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It is the 2nd to last finals session of the 2024 World Champs and Gretchen Walsh is getting a chance to break the 100 fly World Record for the 3rd time. Current photo via Zsombor Czoma
10 Dec 2024 – 15 Dec 2024
Regan Smith will cap off a very successful short course season with the women’s 200 backstroke on the final day of SC worlds
Questa mattina, le batterie offriranno l’ultimo spettacolo di qualificazione prima delle finali del pomeriggio, con tanti big pronti a giocarsi un posto
Domenica 15 dicembre, i Mondiali di nuoto in vasca corta 2024 a Budapest giungono alla loro conclusione con un programma ricco di emozioni e sfide
Hungary picked up their first gold medal of the 2024 SC Worlds with Zalan Sarkany’s 800 free win on day five of the meet.
Con otto record del mondo stabiliti e una serie di vittorie individuali, Walsh ha accumulato un montepremi complessivo di 247.916,67 dollari
oxyswim led the way in day 5 scoring, racking up 149 points on the day, which matched their score from day 4.
Chris Smith, a South African swimmer, broke the World Junior Record in the 50 breast semifinal on night 5 of the SC World Champs.
Walsh’s prize money total keeps on growing, while Summer McIntosh and Noe Ponti have also broken six figures in prize money earnings.
December 14th, 2024
Time for the 2nd to last finals session of the 2024 World Championships, but the athletes don’t seem to be feeling the length of the meet if last night and this morning are any indication. Last night there were seven new World Records, and this morning’s prelims saw a new World Record from Jordan Crooks and a new Championship Record from Gretchen Walsh in the 50 free, which we will get to see the semi-finals of tonight.
We have the potential to see quite a few records this evening, the women’s 100 fly world record has already been broken twice this meet by Gretchen Walsh, and she is getting one more crack at it in tonight’s final.
We are also on record watch in the 50 freestyle for Walsh and Jordan Crooks who already has one World record on the day from his prelims swim.
Summer McIntosh is swimming her best event final tonight, the women’s 400 IM, and she has already broken two world records this meet, the 200 IM and the 200 fly.
The men’s 400 IM will have a new champion crowned for the first time in 14 years after 6 time champion Daiya Seto missed the final.
We will end the meet with the first iteration of the Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay. That is one “World Record” we will for sure see tonight, because whoever wins it, gets to set it.
Top 8 Finishers:
Everytime Gretchen Walsh touched the pool for the women’s 100 fly, she set the world record. She is the only woman to ever make it under 54 seconds, and her swim tonight was 3 tenths under 53 seconds.
She was out in 24.18 in the 50 fly, which would have broken the 50 fly World Record, had Walsh not broken it herself earlier this meet.
Walsh had never even swam the event before she swam the prelims yesterday, which she was asked about in her post-race interview when she expressed surprise, but also said she changed something before every race to make herself better. Clearly, it worked.
Tessa Giele from the Netherlands placed 2nd almost two seconds back in 54.66, over half a second ahead of the 3rd place finisher Alexandria Perkins from Australia.
Perkins went 55.10 to set a new Oceania Record in the event, earning the bronze medal.
Top 8 Finishers:
Two-for-two on world records this evenning. Switzerland’s Noe Ponti picked up his 2nd record of the meet in the men’s 100 butterfly, breaking Caeleb Dressel‘s 47.78 mark by seven-one-hundredths of a second. He was the only swimmer in the final under 48 seconds, beating the silver medalist, Maxime Grousset by almost .86.
This was Ponti’s 3rd gold medal of the meet, after winning the 50 fly, in world record, fashion, and the 100 IM.
Grousset, from France, went 48.57 for the silver, earning his first medal of the meet after placing 6th in the 100 freestyle.
Australia’s Matthew Temple picked up another bronze medal for Austrilia, going 48.71 for 3rd. This was also Temple’s first medal of the meet, and his first ever individual world’s medal.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania earned the top seed in the women’s 50 breaststroke semi-finals, going only two-one-hundredths over her World Record time of 28.39. Meilutyte won the 2nd semi-final by almost half a second over 2nd qualifier Qianting Tang from China.
Tang took 2nd in the semi-final and the 2nd seed with her time of 28.86, just over a tenth ahead of American Lilly King’s 28.99 for 3rd.
Dominika Sztandera of Poland took 4th from the 2nd semifinal in 29.22. 5th went to Benedetta Pilato from Italy in 29.24. Eneli Jefimova of Estonia qualified 6th in 29.39. Finland’s Veera Kivirinta placed 7th in 29.44, and Neutral Athlete Alina Zmushka rounded out the top 8 in 29.68.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
Neutral Athlete Kirill Prigoda took the top spot in the semifinal, coming in at 25.48, just over a tenth ahead of China’s Haiyang Qin in 2nd. Qin won the 100 breast earlier this week in a championship record, and Prigoda was 2nd. It looks like we are gearing up for a rematch on the last day of the meet.
Both men swam in the 2nd semifinal along with 4th place Emre Sakci from Turkey in 25.67, and 7th qualifier Ludovico Viberti of Italy who went 25.80.
The first semifinal went to South Africa’s Chris Smith who broke the World Junior Record by just over two tenths in 25.66 to qualify 3rd in the event. He was followed by 5th place Ilya Shymanovich, a neutral athlete in 25.67, 6th place Michael Houlie, also from South Africa, in 25.69, and 8th qualifier Simone Cerasuolo, from Italy in 25.81.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
Gretchen Walsh set her 2nd world record of the night, going 22.87 to break Ranomi Kromowidjojo‘s 22.93 from 2017. She grabbed the top seed for tomorrow’s final by almost half a second over Kate Douglass in 2nd. After the race, Walsh received her $25,000 check from former World Record holder, Kromowidjojo.
Douglass won the 1st semi-final, qualifying just a tenth ahead of Kasia Wasick from Poland in 3rd at 23.46.
Two Italian swimmers also made the final, Silvia Di Pietro came in 4th at 23.68, and Sara Curtis qualified 8th in 23.76.
The rest of the final will be made up by Arina Surkova, a Neutral Athlete who went 23.69, Great Britain’s Eva Okardo in 23.71, and Meg Harris from Australia in 23.74.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
19.90… Jordan Crooks breaks the World Record and becomes the first person in history to break 20 seconds in the 50 freestyle. The World Record was his own from the prelims, but the former record had stood since 2014 and belonged to Florent Manaudou of France at 20.26. Crooks’ time this evening was almost 4 tenths faster.
American Jack Alexy took 2nd in 20.51, just eight-one-hundredths ahead of 3rd place qualifier Guilherme Santos of Brazil and 6 tenths back from Crooks. There was more time separating Crooks and Alexy than Alexy and 15th place finisher Szebasztian Szabo.
American Chris Guiliano also qualified for the final in 7th, coming in at 20.79. The other swimmers for tomorrow are Dutch swimmer Nyls Korstanje in 20.63, Neutral athlete Egor Kornev in 20.75, Maxime Grousset in 20.78, and Yuchan Ji from Korea at 20.80.
This was Grousset’s 2nd finals swim of the evening after placing 2nd in the 100 fly.
Top 8 Finishers:
Summer McIntosh is 3-for-3 with World Records and event wins, with only one event remaining. She absolutely obliterated Mireia Belmonte Garcia‘s former record of 4:18.94, going over 3 seconds faster in 4:15.48.
McIntosh was out FAST and she stayed that way throughout the race, holding off Belmonte Garcia’s monster breaststroke leg to set the record seven years ago. She also beat the rest of the field by a significant margin, coming in almost 5 seconds ahead of Katie Grimes in 2nd.
Grimes had an excellent swim for 2nd, spending the first 200 quite a bit under the World Record pace as well before falling off on the breaststroke. She finished a little over four seconds ahead of Abbie Wood, and set a new American Record in the process, going 4:20.14 to crush Melanie Margalis’ 4:24.15 from 2019.
The bronze medal went to Abbie Wood from Great Britain in 4:24.34.
Top 8 Finishers:
We officially have a new men’s 400 IM World Champion in Neutral Athlete Ilia Borodin. Borodin went 3:56.83 to secure the win, and hold off Carson Foster. Borodin had a massive breaststroke leg, moving into first by almost two seconds where he stayed through the end, finishing 6 tenths ahead of the American.
Foster was out in first, six-one-hundredths ahead of Borodin at the 200 mark, but his breaststroke leg was not fast enough to stay in the lead, and he ran out of room to catch him on the freestyle leg. He still finished 2nd in 3:57.45, winning the silver for the United States
Alberto Razzetti was the only other person who went under 4:00, going 3:58.83 for 3rd. He finished about a second-and-a-half ahead of 4th place Kaito Tabuchi.
Top 8 Finishers:
Hungarian swimmer Zalan Sarkany won the gold in his home country in the 800 freestyle, and the stadium was roaring. He was locked in a battle with Ahmed Jaouadi for a much of the race, and they were separated by less than two tenths at the 400 mark. Jaouadi struggled to hold on, and by the 600, that gap had grown to 8 tenths, and ultimately he finished 1.37 seconds behind in 3rd.
Sarknay was also battling with the Championship Record, being ahead of it for most of the race, but it caught him right at the end, and he missed it by just over half-a-second.
Florian Wellbrock took 2nd in 7:31.90, beating Jaouadi by three-one-hundredths. He was behind at the 700 mark, but had a huge last 100 to pass him for the silver. Jaouadi won the bronze in 7:31.93, which was a new African Record.
Top 8 Finishers:
At no point was it clear what was going to happen in this race, even after the race was over. The Neutral Athletes ultimately took home the gold in 3:30.47. They had an interesting strategy, swimming MMFF, which only one other team, Italy, did, and it worked out in their favor.
Their men got them in first with Miron Lifintsev leading off in 48.90, and Kirill Prigoda swimming the breaststroke leg in 54.86. The women also had very good swims, with Arina Surkova going 55.63 on the fly, and Daria Klepikova going 51.08 on the free.
Prigoda had a reaction time of -0.01, which is legal, but was the cause for video review for a few minutes after the race.
The United States had the exact opposite strategy, swimming a FFMM relay, and they were the only team in the final to swim a female breaststroker. It made for an exciting finish because the US was in 8th by more than 3 seconds after the breaststroke, and by two seconds after the fly. Since they were the only team with a female breaststroker, however, they were also the only team with a male freestyler, and Jack Alexy made it incredibly exciting, coming home in 44.63 to win the American’s the silver by just 8 one-hundredths of a second.
The other swimmers also had fast splits. Regan Smith split 54.19 on the leadoff leg, which is actually faster than her world record, but doesn’t count due to it being on a mixed medley relay. Lilly King went 1:03.05 on the breaststroke, and Dare Rose went 48.68 on the fly, 3rd fastest of the male flyers.
Canada got the bronze, swimming FMMF, which was the order chose by half the heat. Ingrid Wilm led off in 55.82. Finlay Knox swam the breaststroke in 56.39. Ilya Kharun swam in fly in 48.27, the fastest of the male fly splits, and Mary-Sophie Harvey came home in 51.49 for a final time of 3:31.97
I’m starting to think Gretchen will go a 19.XX at NCAAs in the 50. Nothing seems out of the question for her at this point.
Florian Wellbrock (GER)- 7:31.90
Ahmed Jaouadi (TUN)- 7:31.93
WOW !!!
3 millisecs
A bit unsatisfying. The result might’ve been different if they were in the same heat.
Small correction to the write up, Great Britain swam a female on breast as well. They were the only MFMF lineup.
NAB – MMFF – 1, 1, 1, 1
USA – FFMM – 4, 8, 8, 2
CAN – FMMF – 5, 3, 2, 3
AUS – FMMF – 6, 4, 3, 4
GBR – MFMF – 3, 7, 7, 5
ESP – FMMF – 7, 5, 4, 6
ITA – MMFF – 2, 2, 5, 7
NED – FMMF – 8, 6, 5, 8
They interviewed Borodin after his win! Thought that was against the rules or are World Aquatics still making the rules up as they go?
Did they accidentally set the pool to 24m? Wow
McIntosh was untouchable on her events. Is she going to swim in NCAA?
No, she isn’t
This question gets asked every time she swims.
why doesn’t regan’s lead off count?
if it’s a lead-off in a mixed relay, the WR doesn’t count
Same at all levels of swimming.
The question is, who is winning the 2 back tomorrow?
Summer is phenomenal but taking down Regan is a tall task indeed. She’s going up against one of the top two women backstrokers in the world who is also one of the best at underwaters which is definitely an advantage when it comes to backstroke and SCM.
I’m very interested to see how Summer does as she is a great backstroker herself and am hoping she will be on the podium.
I’m glad coach Brent and her are mixing things up as it will only help her get to an even higher level by doing so.
Summer may have a hard time getting on the podium. Bacon is the #10 SCY performer (with time that is essentially identical to what Gretchen did at that dual meet where Claire set the record) and the #5 LCM performer 1.75 seconds faster than Summer’s best LCM, which summer set last December at the US Open where she was at least as rested as she is for this meet. Anderson is no slouch either.
Now we are talking about Summer here and I would be surprised, but not shocked if she actually wins it. I’ve got her 3rd in my Pick’Ems behind Smith and Bacon. Despite me talking up Bacon I admit I’ve got a bit of hopeful thinking… Read more »
This is so unscientific but her PB in the 200 Fly before this meet was 2:03.40 from 2022 World Cup series, and she went 1:59.3 this week.
Her PB in the 200 Back is 2:02.8 from 2022 World Cup series…
We’ll see if that means anything!
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