By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam
Caspar Corbeau will return to the NCAA and join the Indiana Hoosiers for the upcoming spring semester. Corbeau spent his undergraduate career with Texas and graduated in 2023.
Corbeau was consistently one of the top breaststrokers at the NCAA level during his time at Texas. He was seeded in the top eight on the psych sheets for the eventually canceled 2020 NCAAs. Making his official NCAA championship debut as a sophomore, he finished 4th in the 200 breast (1:51.43) and 6th in the 100 breast (51.62).
He finished 2nd in the 100 breast (50.49) and 6th in the 200 breast (1:50.79) as a junior at 2021 NCAAs. As a senior, he finished 2nd in the 200 (1:49.15) and 4th in the 100 (50.79).
Graduating in spring 2023, Corbeau moved to train in the Netherlands under Mark Faber. Corbeau saw success under his time with Faber, most notably winning Olympic bronze in the men’s 200 breaststroke this summer. He also finaled in the 100 breast, swimming to an 8th place finish in finals. Faber notably left the Netherlands this fall to become the technical director of the Flemish Swimming Federation. The move to Indiana allows Corbeau to test out a new home for his training for this Olympic cycle.
Just last week, Corbeau represented the Netherlands at the 2024 SC World Championships. He finaled in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes.
Corbeau is big pick up for the Indiana Hoosiers and adds even more depth to an already deep breaststroke group. The team currently has three of the top eight times in the NCAA this season in the 100 breast with Brian Benzing (t-#4, 51.03), Finn Brooks (#7, 51.13), and Josh Matheny (#8, 51.15). The 200 breast is also a strong event for the team with Matheny currently holding the #2 time in the NCAA (1:50.31) and Jassen Yep holding the #4 time in the NCAA (1:50.71).
In addition to his breaststroke impact, Corbeau also has the chance to impact the team’s sprint freestyle depth. Corbeau has a lifetime best of a 19.61 in the flat start 50 but was a member of numerous relays for Texas at NCAAs. As a senior at 2023 NCAAs, he swam a 18.48 flying start 50 and a 41.72 flying start 100 free. That 50 free split would have been faster than all four of Indiana’s splits at midseason while his 100 split from 2023 NCAAs would have been faster than three of Indiana’s splits at midseason.
The Indiana men were recently ranked #2 in SwimSwam’s Power Rankings, sitting only behind Texas which is also expected to have numerous big mid-season additions with Chris Guiliano and Ksawery Masiuk.
After finishing 4th at NCAAs this past March, Indiana has gained some of the top transfer talent. In addition to Corbeau, the team also added Brian Benzing as a grad transfer from Towson. Owen McDonald was also an offseason addition after McDonald spent two seasons with Arizona State. With the addition of McDonald, two Indiana swimmers entered the transfer portal to allow them to break their scholarship contracts, reallocating that money to McDonald. “Owen is a fantastic addition to the team-a great guy and an amazing swimmer. We were really excited to be able to play a small role in getting him to IU,” said Josh Matheny.
As a mid-season addition, and scholarship money already re-allocated this offseason, name, image, and likeness (NIL) was involved in the addition of Corbeau, Indiana head coach Ray Looze told SwimSwam. Looze also spoke of how current Indiana swimmer Rafael Miroslaw made an impact with the addition of Corbeau while at the World Cup this fall. The two were speaking about Chris Guiliano‘s move to Texas and Corbeau mentioned he had another year. Miroslaw then told Corbeau that he should come to Indiana.
Looze spoke of the title chase for Indiana, “We’ve got the pedal to the metal. We’ve had it to the metal since basically last spring, and I think it would be good for swimming to have new blood in there. Whether that can happen or not, we are doing everything we can.”
Corbeau, a native of Portland, Oregon, will have a chance to return to the Northwest at NCAAs this upcoming March as they are scheduled for Federal Way, Washington. Looze said that Corbeau was “stoked” about the ability to return to his home area.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Olympic Bronze Medalist Caspar Corbeau Returning To NCAA As Mid-Season Arrival For Indiana