Vanotterdijk & Gaspard Rewrite Belgian Record Books; Corbeau Goes 55 In 100m Breaststroke
Roos Vanotterdijk and Florine Gaspard wasted no time in rewriting the Belgian record books on day one of the short-course nationals in Ghent.
Vanotterdijk was straight into it, firing off 2:18.07 to win the 200 breaststroke title while taking 0.42 off Fanny Lecluyse’s Belgian mark that had stood for almost 10 years.
The 20-year-old dominated the field, finishing almost 10secs ahead of Zinke Delcommune (2:27.94) with Siel Verstrepen third (2:32.71).
It was enough for Vanotterdijk to book a spot at the European Short Course Championships that run from 2-7 December in Lublin, Poland. She has had a superb year during which she won 100 fly silver and 50 bronze at the World Championships in Singapore. That followed three golds among five medals at the European U23 Championships in Samorin and the constant rewriting of the record books in the long and short-course pools.
Vanotterdijk also won the 100IM as the only woman inside 1min in 57.88.
Gaspard set a Belgian 50 free record of 23.80 as she shaved 0.19 from the time she set last year. Vanotterdijk claimed silver in 24.14 and Marie Sageder of Austria finished in 25.45.
Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands dominated the men’s 100m breaststroke, winning by almost five seconds in 55.59. That was just 0.04 off his Dutch record of 55.55 from the World Cup stop in Toronto which was 10th performance all-time as he soared to fifth-top performer.
Sarah Dumont won the 400 free in 4:04.69 before returning to take the 200 fly in 2:09.85 for a gruelling double.
