2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
- Budapest, Hungary
- Duna Arena
- LCM (50-meter format)
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MEN’S 200 BUTTERFLY – SEMI-FINALS
- World Record: 1:50.73, Kristof Milak (HUN) – 2019 World Championships
- Championships Record: 1:50.73, Kristof Milak (HUN) – 2019
- 2021 Olympic Champion: Kristof Milak (HUN), 1:51.25
- 2019 World Champion: Kristof Milak (HUN), 1:50.73
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Kristof Milak (HUN), 1:52.39
- Tomoru Honda (JPN), 1:54.01
- Noe Ponti (SUI), 1:54.20
- Leon Marchand (FRA), 1:54.32
- Luca Urlando (USA), 1:54.50
- Tamas Kenderesi (HUN), 1:54.79
- Alberto Razzetti (ITA), 1:54.87
- James Guy (GBR), 1:54.91
In the semifinals of the men’s 200 fly, three European national records were broken.
The fastest out of all of them was Noe Ponti‘s Swiss record, which was broke in a time of 1:54.20 to take down his mark of 1:54.75 from prelims. In a day, Ponti has lowered his own record by 0.85 seconds, as his best time set before this meet was a 1:55.05 from the 2021 Olympic Games. He finished third in the semifinals behind Kristof Milak and Tomoru Honda, earning himself a spot in the finals tomorrow night.
Placing in forth behind Ponti was Leon Marchand, who broke Franck Esposito‘s 20-year old French record of 1:54.62 that was set back in 2002. Marchand clocked a time of 1:54.32, over a second faster than his previous best time of 1:55.40 set last June. The Frenchman is already having a stellar meet, having previously won the 400 IM in a time of 4:04.28 that was just 0.44 seconds off Michael Phelps’s world record, the oldest one standing in the books right now. Tomorrow, he will look to continue his streak of strong performances in the 200 fly final.
Ponti and Marchand are now the 18th and 22nd fastest performers in the history of the men’s 200 fly respectively.
The third national record from these semis came from Kregor Zirk. Although he finished 11th, he still went a best time, breaking both the Estonian and Baltic records in a time of 1:55.62. Zirk lowered his Estionian and Baltic twice today, going 1:56.12 in prelims to beat his old mark of 1:56.63 from the 2021 European Championships and then dropping 0.5 seconds in the semifinals.
Six out of the eight finalists in the 200 fly, including gold medal favorite Milak, are European. This continues the trend of European dominance at this meet, as they already have twelve medals so far after three days.
Marchand is really gonna be a multi-event monster in Paris.
I remember the times Zirk had when he started training and competing with Energy Standard, I kind assumed he got to stick around because he was a chill dude or had an uncle who worked at Nintendo or something. Nice to see him come into his own as a legitimate world level swimmer