Hello everyone and welcome to this video from Propulsion Swimming where we're going to be
taking a look and reviewing a monumental swim which happened very recently over in Australia.
It's finally been done! A swimmer has gone under 2:06 for the Men's 200m Breaststroke, and that
swimmer is the Olympic champion from Tokyo, Zac Stubblety-Cook. So let's go and check it out.
Okay here we go...
The two guys in the golden lanes are who you want to be watching here. Matt Wilson's
the former World Record holder and you've got Zac Stubblety- Cook as well of course.
Unbelievable start for Matt Wilson. Zac Stubblety-Cook is not one to go out hard on the
first 50. I mean the tactic for a 200 Breaststroke really is to go out steady for the first 50-100m,
be nice and controlled, save your energy for the final 100m. He just looks really strong here. Very
strong, very smooth and he's already eaten into Matt Wilson's lead from that start. If I pause
after that first 50; the only reason Matt Wilson is ahead at this point is because of that start.
Zac Stubblety-Cook is actually using Matt Wilson as a brilliant pacemaker, he's actually pulling
him along to be honest with you. Fantastic stuff from Zac Stubblety-Cook. If we go into the second
length here, I want to quickly talk about his leg kick. We're gonna have an underwater shot here.
Where, if I pause it here, he keeps his knees very, very narrow and that's exactly what you
want on a breaststroke, especially on a 200m Breaststroke or any Breaststroke race to be
honest. You want to stay as streamlined as possible. So if you take a look here
keeps his knees in, whips his legs around, it's almost like Michael Andrew esque; keeps his knees
in quite narrow, the ankles go out quite wide, and he holds that glide quite nicely. Nice overhead
shot if you can kind of see it as well there. But even now he's still nice and controlled but it's
stroke rate is starting to pick up just that little bit. He's now at the head of the race.
If we pause at the third 50. You kind of do have to ignore the World Record line at the moment.
Chupkov did take it quite, not slowly but quite steady, very long and smooth tactic for him. Now,
this is where it gets really interesting on a 200m Breaststroke because the long, smooth, controlled
swim is done, that half the race is done. It's now all about increasing that stroke rate
and what I found really interesting here, if you take a look at the underwater, there's not much
glide. As soon as the arm pull comes down to his hips, he's straight into his stroke. The stroke
rate has already increased and he's already put a bit of distance between him and Matt Wilson.
Interestingly enough the split on the third 50 is exactly the same,
pretty much exactly the same as the second 50. So it looks like he's pulling away from Matt Wilson
but actually it's Matt Wilson's slowly fading away here. The World Record line is slowly catching up
but you can see the power. Look at his hips breaking the surface. If I pause it here,
pretty much equal with that World Record as of right now and of course that World Record came,
well Chupkov came back really strongly on that World Record line so you're thinking maybe a
little bit out of reach for Zac Stubblety-Cook but actually he blows it out of the water.
He just did 17 strokes on that third 50, he's going to increase it up to 20 on this final 50.
Just gonna have to watch it here, it's just absolutely amazing.
Again not very much of a glide on that underwater as he get's straight into the stroke and here we
go! Absolutely motoring! Even though we're now increasing the stroke rate you still got to hold
that form, still going to extend on every arm pull, got to finish every kick, squeeze those
legs together, squeeze your glutes together. In fact he's actually battering the World Record,
he's miles ahead of it as of right now. It does come back a little bit on top of him
but he's just got to hold it. He's got to keep it nice and controlled and powerful, keep it going.
Maybe a slight glide into the wall but actually I'd say it was pretty much perfect. Absolutely
incredible swim. Ultimately I think it was just perfect all the way through. I think it's safe
to say that the reason he broke this World Record was because of that final 50m. 31.6 is absolutely
insane for a final 50m of a 200m Breaststroke. What I found amazing is that he didn't glide at
all. As soon as he fully extended his arms he was pulling into the arm stroke and basically that 20
strokes of really increased, high stroke rate, real strong powerful kick has what's go him that
World Record. Absolutely incredible stuff! I can't wait to see what he does in at the
Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. So if you've enjoyed this breakdown of a historic World Record
and want to see more of them, please SUBSCRIBE to Propulsion Swimming and let us know which
other races you'd like us to review. Thanks for watching guys and we'll catch you on the next one!