With World Record, Caspar Corbeau Writes Latest Chapter in Booming Breaststroke Career
As a two-time Olympian, Caspar Corbeau has clearly established himself as one of the premier breaststrokers in the world. He left the 2024 Games in Paris with a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke and backed up that performance this past summer with another bronze medal in the event at the World Championships in Singapore.
The Dutchman brought more this weekend.
While wrapping up a highly successful three-week run in the World Cup, Corbeau capped the Toronto stop of the series with a world record in the short-course version of the 200 breaststroke. Clocking a time of 1:59.52, the 24-year-old became the first athlete in history to crack the two-minute barrier in the event and shattered the previous world mark of 2:00.16, set in 2018 by Russian Kirill Prigoda.
Initially a standout for the University of Texas, the 6-7 Corbeau used his last year of collegiate eligibility at Indiana University for the 2024-25 NCAA campaign. A dual citizen of the United States and the Netherlands, Corbeau opted to honor his Dutch roots for his international athletic career, a decision that has paid off. In addition to his recent bronze medals in the 200 breaststroke at the Olympics and most-recent World Champs, Corbeau was the silver medalist in the 200 breast at the 2024 edition of the World Championships.
Corbeau’s career has been defined by steady progress. After failing to advance out of the preliminaries in either breaststroke event at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Corbeau was seventh in the 200 breast at the 2022 World Champs. A year later, he was fifth in that event at Worlds. Last summer, his bronze in the 200 breast at Worlds was supported by a fourth-place showing in the 100 breaststroke.
During the World Cup, Corbeau’s world record in the 200 breaststroke was complemented by consistently fast performances in the 50 breaststroke and 100 breaststroke. He set a personal best of 25.52 in the 50 distance and his new best in the 100 distance of 55.55 now ranks him as the No. 5 performer on the all-time list. In a sport that leans toward specialization, Corbeau is a true three-distance star.
What does the future hold for Corbeau? The 2026 season will feature the European Championships and his improvement arc suggests major opportunties when the Olympic Games are held in Los Angeles in 2028. A first world record should also provide momentum.
“A lot of this stuff has just been relating to technique and strategy,” Corbeau said of his elite swims. “I’ve been truly trying to work with (Coach Mark Faber) about stroke length. I think that’s a gift of mine and to be able to use it to my strength in the short course pool is pretty important. So I just tried to swim my own race and, you know, be as smart and as efficient as possible.”
