and the absence of the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder didn’t go unnoticed.

Schoenmaker opted for the Commonwealth Games last year, where she won the 200 and got silver in the 100. She was worried about her readiness and the effect a bad Worlds might have had on her confidence had she gone to Budapest.

That time away from center stage meant the South African felt she flew under the radar here, and it informed the emotional release on the podium when her national anthem began playing.

“I think it was unexpected,” she said. “I think that’s why there was so much emotions. Coming into this meet, I wasn’t really ranked in the top three in any of my events. My times haven’t been as great since the Olympics. That was OK, and I just wanted to pitch up and not be scared to take on the opportunity to race some of these girls.”

The top four authored an outstanding race. King took the race out fast in the first 50, before Schoenmaker and Schouten started to assert themselves on the second 50. Schoenmaker made her move on the third 50 to gain the window of space that she would hold to the finish.

That’s when Douglass entered the picture. Already the fourth-place finisher in the 100 free earlier Friday night, she had the strongest second half of the race. Her third 50 of 25.97 was the quickest in the field, and her 36.35 coming home trailed only Schoenmaker.

That allowed the South African to hold her off. Douglass and Schouten traded the silver medal several times, going stroke for stroke, before Douglass touched in 2:21.23, a perfect final stroke and a four-tenths advantage. King looked like she had something left on the final strokes, through her 37.07 over the final 50 was fifth in the race. She went 2:22.25.

Douglass ended pleased with her performance overall, drawing on her background in NCAA swimming on how to pull off a difficult double.

“I’m really proud of myself in both of my swims,” Douglass said. “I knew it was going to be a challenge taking on the double of the 100 free and the 2-breast. I stepped up to that challenge, and I think doing both of those, I’m proud of myself. …

“Definitely that 100 free was disappointing to miss the podium but that much, but I think that really fueled me for the 200 breaststroke. I just really wanted to get on the podium there, get a medal for Team USA. I think that honestly was motivation for that race.”

Denmark’s Thea Blomsterberg finished fifth in 2:22.42. Kotryna Teterevkova of Lithuania was sixth.

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