Florine Gaspard Twice Lowers Belgian 50 Breast Record; Roos Vanotterdijk Makes Winning Return
Florine Gaspard twice lowered the national 50m breaststroke record on day one of the Open Belgian Championships in Antwerp.
The 24-year-old, swimming in the Antwerp pool in which she’s coached by Mark Faber, set a 30.44 standard at the Flanders Cup in March.
She sliced 0.07 from that time to go 30.37 in prelims before returning to go 30.26 in the finals. It elevated Gaspard to joint fourth alongside Lara Van Niekerk in the rankings and reaffirmed her place on the team for the European Championships in Paris.
Siel Verstrepen (32.04) and Lies Gobert (32.64) joined her on the podium.
Roos Vanotterdijk returned to competition following a shoulder injury to also seal her berth to Paris.
Another of Faber’s training group, Vanotterdijk had a convincing victory in 56.74 in the 100 butterfly with Ana Nizharadze of Georgia the only other swimmer inside the minute mark in 59.41.
Vanotterdijk’s time was 0.90 off her Belgian record of 55.84 set en-route to silver at last year’s World Championships in Singapore. However, it’s a very welcome step on the road to recovery ahead of the continental showcase in August.
Kenzo Simons of the Netherlands won the men’s 50 free in 21.96 with Vincent van Hooydonck the first Belgian home in 22.29, outside the Paris cut.
Lucas Henveaux had already sealed qualification at the Pro Swim Series in Westmont but instead eased to a 400 free victory in 3:51.30, 6.69secs off his Belgian standard.
Sarah Dumont won the women’s 200 free in 1:57.62 to book a spot in Paris and go within sight of sister Valentine’s Belgian record of 1:57.18 from the 2023 Sette Colli meet in Rome. Joining her in the French capital will be Siri Vanderlinden whose 1:59.44 PB was inside the cut.
Caspar Corbeau – Olympic and world bronze medallist over 200m breaststroke – enjoyed an emphatic win over 100m in 59.37. Lukas Baeten was the first Belgian home in 1:02.11.
Eszter Szabo Feltothy of Hungary dominated the women’s 400IM in 4:45.63 with Eloïse Lhoir crowned Belgian champion after touching third in 5:02.20. Djanilla Brink of the Netherlands had touched second in 4:59.14.
- Daniel Laureyssens won the men’s 100 fly in 53.68
- Noah Verreth took the men’s 200 back in 2:01.30
- Laure Durez took the women’s 50 back in 29.22