Noah Verreth Continues Belgian Record Run With 100 Back Mark At Flanders Cup
Noah Verreth continued his record-breaking run as he became the first Belgian man to crack 54secs in the 100 back at the Flanders Cup.
Verreth lowered his national record to 54.14 at the Lausanne Swim Cup last weekend before he demolished that in 53.94 in Antwerp prelims.
That mark lasted only a matter of hours with the 20-year-old splitting 25.86/27.76 for a new mark of 53.62, an improvement of 0.32 on his prelims effort. Paul Alves Torres was second in 54.84.
It has been some record bull run for Verreth over the past 10 days. He became the first Belgian to crack 25secs in the 50 in Lausanne, going 24.98, and has now entered new waters in the 100.
He almost wrote another entry in the record books on Friday when he posted 1:59.79 in the 200 back, just 0.15 off Stefan Maene’s 1:59.64 national standard that’s stood since the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
The three-day meet has also acted as qualification for the European Championships with Florine Gaspard among the swimmers to book a trip to Paris.
Gaspard had been on record-breaking form in Antwerp with a 30.44 standard in the 50 breast to guarantee a slot in the French capital.
On Sunday, she was 0.17 off her Belgian 50 free record, clocking 24.59 ahead of Petra Senanszky (24.99) and Melanie Henique (25.52).
Tes Schouten continued her progress following recovery from health issues when she won the 200m breaststroke to complete the 100/200 double.
The Netherlands swimmer, who is coached by Mark Faber in Antwerp, clocked 2:26.86 and enjoyed a winning margin of more than 4.5secs over Konstantina Andriann Gkovari (2:31.44).
Her time was almost seven seconds off her 2:19.81 Dutch record en-route to gold at the 2024 worlds in Doha, months before bronze at the Paris Olympics.
However, it is another significant step for Schouten who was hospitalised in November 2024 with nerve pain, loss of power and function on the entire left side of her body.
Another member of the Antwerp cohort trained by Faber, Schouten won the 100 breast on Saturday in 1:08.18 to make a welcome return to the top of the podium.
Antwerp training partner Caspar Corbeau wrapped up the breaststroke treble with a 2:10.18 outing over 200m.
- Sarah Dumont won the 200 fly in 2:12.52 and books a trip to the Europeans
- Bere Waerniers took the men’s 200 free in 1:51.28
- Fleur Verdonck wrapped up the women’s 50/100 back double with a 1:02.73 win over two lengths