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• 🌎Short Course World Champs Day 4🌏

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🌎World Short Course Championships🌏

Day 4 Finals

Mixed 4X50m Freestyle Relay Final:

It was an amazing start to the night with the mixed 4X50m Freestyle Relay. Team France (Maxime Grousset, Florent Manaudou, Beryl Gastaldello, and Melanie Henique) won gold 🥇 and smashed the world record set by the United States at the 2018 World Championships in Hangzhou. Check out these splits!

Second 🥈 was Team Australia (Kyle Chalmers, Matthew Temple, Meg Harris, Emma McKeon) in a new Oceanic Record. Note that Emma McKeon split 22.62 - that is officially the fastest relay split in history! Third 🥉was Team Netherlands (Kenzo Simons, Thom de Boer, Maaike de Waard, and Marrit Steenbergen).

Women's 200m Breaststroke Final:

In the women's 200m Breaststroke final, it was Americans Kate Douglass and Lilly King that went at it head to head. We all know what kind of short course 200 breaststroke those two are with Kate Douglass recently setting the American and NCAA record in the yards version of the race. In the end, it was Douglass taking 🥇 in a new Championship record of 2:15.77🔥. King took 🥈 in 2:17.13, and Tes Schouten of the Netherlands took 🥉 in 2:18.19.

Men's 200m Breaststroke Final:

Coming into this final as the top seed and already having the fastest time in the world, Japan's Daiya Seto looked determined to make something big happen in the final itself. And he did. Winning the 🥇 and upsetting the reigning world champion Nic Fink in this event and just missing the world record (2:00.16 from Kirill Progoda) from the 2018 world championships in Hangzhou. Seto's winning time was 2:00.35, a new Asian record and the second-fastest performance ever.

American Nic Fink went his lifetime best and set a new American Record by over half a second in his silver-winning performance 🥈 (2:01.60). This also moves Fink ahead of Iceland's Anton McKee as the ninth-fastest performer in history. Third 🥉 was Haiyang Qin of China in 2:02.22.

Women's 50m Backstroke Final:

In the women's 50m Backstroke final, it was Canada's Maggie MacNeil, who exactly one year ago today broke the world record in his event. MacNeil won 🥇 and improves the world record from 27.25 (2021) to 25.25 (2022). Imagine earning an extra $25,000 USD by dropping .02 off your best time...

Second 🥈 was American, Claire Curzan in a time of 25.54 improving from her best time of 25.60 and resetting the American Record (also second-fastest performer and third-fastest performance). Third 🥉was Australia's Mollie O'Callighan in a new Oceanic Record (25.61).

Men's 50m Backstroke Final:

In what I'll call the "first attempt" at the 50m backstroke, there was a starting error as after the starting signal went off, another, more "fire-alarm" sounding signal immediately followed. A few swimmers swam the full race including American Ryan Murphy and Australia's Isaac Cooper (an unofficial World Junior record). I saw this as both good and bad for Murphy. He finished second behind Cooper, so he would get another chance to make any adjustments. However, he would have to swim it again. The psychological toll surely affected some of the athletes.

Women's 50m Freestyle Semi-Finals:

In the semi-final heats of the women's 50m freestyle, Poland's Katarzyna Wasick will go into tomorrow night's final as the top seed in 23.37. Aussie superstar, Emma McKeon will be the second seed in 23.51. Michelle Coleman of Sweden will be third in 23.77. One of the two Americans qualified for the final. Erika Brown tied Melanie Henique of France for the seventh seed in 24.00. Unfortunately, Claire Curzan after winning silver in the 50m backstroke had a quick turnaround for this race and missed qualifying - finishing twelfth in 24.22.

Men's 50m Freestyle Semi-Finals:

It was another ⚡️ 50m Freestyle Semi-Final event, this time for the men. The big news is that Jordan Crooks of the Cayman Islands continues to dominate the 50 Free. Out the fastest in 9.83 and back the fastest by far at 10.48🔥. The closest any of the qualifiers for tonight were was 10.72 from Great Britain's Lewis Burras, but with a first 25 nearly a half-second slower (10.22), there's virtually no chance for him to catch Crooks in time. Ben Proud of Great Britain is the second qualifier in 20.76, Szebasztian Szabo of Hungary qualifies third in 20.83, and King Kyle Chalmers of Australia (Champion and World Record Holder in the 100 Freestyle) qualifies fourth in 20.91.

Women's 100m IM Final:

Who doesn't love a close finish? The 100 IM, with all four strokes, can go back and forth between competitors, and nerds everywhere got what they proverbially "paid for". It was Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands and her back-half that took the 🥇 tonight in 57.53. Closely behind in second was France's Beryl Gastaldello in (57.63), and third was Louise Hansson of Sweden in 57.58.

Men's 100m IM Final:

In the men's 100m IM final, it was Italian World Record holder Thomas Ceccon taking the gold 🥇 in 50.97. Second was Canada's Javier Acevedo 🥈 with a HUGE charge at the end (51.05). Third, overtaking Americans Shaine Casas (51.36) and Michael Andrew (51.47), was Canada's Finlay Knox 🥉 in 51.10.

Men's 50m Backstroke Final ("second attempt"):

After the events of the earlier attempt at the 50m backstroke final, the second attempt went off without a hitch. It was American 100m Backstroke World Champion, Ryan Murphy, who got the win over Australian, Isaac Cooper. Murphy's time was 22.64🥇 to Cooper's 22.73🥈. Third was Poland's Kacper Stokowski 🥉 in 22.74.

Ever the class act, Murphy acknowledged in his post-race interview that Cooper won the first race and that he was trying his best and grateful for the opportunity to race again and bring another gold medal to the United States' total.

Women's 1500m Freestyle Final:

In the women's 1500m Freestyle final, it was Australian Lani Pallister, who previously won the 400 and 800m Freestyle races, winning the gold 🥇 in a new Oceanic Record of 15:21.43 making her the fifth fastest performer and performance ever. Silver 🥈 was Miyu Namba of Japan in a new Asian Record of 15:46.76. Third, from the morning heats was American newcomer Kensey McMahon 🥉 at 15:49.15.

Men's 4X200m Freestyle Relay Final:

Unreal finish to day four. Another world record in a relay. This time it was Team USA (Kieren Smith, Carson Foster, Trenton Julian, and Drew Kibler) taking the MASSIVE W🥇 in a new World Record time of 6:44.12. Take a look at these split comparisons!

Second was Team Australia 🥈 (Thomas Neill, Kyle Chalmers, Flynn Southam, and Mack Horton), and third was Team Italy 🥉 (Matteo Champi, Thomas Ceccon, Alberto Razzetti, and Paolo Conte Bonin). Notable splits include all of Team USA (Carson Foster tied for second all-time with Ryan Lochte), Kyle Chalmers (1:40.35 - FASTEST all-time), Republic of Korea's Lead-Off swimmer Sunwoo Hwang (1:40.99), and Katsuhiro Matsumoto of Japan (1:40.66 - Fifth all time)

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