Mireia Belmonte becomes first woman under 2:00 in 200 fly with Doha’s first WR

It didn’t take long for the first world record to fall at the Short Course World Championships in Doha, Qatar. Four events in to the first night of finals, Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia became the first woman to crack the two-minute barrier in the 200 fly.

Most of the pre-meet hype was about Katinka Hosszu, as it often is, and the 200 fly was Hosszu’s first chance to defend a gold medal. But Belmonte was the swimmer who came through with the fireworks, blasting to a 1:59.61 to take more than a full second off the previous mark.

This swim is impressive for a number of reasons. Belmonte had an insane back half to erase nearly a full second lead held by Hosszu at the 100-mark, and Hosszu is a great closer herself. Belmonte went out in 58.24 but closed with a 1:01.37, the best back half in the field by well over two full seconds.

Belmonte’s swim also takes off a record from 2009, back when full-body suits were still legal. The old mark was held by China’s Liu Zige, and was one of the more daunting “super-suit” records still on the books. Here’s a quick split comparison between the old and new records:

  • Belmonte (2014): 27.75/30.49/30.72/30.65 = 1:59.61
  • Zige (2009): 27.35/31.06/30.88/31.49 = 2:00.78

That time for Belmonte will also stand up as the new meet record (old was Hosszu’s 2:02.20 from 2012) and the new European record (old was Belmonte’s 2:01.52 from last year’s European Short Course Championships).

All-in-all, this is a huge swim, one of the biggest of the year so far and an incredibly exciting start to what’s looking like a great World Championship meet.

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Sven
10 years ago

The next step is the LC 200m fly record… Who wants to tackle that? Not to say a 1:59 isn’t incredible in short course, but 2:01 long course is unreal.

aswimfan
Reply to  Sven
10 years ago

Naaahh.. That 2:01.81 will stay on for at least another decade.

no1swimfreak
10 years ago

Interestingly enough, the women’s 200 fly record is now faster than the 200 backstroke record (in short course) for the first time since 2001 when Natalie Coughlin’s record surpassed Susie O’Neill’s, largely impart to her underwaters.

aswimfan
Reply to  no1swimfreak
10 years ago

Imo, this is the best SCM WR broken this year, male or female.
Incredible.

floppy
10 years ago

I wish I could have watched this race without already knowing the result…

New event: 1000 m FLY. 200 meters is just too easy for these iron ladies!

ERVINFORTHEWIN
10 years ago

Very well done Mireia ! Congrats for a great swim . I still hope to find a link to the a live stream somewhere to watch the rest fo the week .

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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