23 World Records Broken in Doha; 2008-2009 Suited Era Withering Away

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

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):

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.