{"id":447371,"date":"2020-09-23T15:33:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T22:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=447371"},"modified":"2020-09-24T11:10:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T18:10:38","slug":"yannick-agnel-danas-rapsys-is-the-only-man-who-knows-how-to-swim-the-200-free-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/yannick-agnel-danas-rapsys-is-the-only-man-who-knows-how-to-swim-the-200-free-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Yannick Agnel: Danas Rapsys Is the Only Man Racing the 200 Free Correctly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yannick Agnel: Sees Danas Rapsys As the Only Man Racing the 200 Free Correctly<\/strong><\/p>\n

2012 Olympic 200 freestyle champion\u00a0Yannick Agnel\u00a0<\/strong>of France weighed in on\u00a0Brett Hawke’s\u00a0<\/strong>podcast<\/a> about the status of the 200 freestyle in the swimming world right now, saying\u00a0Danas Rapsys\u00a0<\/strong>is the only swimmer who swims the 200 freestyle the right way.<\/p>\n

“There is only one way to dominate and win a 200 freestyle,” Agnel said, referencing the need to take an attacking style. “When I’m watching swimming now, the only guy that knows how to swim a 200 freestyle is Danas Rapsys. And you know what, if it wasn’t for him to have shaken the blocks in Gwangju, he would have won.”<\/p>\n

This comment was in response to Ian Thorpe’s<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>comments on a previous Hawke podcast about how the 200 freestyle remains stagnant and how his winning time from the 2001 Worlds of 1:44.06, which stood as the world record for nearly six years before Michael Phelps\u00a0<\/strong>broke it, would push for major titles today. Thorpe said \u201ceveryone in the world is swimming the 200 freestyle wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t swim 150 meters easy and then turn it into a sprint. You are going to limit what time you are going to do,\u201d says Thorpe, Olympic 400m freestyle champion at Sydney 2000 and 200m and 400m gold medallist at Athens 2004.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now 37, Thorpe believes that the only way the swimmer who cannot match the rare backend speed he managed to muster in his career can win the 200 freestyle in the kind of time he was capable of is to go for it the first 100 and be willing to make themselves hurt more to be \u201cwilling to deal with the pain that is going to exist the last 50 meters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"danas-rapsys-\"

Danas Rapsys. Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant<\/p><\/div>\n

Yannick Agnel is one of two men in the last two decades to break 1:44 in the 200 freestyle, when he swam the textile best at the 2012 Games at 1:43.14. Danas Rapsys, who Agnel mentioned, touched first in the 200 freestyle final at the 2019 Worlds at 1:44.69 before being disqualified for twitching on the blocks, thus giving the gold medal to the next fastest in China’s Sun Yang<\/strong>. Rapsys had come home in 26.25 at the 2019 Worlds, which is only slower than the closing speed of Thorpe and Phelps in their best times.<\/p>\n

Moving ahead to the 2021 Olympics, Rapsys is one of the gold medal favorites for the 200 freestyle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Below is a chart of the splits of the 200 freestyle winner at the last five World Championships (excluding 2009) and two Olympic Games compared to Ian Thorpe\u2019s best in 2001:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • 2001: Ian Thorpe \u2013 24.81, 51.45 (26.64), 1:18.26 (26.81), 1:44.06 (25.80)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • 2007: Michael Phelps \u2013\u00a024.47; 51.00 (26.53); 1:17.73 (26.73); 1:43.86 (26.13)<\/li>\n
  • 2011: Ryan Lochte \u2013 24.53, 51.20 (26.67), 1:17.49 (26.29), 1:44.44 (26.95)<\/li>\n
  • 2012: Yannick Agnel \u2013 24.55, 50.64 (26.09), 1:17.16 (26.52), 1:43.14 (25.98)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • 2013: Yannick Agnel \u2013 24.07, 50.64 (26.57), 1:17.00 (26.36), 1:44.20 (27.20)<\/li>\n
  • 2015: James Guy \u2013 24.53, 50.99 (26.46), 1:18.33 (27.34), 1:45.14 (26.81)<\/li>\n
  • 2016: Sun Yang \u2013 24.87, 51.57 (26.70), 1:17.94 (26.37), 1:44.65 (26.71)<\/li>\n
  • 2017: Sun Yang \u2013 24.87, 51.10 (26.23), 1:17.45 (26.35), 1:44.39 (26.94)<\/li>\n
  • 2019: Sun Yang \u2013 24.97, 51.73 (26.76), 1:18.33 (26.60), 1:44.93 (26.60)<\/li>\n
  • 2019: Danas Rapsys – 24.75, 51.35 (26.60), 1:18.44 (27.09), 1:44.69 (26.25)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Watch Yannick Agnel on the full Brett Hawke podcast here<\/a>.<\/p>\n