An astonishing 23 World Records were broken in 5 days of competition in Doha, Qatar this weekend at the 2014 World Short Course Swimming Championships.
That’s as compared to just 4 World Records that were broken in 2012 in Istanbul – which is probably due primarily to a post-Olympic hangover two years ago that saw many athletes longer to get back into shape after the summer championship season.
After this meet, there are now just 33 World Records left, between long course and short course, men and women, that remain from 2009 and just four from 2008. Those two years were the heart of the “super-suit” era, where nearly every World Record was broken multiple times, with literally hundreds of World Record swims.
FINA currently recognizes World Records in 90 pool swimming events, meaning that for the first time in five years, less than half of the FINA World Records were set in the super-suit era:
- 15/20 LC Men
- 8/20 LC Women
- 0/2 LC Mixed*
- 10/23 SC Men
- 4/23 SC Women
- 0/2 SC Mixed
| MEN | Swimmer | Country | Time |
| 50 free | Florent Manaudou | France | 20.26 |
| 50 back | Florent Manaudou | France | 22.22 |
| 100 fly | Chad le Clos | South Africa | 48.44 |
| 100 IM | Markus Deibler | Germany | 50.66 |
| 200 free Relay | Russia | Russia | 1:22.60 |
| 200 medley relay (prelims) | Russia | Russia | 1:32.78 |
| 200 medley relay | Brazil | Brazil | 1:30.51 |
| WOMEN | |||
| 200 free | Sarah Sjostrom | Sweden | 1:50.78 |
| 50 back | Etiene Medeiros | Brazil | 25.67 |
| 100 back | Katinka Hosszu | Hungary | 55.03 |
| 200 back | Katinka Hosszu | Hungary | 1:59.23 |
| 100 breast | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:02.36 (tied) |
| 100 fly | Sarah Sjostrom | Sweden | 54.61 |
| 200 fly | Mireia Belmonte | Spain | 1:59.61 |
| 100 IM | Katinka Hosszu | Hungary | 56.7 |
| 200 IM | Katinka Hosszu | Hungary | 2:01.86 |
| 400 IM | Mireia Belmonte | Spain | 4:19.86 |
| 200 free relay (prelims) | Netherlands | Netherlands | 1:35.64 |
| 200 free relay | Netherlands | Netherlands | 1:34.24 |
| 400 free relay | Netherlands | Netherlands | 3:26.53 |
| 800 free relay | Netherlands | Netherlands | 7:32.85 |
| 200 medley relay | Denmark | Denmark | 1:44.04 |
| MIXED | |||
| 200 free relay | United States | United States | 1:28.57 |
As for those records that remain, those 33 noble souls, they have a huge target squarely on their backs.
A debate about “which will last the longest” would be a raging one if every side decided to dig their heels in, because there’s a lot of records that seem almost untouchable – Phelps’ 400 IM, Liu Zige’s 2:01.81 200 fly – but others would appear to have only a matter of time – Gemma Spofforth’s 58.12 in the 100 back or the Chinese women’s 800 free relay, for example.
Below, see the records that are still sitting on the books from 2008 and 2009 (dates in month/day/year format) (continued below):
| MEN – LC | Swimmer | Time | Country | Date |
| 50 free | Cesar Cielo | 20.91 | Brazil | 12/18/2009 |
| 100 free | Cesar Cielo | 46.91 | Brazil | 7/30/2009 |
| 200 free | Paul Biedermann | 1:42.00 | Germany | 7/28/2009 |
| 400 free | Paul Biedermann | 3:40.07 | Germany | 7/26/2009 |
| 800 free | Zhang Lin | 7:32.12 | China | 7/29/2009 |
| 50 back | Liam Tancock | 24.04 | Great Britain | 8/2/2009 |
| 100 back | Aaron Peirsol | 51.94 | United States | 7/8/2009 |
| 200 back | Aaron Peirsol | 1:51.92 | United States | 7/31/2009 |
| 50 fly | Rafa Munoz | 22.43 | Spain | 4/5/2009 |
| 100 fly | Michael Phelps | 49.82 | United States | 8/1/2009 |
| 200 fly | Michael Phelps | 1:51.51 | United States | 7/29/2009 |
| 400 IM | Michael Phelps | 4:03.84 | United States | 8/10/2008 |
| 400 free relay | United States | 3:08.24 | United States | 8/11/2008 |
| 800 free relay | United States | 6:58.55 | United States | 7/31/2009 |
| 400 med. relay | United States | 3:27.28 | United States | 8/2/2009 |
| Women – LC | ||||
| 50 free | Britta Steffen | 23.73 | Germany | 8/2/2009 |
| 100 free | Britta Steffen | 52.07 | Germany | 7/31/2009 |
| 200 free | Federica Pellegrini | 1:52.98 | Italy | 7/29/2009 |
| 50 back | Zhao Jing | 27.06 | China | 7/30/2009 |
| 100 back | Gemma Spofforth | 58.12 | Great Britan | 7/28/2009 |
| 200 fly | Liu Zige | 2:01.81 | China | 10/21/2009 |
| 200 IM | Ariana Kukors | 2:06.15 | United States | 7/27/2009 |
| 800 free relay | China | 7:42.08 | China | 7/30/2009 |
| Men – SC | ||||
| 100 free | Amaury Leveaux | 44.94 | France | 12/13/2008 |
| 200 free | Paul Bieredmann | 1:39.37 | Germany | 11/15/2009 |
| 800 free | Grant Hackett | 7:32.42 | Australia | 7/20/2008 |
| 100 back | Nick Thoman | 48.94 | United States | 12/18/2009 |
| 200 back | Arkady Vyatchanin | 1:46.11 | Russia | 11/15/2009 |
| 50 breast | Cameron van der Burgh | 25.25 | South Africa | 11/14/2009 |
| 100 breast | Cameron van der Burgh | 55.61 | South Africa | 11/15/2009 |
| 50 fly | Steffen Deibler | 21.80 | Germany | 11/14/2009 |
| 400 free relay | United States | 3:03.30 | United States | 12/19/2009 |
| 400 med. relay | Russia | 3:19.16 | Russia | 12/20/2009 |
| Women – SC | ||||
| 100 free | Libby Trickett | 51.01 | Australia | 8/10/2009 |
| 50 breast | Jessica Hardy | 28.80 | United States | 11/14/2009 |
| 200 breast | Rebecca Soni | 2:14.57 | United States | 12/18/2009 |
| 50 fly | Therese Alshammar | 24.38 | Sweden | 11/22/2009 |
And then there’s the cheese, the great Australian cheese, Grant Hackett, who stands alone with the only pre-suit record still on FINA’s books. That’s the 1500 free that he did in short course meters at the 2001 Australian Championships in 14:10.10. Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy was a 14:16 this week in Doha, and he seems like a good candidate to get this one if his explosion in the last year continues.
If China’s Sun Yang can straighten his career out and makes it to a big short course meters meet, he would have a chance as well, though walls are not Sun’s strength.
Or maybe even one of Hackett’s young, rising countrymates, like Jordan Harrison, will be spurred on by the legend’s recent comeback announcement, and get to his mark.
Records are made to be broken, but it’s always fascinating when they go down. Onward to Kazan.
Katinka actually broke 4 records. The 400 IM record was broken by Mireia, not her.
Not making her swims less incredible anyway…
I think mens 800free will be the hardest one.How many 800´s are swam in a year by top dogs?Not much.
I would add the Men’s LC 4×100 Free relay to records that seem untouchable. Lezak’s anchor was absolutely unbelievable and unparalleled. A new relay would need to average 47.06 to break it and currently only a handful of swimmers are even capable of that effort with a rolling start, let alone leading off a relay.
There is only one way to beat that record as things stand now: Assemble a world relay to beat it. Adrian, Agnel, Magnussen, and Ning Zetao– put them up against a speed appropriate 8×50 relay for competition.
Otherwise, it’s gonna be a few years.
I wouldnt be so sure. Ian thorpe had he focused solely on the 200 free and developed more muscle would have been below that time. Remember he did 1:44 flat as a teenager with almost no muscle, Had he raced and practiced like that into his physical prime of 23-24, he would have been below that. Obviously we are going to need a new Ian thorpe and thats the difficult part.
The 400 IM world record holder is not correct, that is Mireia not Katinka.
Or maybe Grant Hackett will regain his form on his com back and surpass his previous efforts!