Zac Stubblety-Cook breaks world 200m breaststroke record at Australian swimming championships
Zac Stubblety-Cook is struggling to grasp the the fact that he has become Australian swimming’s latest world record-holder.
Stubblety-Cook had a simple goal in Thursday night’s final of the 200m breaststroke at the Australian championships in Adelaide: swim fast.
But faster than anyone in the event’s history?
“It’s a lot to wrap your head around,” Stubblety-Cook said. “It’s a bit surreal, to be perfectly honest. “I was obviously hoping to swim fast and hoping to swim close to my best. But that is just something else.”
He clocked two minutes 05.95 seconds, bettering the previous benchmark of 2:06.12 set by the Russian Anton Chupkov in 2019.
The quietly spoken 23-year-old is arguably Australia’s lowest-profile Olympic swimming champion.
Stubblety-Cook’s 200m breaststroke triumph at last year’s Tokyo Olympics was overshadowed by the multiple gold medal-winning feats of the likes of Emma McKeon and Kaylee McKeown.
The Brisbane-born athlete, who cites being curious, driven and stubborn as his top-three character traits, had pondered breaking the world record in his pet event. But it wasn’t a burning motivation.
“I had thought about it ... but I never have been like, ‘Yes, that’s it, I want to break the world record,’” StubbletyCook said. “It happened obviously … but I didn’t think we were going that fast.”
His benchmark came on a night when Kyle Chalmers signalled a backflip which will deny the pop star Cody Simpson an international swimming debut at the looming world titles.
Chalmers had announced he would not swim at next month’s event in
Budapest. But after winning the 50m butterfly and finishing second in the 100m butterfly in Adelaide, he is poised to reverse that decision. His likely change of mind will prevent Simpson making his Australian debut at the world titles.
The top two in each final at the nationals earn selection for the worlds, with the top three securing a Commonwealth Games berth.
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Chalmers finished second behind Matt Temple in Wednesday night’s 100m butterfly final, with Simpson third.
“You can’t make me out to be the villain,” Chalmers said after his 50m victory on Thursday night. “For me, it’s unfortunate it probably takes Cody’s spot away.”
Simpson remains assured of selection for the Commonwealth Games in July-August.
Other Thursday-night winners included McKeown (women’s 4x100m medley), Brianna Throssell (women’s 100m butterfly), Chelsea Hodges (women’s 50m breaststroke) and Zac Incerti (men’s 200m freestyle).