FLASH! Ben Proud Sets European S/C 50 Free Record Of 20.18
Ben Proud roared to a European short-course 50 freestyle record of 20.18 at the continental meet in Otopeni, Romania.
The Briton split 9.65/10.54 to go within 0.02 of Caeleb Dressel’s WR of 20.16 with the second-fastest performance all-time.
He took 0.08secs from Florent Manaudou’s European standard of 20.26 that had stood since the World Short-Course Championships in December 2014.
It was Proud’s first European short-course gold with Manaudou and defending champion Szebasztian Szabo sharing silver in 20.74.
Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
It was also a Championship record for the 29-year-old who has won every available title in the last two years: world short and long course, European short and long-course and Commonwealth.
The only medal missing from his extensive armoury is an Olympic one.
Cesar Cielo’s long-course WR of 20.91 has stood since December 2009 with Fred Bousquet’s 20.94 still atop the European rankings, also from the supersuit era.
The next two fastest men in history – Dressel and Cam McEvoy – are both still active, the Australian having won the world title in Fukuoka in 21.06, 0.02 outside the American’s PB of 21.04.
Proud – fifth all-time in the long-course pool with 21.11 from the 2018 European Championships – said:
“When Caeleb Dressel came along I knew I was not going to be the best sprinter and now we have Cam McEvoy too, so it’s about being consistent, and to be 29 and doing PBs feels great.
“Coming here I said I wanted that title. It’s the only one outside of the Olympics I didn’t have and now, regardless of what happens at the Olympics next year I feel I can retire happy.”
Of his gold, he added:
“That’s really bizarre.
“I came into this meet just really wanting to chase that title – I did that, I was after Championship mindset racing, my mentality towards the race was really my only focus.
“I delivered that, and the time was just a bonus.
“It’s frustratingly close to that world record, but I’m not chasing that, it’s a great way to end the season!”
Rivals Pay Tribute To “Astonishing” Record
Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Manaudou, the Olympic 2012 champion, paid tribute, saying:
: “I knew Ben would be really fast, though not that fast, I thought he would make 20.3, 20.4, congrats for this amazing record.”
Szabo, the defending champion, echoed his sentiments:
“We’ve been training together with Ben (Proud) recently and I can tell you there wasn’t such a gap that time – so he was really fast today and he clocked an astonishing record, credit to him.”
All-Time Rankings
20.16: Caeleb Dressel, ISL Final, Dec 2020
20.18: Ben Proud, European Short-Course Championships, Dec 2023
20.26: Florent Manaudou, World Short-Course Championships, Dec 2014
20.30: Roland Schoeman, South African National Championships, Aug 2009
20.31: Jordan Crooks, World Short-Course Championships, Dec 2022
It was the second European record of the six-day meet after Noe Ponti went 48.47 in the 100 fly on Wednesday.
