2020 ANTWERP DIAMOND RACE
- Saturday, March 7th & Sunday, March 8th
- Wezenberg Pool, Antwerp, Belgium
- 50m (LCM)
- Meet Site
- SwimSwam Preview
- Live Results
Just as 24-year-old Arno Kamminga dropped his newly-minted lifetime best and Dutch national record in the 100m breast between yesterday’s prelims and finals, the man accomplished the same feat here on day 2 of the Antwerp Diamond Race in the 200m breast.
After firing off the fastest time of his career with a monster 2:07.54 this morning, the two-time 2019 European Short Course Champion busted out a time of 2:07.18 to easily take 200m breast gold in Belgium.
Entering this meet, Kamminga held the Dutch national record with his 2:07.96 last October at the FINA World Cup stop in Budapest. That means the Dutchman found a way to hack .78 off of his best-ever performance to bring himself closer to the 2:07 threshold than ever before.
Splits for his 2 performances today include the following:
Old Record of 2:07.54 – 1:01.46/1:06.08
New Record of 2:07.18 – 1:01.58/1:05.60
And, just like that, Kamminga rockets himself up from slot #19 to slot #6 among all-time top 200m breast performers worldwide, all-time, tying Japan’s Yashuhiro Koseki.
| #1 – 2:06.12 | Anton Chupkov | RUS | 7/26/2019 | Gwangju | |
| #2 – 2:06.67 | Ippei Watanabe | JPN | 10th Tokyo Swimming Championships | 1/27/2017 | Tokyo |
| #2 – 2:06.67 | Matthew Wilson | AUS | 7/25/2019 | Gwangju | |
| #4 – 2:07.01 | Akihiro Yamaguchi | JPN | 67th Japan National Sports Festival – Swimming Com | 9/15/2012 | Gifu |
| #5 – 2:07.17 | Josh Prenot | USA | 2016 Olympic Trials | 6/30/2016 | Omaha |
| #6 – 2:07.18 | Yasuhiro Koseki & Arno Kamminga | JPN/NED | 2020 Antwerp Diamond Challenge | 4/13/2017 & 03/08/2020 | Aichi/Antwerp |
Kamminga now takes over the season’s world rankings throne as well, overtaking Aussie Zac Stubblety-Cook‘s 2:07.28 from December.
2019-2020 LCM MEN 200 BREAST
Kamminga
2:07.18
| 2 | Zac Stubblety-Cook | AUS | 2:07.28 | 12/14 |
| 3 | Shoma Sato | JPN | 2:07.58 | 01/24 |
| 4 | Anton Chupkov | RUS | 2:07.71 | 11/03 |
| 5 | Andrew Wilson | USA | 2:07.77 | 08/04 |
Passing 13 people with a 0.4s drop over 200 meters (and only a second off the WR) is crazy. I know it’s said a lot, but this event is due for a breakthrough to stratify it again.
I feel this will be like 2016. We all thought we’d see a monstrous 200 breast final but in reality, there are so many guys so close to one another that they’ll be spent after swimming 2 solid 200s just to make the final. Then we just see who wins (has the best ability to recover).
So I’m gonna ask the question often asked of aussie swimmers .. is he peaking too soon ??
It’s not a bad question, but given how frequently he’s been fast in-season this year, it seems plausible that he’s simply hit a new gear this season. That, or he’s taken on some new training pattern that is less peak-and-taper. Whatever he’s doing, he’s found a way to be fast and faster and faster at almost every meet he swims.
Oh the progression is undeniable .. the times speak for themselves .. however the question does remain is he swimming his best times now instead of Tokyo ? Glass half full or half empty ..
He’s been swimming insane in-season times for nearly 6 months now and is only dropping even more time. Swimming sub-59 and sub 2:08 just seems like his new norm now and maybe he won’t taper much at the big one.
Yes I think so.. The Dutch haven’t proven over the past 4/5 years to be strong in peaking at the right moment. During the past global/international LC champs, only the WC 2017 could be considered a success. Al others where way below par with regards to the athlete’s personal/seasonal best times. Often a handful of improvements where achieved.
This event looks so exciting. 5 or 6 men could medal in Tokyo. May be the most exciting event in terms of depth on men’s side.
200 Breast is gonna be 🔥
Man the breaststroke revolution just never ends… this time he swam in season would’ve won any Olympics ever and it wouldn’t have even won a medal at last years worlds…
Also you listed Koseki and Kamminga as joint #5 but you have Wilson and Watanabe listed as #2 and #3 even though the times are the same.