2019 World Champs Preview: Masse Hunting 57 in the Women’s 100 Backstroke

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
• Meet site
• FinaTV Live Stream
• Live results

WOMEN’S 100M BACKSTROKE

• World Record: 58.00, Kathleen Baker, USA — 2018 U.S. National Championships
• World Championship Record: 58.10, Kylie Masse, Canada — 2017 FINA World Championships
• World Junior Record: 58.45, Regan Smith, USA — 2018 Counsilman Classic
• Defending 2017 World Champion: 58.10, Kylie Masse, Canada

57.99 has remained an illusive time in the women’s 100 meter backstroke. In 2009, Gemma Spofforth set the World Record at 58.12 in a polyurethane suit. It wasn’t until the 2017 World Championships that Canada’s Kylie Masse finally took down Spofforth’s time and scared the 58-second barrier. Masse touched the wall in 58.10, winning the gold medal. The following summer at the 2018 U.S. National Championships, Kathleen Baker lowered the World Record yet again, delivering a 58.00, coming tantalizingly close to 57.

At Canada’s 2019 World Trials in April, Kylie Masse neared her personal best time as well as Baker’s still young World Record, winning in a blazing fast 58.16. Though Masse lost her World Record to Baker in 2018, she did not concede the gold medal at the Pan Pacific Championships, where Masse won in 58.61, leaving silver to Australia’s Emily Seebohm (58.72) and bronze to Baker (58.83). The Masse-Baker re-match will be one of the most eagerly-anticipated races of the 2019 World Championships, seeing that not only is a gold medal on the line, but also bragging rights to the title of first-woman-under-58. Seebohm, on the other hand, will not get a re-match with Masse and Baker, as she finished in 4th at Aussie Trials in June.

Kathleen Baker (photo by Jack Spitser)

For one year, Kathleen Baker set an alarm on her phone to remind her of a goal: 58.10. At the 2018 U.S. National Championships in Irvine, Baker accomplished that goal and broke Masse’s 100 backstroke World Record. Before U.S. Nationals, Baker’s best time the 100 back was a 58.54, done while leading off the 400 medley relay at the 2017 World Championships. Baker’s best time since setting the World Record last July stands at 58.41 from the prelims at Pan Pacs. Under normal circumstances, Baker would be a no-brainer pick for top-3 at Worlds this year, though her health remains in question. In May, Baker revealed that she fractured a rib while coughing due to an illness in April. Because of the injury, Baker, under the advisement of Team USA, skipped the FINA Champions Series in Budapest. Last week, Baker dropped the 200 IM from her World Championship lineup to focus exclusively on backstroke, conceding her 200 IM spot to Ella Eastin. Baker’s most recent performance was in March at the FFN Golden Tour in Marseille, where Baker established her season-best time of 59.05.

Though Masse will have to hold off the current World Record holder in 100 back in order to defend her 2017 title, she will not have to race this year’s fastest American backstroker, Regan Smith. Last summer, Smith finished 4th at Pan Pacs in the 100 back, but 3rd at U.S. Nationals behind Baker and Olivia Smoliga. After Smith, Smoliga is the fastest American in the 100 backstroke with a 58.73 from the Richmond stop of the 2019 Pro Swim Series. Smoliga finished 4th in the 100 back at the 2017 World Championships, and only 9th at 2018 Pan Pacs, though her ‘B’ final time of 59.20 would have been 5th in the ‘A’ final. Any improvement upon her time from April will likely get Smoliga on the podium at Worlds. Since 2016 when she made her first Olympic team, Smoliga has only gotten better. In December at the 2018 Short Course World Championships, Smoliga won a record 8 gold medals, including victories in the 50 and 100 backstrokes. In the 100, Smoliga beat both Baker and 2016 Olympic gold medalist and SCM World Record holder Katinka Hosszu for the gold.

Katinka Hosszu (by Rafael Domeyko)

Hosszu will swim a difficult lineup in Gwangju, with individual entries in the 100 and 200 backstroke, the 200 and 400 IM, and the 200 freestyle. This is typical of Hosszu, so it shouldn’t affect her ability to final in any of her races. However, the 100 backstroke is stacked like never before, and will feature three different women who have all been faster than Hosszu at some point in their careers: Masse, Baker, and Russia’s Anastasia Fesikova. Fesikova is the 5th-fastest performer all-time with a 58.18, though that time is from the infamously suited 2009 World Championships. Even so, Fesikova has remained among the world’s top backstrokers for the past decade, and currently ranks 13th in the world this year. In 2018, Fesikova won the European Championships in the 100 backstroke with a 59.19.

Canadian Taylor Ruck has emerged as one of the top freestyle and backstroke swimmers in the world over the past couple of years, and her times are only getting faster. After a stellar freshman season at Stanford, Ruck went to Canadian Trials and fired off a 58.55 in the 100 backstroke to take second to Masse and punch her ticket to Worlds in the event. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Ruck won 8 medals, tying the all-time Commonwealth record for medals won in a single games. Several months later at Pan Pacs, Ruck won five medals, more than any Canadian had ever won in a single Pan Pacs. Though Ruck did not swim the 100 back at Pan Pacs, she won bronze at the Commonwealth Games behind Masse and Seebohm.

Margherita Panziera is one of a handful of Italians that have been busy re-writing the Italy’s National Records board over the past year. At the 2018 European Championships, Panziera missed the podium entirely in the 100 back; in 2019, Panziera blasted a 58.92 at the Italian National Championships, a time which would have won Euros in 2018 by nearly 3/10ths. Though Panziera’s 200 back shows more promise for a medal than the 100, if she manages a 58-mid, she may threaten for a spot on the podium.

Another 200 backstroker that could make a showing in the final is Australia’s Kaylee McKeown. McKeown has been trading the World Junior Record in the 200 backs with USA’s Regan Smith since 2017. At Australian Trials in June, McKeown toppled stalwart Emily Seebohm for a berth in the 100 backstroke at the World Championships, delivering a 59.28 to place 2nd behind Minna Atherton. Atherton later took her turn as runner-up to McKeown with a very strong 2:06.82 in the 200 backstroke, touching half-a-second behind the 17-year-old. At the 2017 World Championships, McKeown finished 4th in the 200 back, but her ascendance in the 100 to Australia’s current #2 100 backstroker speaks to her potential in both backstrokes. Either McKeown or Atherton may also make an appearance in the finals of the 100 back in Gwangju. Regardless, Australia’s medley relay lead-off leg is in good hands.

China’s Fu Yuanhui emerged during the 2016 Rio Olympics, capturing swim fans with her jovial personality and genuine surprise at seeing how fast she swam en route to winning the bronze medal in the 100 backstroke, tying with Canada’s Kylie Masse in 58.76, 1/100th behind current World Record holder Kathleen Baker, who took silver. So far this season, Yuanhui has been 59.58, making her the top 100 backstroker in Asia in 2019.

2018 Asian Games champion Natsumi Sakai of Japan has been on a steady climb since the Rio Olympics where she finished 26th in the 100 backstroke with a 1:01.74. In 2018, Sakai won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta with a 59.27, demonstrating major growth from the Rio Olympics only two years before. Sakai only just turned 18-years-old in June of 2019, but is clearly one of the world’s top backstrokers to watch.

TOP 8 PICKS:

Dark Horse: 27-year-old Simona Kubova of the Czech Republic has been on the international seen for over a decade, having competed in the last two Olympic Games. In April at the 2019 Swim Open Stockholm, Kubova qualified for her third Olympics with a 59.66 in the 100 backstroke. Kubova finished 7th in the 100 backstroke at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, where she established her country’s national record in 59.65 in the semifinals. Having nearly equaled that time already in 2019, Kubova stands a great shot at mixing up the championship final in Gwangju later this month.