{"id":586336,"date":"2024-06-01T16:36:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T23:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=586336"},"modified":"2024-06-01T16:36:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-01T23:36:09","slug":"kate-douglass-breaks-220-again-in-200-breaststroke-at-ncap-elite-qualifier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/kate-douglass-breaks-220-again-in-200-breaststroke-at-ncap-elite-qualifier\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Douglass Breaks 2:20 Again in 200 Breaststroke at NCAP Elite Qualifier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kate Douglass Breaks 2:20 Again in 200 Breaststroke at NCAP Elite Qualifier<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the past several months,\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong> has established her place at the helm of the 200 breaststroke in the United States and also reinforced that position. In January, Douglass broke a 12-year-old American record in the 200 breast with a time of 2:19.30<\/a>, and shortly thereafter, she took silver in the event at the Doha World Championships just minutes after racing in the 100 freestyle final. She broke 2:20 again in April, and now, she has clocked 2:19.95 at the NCAP Elite Qualifier in Stafford, Va.<\/p>\n

Douglass was already the only American woman to break 2:20 on multiple occasions as before this year, only\u00a0Rebecca Soni<\/strong> and\u00a0Lilly King<\/strong> had reached the barrier and just once apiece, while racing in Olympic finals. Now, Douglass is the overwhelming favorite to win this event at the upcoming Olympic Trials<\/a>, and with a strong swim, she could join Russia’s\u00a0Evgeniia Chikunova<\/strong> and South Africa’s\u00a0Tatjana Smith<\/strong> (n\u00e9e\u00a0Schoenmaker<\/strong>) as the only swimmers to ever crack 2:19.<\/p>\n

With Russian swimmers including Chikunova all but certain to miss Paris<\/a>, Smith looks like the biggest challenge to Douglass for Olympic gold as the reigning world and Olympic champion and top swimmer in the world at 2:19.01. The Netherlands’\u00a0Tes Schouten<\/strong>, who edged out Douglass for the world title this year, has a top mark of 2:19.81.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, two new challengers have emerged to join Douglass on the Olympic team in the event, and both train with Douglass at the University of Virginia.\u00a0Alex Walsh<\/strong>, best known for her status as world champion in the 200 IM, is adding the 200 breast to her program this year, and she swam a best time by more than two seconds Saturday while finishing second behind Douglass in 2:22.87.\u00a0Ella Nelson<\/strong>, another Cavalier, also swam a best time as she touched in 2:24.07.<\/p>\n

Walsh now ranks No. 5 in the world for 2024 behind Smith, Douglass, Schouten and Chikunova while Nelson slots in at No. 15 globally. Aside from Douglass, no other Americans have been quicker, with King owning a season-best mark of 2:24.34.<\/p>\n