Noah Verreth and Roos Vanotterdijk rewrote the Belgian record books once more at the Flanders Open in Mol over the weekend.
First up for Verreth was the 200 back in which he stopped the clock in 1:53.14 to slice 0.61 off Lander Hendrickx’ mark of 1:53.75 which had stood since November 2019. He returned for the 50 back where he went 23.27 in prelims to take 0.02 off his own 23.29 record from Rotterdam last month. However, he wasn’t done for the day and came back to the pool to slice a further 0.02 to leave the record at 23.25.
Verreth now owns all Belgian men’s backstroke records bar the 200 long-course standard which has stood to Stefaan Maene since Barcelona 1992 where he posted 1:59.64. Verreth’s 200 PB in the long-course pool stands at 1:59.79 from the Flanders Open in March this year. He also won the 100 back in Mol in 50.35 to sweep the backstroke events.
Vanotterdijk added the 200 free record to her armoury as she became the first Belgian woman inside 1:54 in short-course waters in 1:53.64. With that, she sliced a 1.18sec chunk from the previous record of 1:54.82 set by Valentine Dumont in 2023. Vanotterdijk also won the 50 and 100 free.
Elsewhere, the Netherlands’ Caspar Corbeau left the three-day meet with six titles in the 50 and 100 breast, 50 and 100 free and 100 and 200IM.