{"id":574275,"date":"2023-12-07T09:22:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T16:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=574275"},"modified":"2023-12-15T03:40:55","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T10:40:55","slug":"flash-ben-proud-sets-european-short-course-50-free-record-of-20-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/flash-ben-proud-sets-european-short-course-50-free-record-of-20-18\/","title":{"rendered":"FLASH! Ben Proud Sets European S\/C 50 Free Record Of 20.18"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLASH! Ben Proud Sets European S\/C 50 Free Record Of 20.18<\/h4>\n

Ben Proud<\/strong> roared to a European short-course 50 freestyle record of 20.18 at the continental meet in Otopeni, Romania.<\/p>\n

The Briton split 9.64\/10.54 to go within 0.02 of Caeleb Dressel’s<\/strong> WR of 20.16 with the second-fastest performance all-time.<\/p>\n

He took 0.08secs from Florent Manaudou’s<\/strong> European standard of 20.26 that had stood since the World Short-Course Championships<\/strong> in December 2014.<\/p>\n

It was Proud’s first European short-course gold with Manaudou and defending champion Szebasztian Szabo<\/strong> sharing silver in 20.74.<\/p>\n

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Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The only medal missing from his extensive armoury is an Olympic one.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The next two fastest men in history – Dressel and Cam McEvoy<\/strong> – 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.<\/p>\n

Proud – fifth all-time in the long-course pool with 21.11 from the 2018 European Championships – said:<\/p>\n

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“When Caeleb Dressel<\/strong> came along I knew I was not going to be the best sprinter and now we have Cam McEvoy<\/strong> too, so it\u2019s about being consistent, and to be 29 and doing PBs feels great.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Coming here I said I wanted that title. It\u2019s the only one outside of the Olympics I didn\u2019t have and now, regardless of what happens at the Olympics next year I feel I can retire happy.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Of his gold, he added:<\/div>\n

“That’s really bizarre.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“I delivered that, and the time was just a bonus.<\/p>\n

“It’s frustratingly close to that world record, but I’m not chasing that, it’s a great way to end the season!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rivals Pay Tribute To “Astonishing” Record<\/h3>\n
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Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

Manaudou, the Olympic 2012 champion, paid tribute, saying:<\/p>\n

: \u201cI knew Ben would be really fast, though not that fast, I thought he would make 20.3, 20.4, congrats for this amazing record.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Szabo, the defending champion, echoed his sentiments:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been training together with Ben (Proud) recently and I can tell you there wasn\u2019t such a gap that time \u2013 so he was really fast today and he clocked an astonishing record, credit to him.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All-Time Rankings<\/h3>\n

20.16: Caeleb Dressel, ISL Final, Dec 2020<\/p>\n

20.18: Ben Proud, European Short-Course Championships, Dec 2023<\/p>\n

20.26: Florent Manaudou, World Short-Course Championships, Dec 2014<\/p>\n

20.30: Roland Schoeman, South African National Championships, Aug 2009<\/p>\n

20.31: Jordan Crooks, World Short-Course Championships, Dec 2022<\/p>\n

It was the second European record of the six-day meet after Noe Ponti<\/strong> went 48.47 in the 100 fly on Wednesday.<\/p>\n