Swimmer Caspar Corbeau, an Aptos native competing for the Netherlands, took eighth place in 100-meter breaststroke final in the Paris Olympics at La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France, on Sunday.
Corbeau, who also competed for Netherlands in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics, finished in 59.98 seconds.
Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi, the bronze medalist in this event three years ago in the Tokyo Olympics, won gold from Lane 7 in 59.03.
“I was in my favorite lane, in seven,” Martinenghi said. “Nobody saw me. I was like in the shadows. I love to race that way and that was my favorite lane. I have a chain with No. 7 on it. When I was younger I trained in that lane.”
American Nic Fink, a 31-year-old Dallas resident who works full time for Quanta Utility Engineering Services, and world record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain tied for silver at 59.05.
“Yeah, age is just a number in some sense,” Fink said. “But in another sense, it means more at this time, especially because there were definitely windows to close my career earlier and I kind of kept going for the love of the sport. To have this much success this late has been icing on the cake and a lot of fun.”
China’s Qin Haiyang, who swept the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke last year in the world championships, finished seventh in 59.50. He’s the world record holder in the 200.
Germany’s Melvin Imoudu (59.11) took fourth and teammate Lucas Matzerath (59.30) was fifth. Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands took sixth in 59.32.
Corbeau lived in Aptos until he was 5 1/2, when his family relocated to Oregon. He still has plenty of relatives in the coastal town and visits often.
His mom, Shannon (Hocom), was a four-time Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League MVP in swimming and competed for UCLA. His father, Jim, swam for Cal and presented his wife into Aptos’ Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. Jim’s side of the family is Dutch. Corbeau, who completed his collegiate career at University of Texas, and his two younger siblings, brother Angus and sister Nicolien, gained dual citizenship more than a decade ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
