Florine Gaspard Goes 24.46 In 50 Free & Lucas Henveaux Hits National 200IM Record At Belgian Championships In Antwerp
Florine Gaspard went 24.46 as she continued the form that sees her jostling at the top of the women’s 50 free rankings at the Open Belgian Swimming Championships in Antwerp.
Gaspard – who was 15th in the semis at Paris 2024 – set a national record of 24.42 at the Swim Open Stockholm a fortnight ago and on Friday went within 0.04 of that mark. She’s one of a number of women in the 24.4 range with Sara Curtis twice lowering the Italian record in one day before settling at 24.43 recently and Eva Okaro going 24.48 at the British trials for the World Championships. Roos Vanotterdijk was second in 24.83 with Amel Melih of Algeria third in 25.59. Gaspard and Vanotterdijk were inside the cut for the World Championships in Singapore.
Lucas Henveaux shattered the national 200IM record as he became the first Belgian man inside 2mins in a time trial. Henveaux stopped the clock in 1:57.60 to take 2.64secs from the previous standard of 2:00.24 which had stood to Emmanuel Vanluchene since February 2016.
Vincent Van Hooydonck won the men’s dash in 22.55 to claim his second title of the session after winning the 100 fly in 54.45. Stan Francx was second in 22.94 ahead of Emre Guerdenli of Türkiye (23.00).
Sarah Dumont came away from the first day in Antwerp with two titles. First up was the 400 free where she pulled away from Camille Henveaux following the 150 mark to enjoy a commanding win in 4:10.47 to 4:13.08 with Siri Vanderlinden some way back in 4:19.81. She returned for the 200 fly in which she set a national record of 2:09.64 en-route to the European junior title in Vilnius, Lithuania, last year. Dumont was completely dominant and enjoyed a winning margin of more than 14 seconds in 2:11.37 with Fran Vertressen next home in 2:25.51.
Vanotterdijk won 50 back gold before her dash silver. The 20-year-old set a Belgian record of 27.81 in Stockholm although she didn’t threaten that in Antwerp in 28.19. Fleur Verdonck was second in 28.88 and Laure Durez third in 29.40.
Grace Palmer overhauled Zinke Delcommune on the final 50 to win the women’s 200m breaststroke in 2:29.08 to 2:29.41.
Elsewhere in Antwerp, Simon Laviolette won the men’s 400IM in 4:25.36, Noah Verreth took the 200 back title in 2:02.37 with Noah Martens taking the 1500 in 16:01.65.