Buoyed by a national record and Tokyo B qualifying time in the 200 individual medley on the opening day of the 2021 TYR Pro Swim Series – Mission Viejo (March 8 to 11) Jamaican Keanan Dols was bubbling with confidence to get another mark in the 200 metre butterfly.
He carried that energy to the heats of the 200 metre butterfly and he powered his way to the Championship final with a new personal best of 2:00.03 crushing his old personal best of 2:01.32 and a mere .06 from the B qualifying standard of 1:59.97. Dols also is closing in on the 2017 national record of 1:59.83 by countryman Michael Gunning .Dols set his previous personal record mark en route to the Championship final at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla , Colombia.
Comparison of personal bests
200 metre butterfly | 2018 | 2021 |
First 50 | 27.59 | 26.63 |
Second 50 | 30.74 | 30.71 |
Third 50 | 31.98 | 30.92 |
Fourth 50 | 32.10 | 31.77 |
Total time | 2:01.32 | 2:00.03 |
In the final The Gator Swim club athlete recorded the second best time of his career to place seventh in 2:01.00. The Gold went to Nicolas Albiero , the 2021 NCAA Champion from the University of Louisville in the 200 yard butterfly in a time of 1:57.86. Silver was won by Chase Kalisz, the 2016 Olympic Silver medallist in the 400 individual medley in 1:58.16 and the Bronze to Zach Harting in 1:59.38. Harting had placed sixth in this event at the 2019 World Championships.
Keanan spoke to draftingthecaribbean about that race and what is store for him for the rest of the season
“I was really happy with the 200 fly. It was a super emotional and tiring day having swam the IM earlier in the morning. It would have been awesome to have gotten under the 2:00 barrier but I’m still very happy with a 2:00.03. I didn’t quite close out the last 50 meters perfectly but it was a significantly better swim than 2 weeks ago at the ISCA championships. I think I’m capable of a 1:59 low or even a 1:58 high and I’m looking forward to racing it again when I get the opportunity. The next meet on the schedule will be the Atlanta Classic in mid May and now the major focus is on getting back to heavy training to be even better than this past week in Tokyo”.
CARIFTA ALL TIME PERFORMERS IN THE 200 METRE BUTTERFLY
The Bahamas | Jeremy Knowles | 1:58.25 | 2006 Pan Pacific Championships |
Guadeloupe/France | Matthias Marsau | 1:58.45 | 2016 Marseiile March 2016 |
Jamaica | Michael Gunning | 1:59.83 | 2017 British championships |
Jamaica | Keanan Dols | 2:00.03 | Mission Viejo 2021 |
Suriname | Anthony Nesty | 2:00.17 | 1988 Olympic Games |
Cayman Islands | Shaune Fraser | 2:01.58 | CCCAN 2005 |
The personal best moves to number four on the all time best performers in the 200 metre butterfly swimmers from the CARIFTA region. He moves ahead of Surinamese Olympic Gold medal medallist and icon Anthony Nesty. Nesty ,who will now lead both swimming programmes at the University of Florida set his national record at the 1988 Seoul Games where he finished eighth in 2:00.17.
Matthias Marsau who last swam at CARIFTA in 2012 where he won the Silver in the 13-14 age group. Four years later he rocketed to 1:58.45 at the French National Championships.
The regional all time leader is Olympian Jeremy Knowles of the Bahamas who set his national record of 1:58.25 at the 2006 Pan Pacific Games in Victoria ,British Colombia Canada. He finished 7th in the race. At the age group level before the advent of the 50 stroke events and the 800 metre freestyle relay Knowles dominated CARIFTA 1999 in Kingston Jamaica. He won all 16 events offered in the 15-17 age group.
With Keanan confident in his abilities to hit the tough Olympic standards it will not be too long before he hits another qualifying mark. This would make him the first Jamaican man to make more than one Olympic qualifying mark since Sion Brinn who achieved the feat for the 50 and 100 metre freestyle events for the 1996 Atlanta Games.