2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- SCM (25m)
- Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00* am ET
- *The final night of finals will be one hour earlier, starting at 6:00 pm local and 5:00 am ET
- Live Results (Omega)
The Americans set their third relay world record of the competition to close out day 2 finals from the 2018 Short Course Championships in Hangzhou, as the they took half a second off the mark of 1:28.39 in the mixed 4×50 free relay in a time of 1:27.89.
Caeleb Dressel led them off in 20.43, a time that makes him the fastest American ever in the 50 free (though it won’t be officially recognized as a record because it was a mixed relay), and then Ryan Held (20.60), Mallory Comerford (23.44) and Kelsi Dahlia (23.42) all followed with fast splits as they beat out the Netherlands (1:28.51).
Dressel’s 20.43 also would slot him in as the 4th fastest swimmer of all-time if mixed relay lead-offs counted as official splits.
The Dutch were also the owners of the old world record, going that 1:28.39 one year ago at the European Short Course Championships.
Dressel’s lead-off was the fastest in the field, with only Vlad Morozov (20.75) joining him sub-21, and Held’s split was the fastest among men with a flying start. Dahlia and Comerford ended up with the 4th and 5th fastest splits in the field among women. Femke Heemskerk (23.07) and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (23.09) of the Netherlands were the two fastest.
Check out a comparison of the splits between the old and new world record below:
| Netherlands, 2017 SC Euros | USA, 2018 SC Worlds |
| Korstanje – 21.42 | Dressel – 20.43 |
| Stolk – 20.66 | Held – 20.60 |
| Kromowidjojo – 23.01 | Comerford – 23.44 |
| Heemskerk – 23.30 | Dahlia – 23.42 |
| 1:28.39 | 1:27.89 |
Two years ago at the Championships in Windsor, the Russians won gold in 1:29.73, while the U.S. missed the final in 11th.
I have seen a lot of swimmers get between a 0.7 to 1.0 sec improvement from a lead off to rely exchange, depending on how good their start is and relay.
Caleb has such a powerful start that his time differential is likely to be closer to 0.2 to 0.5 sec, in other words not as big of a drop as your typical swimmer.
You’re right imagine an additional 0.5 sec drop and if he went 19.9 that would be crazy to see. But you’re throwing away a couple of tenths just off the start. Then now you might not have clean water if you’re in second place and could potentially lose a few more tenths. It’s riskier &… Read more »
While I love that Dressel always gives the USA a great leadoff leg, just once I would love to see a fully rested Dressel anchor a relay and have to come back ‘Lezak style’ against another team. I think you would see the roof blow off the place and times never hit before, especially long course.
He had some comeback swims for Florida at NCAAs They were fun to watch.