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This YEAR in Swimming - The Best Swims of 2022

This YEAR in Swimming - The Best Swims of 2022

Male & Female Swims of the Year for LCM, SCM, & SCY

SWIM NERD
January 02, 2023

Morning and Happy New Year, Nerd.

Welcome to the Swimnerd newsletter where we highlight the most interesting stuff going on in swimming.

Female Swims of the Year 🥳 LCM, SCM, & SCY
Male Swims of the Year 🥳 LCM, SCM, & SCY
Most Downloaded Podcasts of 2022

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In the latest edition of, "This Week in Swimming", we revisit the best swims of 2022...

Female LCM Swim of the Year🏆: Ariarne Titmus 400 Free

As if beating Katie Ledecky in the 400 Free at the Olympics wasn't enough, Ariarne Titmus went ahead and took down Ledecky's world record this past May at Australian Champs.

3:56.40 snipped less than a tenth off of Katie Ledecky's World Record time of 3:56.46 from the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

Afterwards, she said that Ledecky congratulated her on taking it down.

Check out our montage video:

— SWIMNERD (@SwimNerds)
6:59 PM • Dec 30, 2022

Or, enjoy the whole thing:

Honorable Mention: Summer McIntosh 400 IM

Canadian superstar, Summer McIntosh didn't break the Iron Lady, Katinka Hosszu's legendary world record in the 400 IM, but she was closer than anyone has been since the world record was set in 2016 at the Rio Olympic Games. McIntosh's time of 4:28.61 was a U.S. Open Record, Championship Record, and World Junior Record. Nobody in the world is anywhere near her right now in this event.

Male LCM Swim of the Year🏆: David Popovici 100 Free

The top swim in any course, male or female, of 2022 was the "skinny legend" David Popovici's World-Record-breaking swim in the 100m Freestyle. After just missing it at the Budapest World Championships in September, Popovici swam 46.86 to tackle Cesar Cielo's 13-year-old-record.

A 17 year old boy became the fastest human ever in the #1 Olympic event.

Montage video:

2022 Male swimmer of the year, David Popovici. @SwimNerds
— Inside with Brett Hawke (@insidewithBH)
4:18 PM • Dec 30, 2022

Entire race:

Honorable Mention: Leon Marchand 400 IM

With a personal best time of 4:09.6 from the previous year, nobody believed Leon Marchand would get this close to Michael Phelps' "untouchable" 400 IM world record.

His 4:04.28 was less than half a second off of 🐐 Michael Phelps' world record from 2008 (4:03.84) making him the second-fastest ever by almost a full second.

Female SCM Swim of the Year🏆: Li Bingjie 400 Free

In the span of a few days, the Women's 400 SCM Freestyle world record got beat by 3 different women: Katie Ledecky (3:52.88), Summer McIntosh (3:52.80), and Li Bingjie (3:51.30).

While Ledecky & McIntosh had each other to push, Li was all by herself, and she destroyed them on the back half.

Here are all the splits, courtesy of SwimCast:

And, the full race video:

Honorable Mention: Maggie MacNeil 100 Fly

In the last major swimming event of 2022, the FINA World Short Course Championships, only 3 individual world records came tumbling down and Maggie MacNeil was responsible for 2 of them.

After a set of fast swims during the FINA World Cup circuit and just missing Kelsi Dahlia's record in the event (54.59), MacNeil took a full half-second off of it and dominated the race - nearly breaking 54 seconds.

Male SCM Swim of the Year🏆: Tomura Honda 200 Fly

20-year-old Japanese superstar, Tomura Honda, opted out of the Short Course World Championships in December, but made a lasting mark in October at the Japanese Short Course National Championships.

He went out and OBLITERATED (1:46.85) the previous 200 Fly SCM World Record held by countryman Daiya Seto (1:48.24) to become the first man to swim under 1:48 and 1:47.

This swim was a PB for Honda by 2.99 seconds.

Honorable Mention: Nicholas Santos 50 Fly

At 42 years old, on the last individual swim of his career, Nicholas Santos successfully defended his 50 butterfly world title in 21.78.

That time is tied for the second-fastest all-time with himself. Santos currently co-owns the world record with Hungarian Szebasztian Szabo at 21.75.

Santos’ final race:
— SWIMNERD (@SwimNerds)
12:33 PM • Dec 14, 2022

*We acknowledge that the United States swims in yards and the rest of the world does not - reader discretion is advised*

Female SCY Swim of the Year🏆: Kate Douglass 200 Breast

It's not often that the swim of the year will come from a meet other than the NCAA Championship meet. And here, we have two of them!

Last March at the NCAA Championships, Kate Douglass put on a clinic as she won titles in three different strokes and three different distances - 50 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly, and 200 Breaststroke. She set NCAA and American Records in Free and Breast (a Lilly King Breaststroke Record 🔥), as well.

At the Tennessee Mid-Season Invite in November, Kate Douglass re-broke her American and NCAA record in the 200 breaststroke, and by the look of her splits, she has improved every part of her race. Is there a sub 2:00 in her future??

Honorable Mention: Bella Sims 400 IM

World Championship Gold Medalist and unstoppable 17-year-old Bella Sims had an amazing year both Internationally and Nationally. This swim comes from the latter of the two.

Just one week separated from what may have been the meet of her life (Winter Junior Nationals), Sims switched up her events and tried the 400 IM. Her personal best time in the event from the morning session was 4:03.60. In finals, Sims blasted a 🔥3:56.59🔥 destroying the 17-18 National Age-Group Record by almost two seconds.

You could have picked a couple of her swims from the week prior, as well, including her 1:40.78 200 Freestyle.

Male SCY Swim of the Year🏆: Hugo Gonzalez 400 IM

There are many records that I think we could put in the "legendary" category. And Chase Kalisz's 400IM NCAA+American record is one of them. At 3:33.42, his record seemed to be safe for a little while as not many people were under 3:35.

That was until Carson Foster, Leon Marchand, and Hugo Gonzalez joined the party at the 2022 NCAA Championships. The three pushed each other the whole way, but Gonzalez was in control from the start, out in 48.4. He smashed Kalisz' record by over a half-second.

Honorable Mention: Luca Urlando 100 Back

Only Coleman Stewart and Dean Farris have been legitimately close to Ryan Murphy's 100yd back NCAA record of 43.49 from 2016. The winning NCAA time from 2022 was 44.04 by Kacper Stokowski.

However, leading off the University of Georgia's 400 Medley Relay, Luca Urlando (primarily known for his butterfly and IM races) swam 43.35 and broke all the records. This swim probably would have won the "most surprising swim of 2022" if such a category existed, but it certainly is one of the best to come out of swimming this year.