Noe Ponti Cranks 50.16 in 100 Fly, Becomes 6th-Best Performer in History

2024 SWISS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Swiss butterflier Noe Ponti smashed his own Swiss Record in the 100 meter fly on Saturday morning in prelims of the 2024 Swiss Championships in Uster.

Ponti swam 50.16 to break his own Swiss Record of 50.74 set at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The record before Ponti’s reign began was a 52.28 set by Jeremy Desplanches in April 2019. Ponti has since been under that record 45 times including Saturday morning’s swim.

Splits Comparison:

Former Swiss Record
New Swiss Record
Tokyo 2020 Olympics
2024 Swiss Championships
50m 23.67 23.82
100m 27.07 26.34
Total Time 50.74 50.16

The difference for Ponti in this swim was the back-half of the race, where he split 26.34 – seven-tenths better than he did at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 22-year-old Ponti was the bronze medalist in the 100 fly at the 2020 Olympic Games, though he hasn’t done much internationally in long course since. He won three minor medals at the 2021 and 2022 World Short Course Championships (all in the 200 fly and 50 fly), a silver medal at the 2022 European Championships in the 100 fly, and four medals (including a butterfly sweep) at the 2023 European Short Course Championships.

The field has softened considerably since then, however, with the extended absences of Kristof Milak and Caeleb Dressel, the only two active swimmers who have been under 50 seconds. Dressel, for his part, has looked on form of late, winning the 100 fly at the Westmont Pro Swim Series meet in 51.27 in early March.

France’s Maxime Grousset, 24, has also emerged as a gold medal contender since the Olympics, swimming 50.14 at last summer’s World Championships, and Australia’s Matt Temple looked as good at the Japan Open late last year as he ever has.

All-Time Fastest Performers, Men’s 100 Meter Fly

  1. Caeleb Dressel, USA – 49.45 (2021)
  2. Kristof Milak, Hungary – 49.68 (2021)
  3. Michael Phelps, USA – 49.82 (2009)
  4. Milorad Cavic, Serbia – 49.95 (2009)
  5. Maxime Grousset, France – 50.14 (2023)
  6. Noe Ponti, Switzerland – 50.16 (2024)
  7. Matthew Temple, Australia – 50.25 (2023)
  8. Josh Liendo, Canada – 50.34 (2023)
  9. Joseph Schooling, Singapore – 50.39 (2016)
  10. (TIE) Ian Crocker, USA – 50.40 (2005)/Shaine Casas, USA – 50.40 (2022)

2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Fly

KristofHUN
MILAK
08/03
49.90
2Josh
Liendo
CAN49.9908/03
3 Noe
PONTI
SUI50.1604/06
4Caeleb
DRESSEL
USA50.1906/22
5Matthew William
Temple
AUS50.2512/03
View Top 32»

Ponti briefly moved to the United States to train at NC State after the Olympics, but shortly thereafter he returned home to train in Switzerland.

Race Video

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Chad
8 months ago

HAT IN THE RING

Jeah
8 months ago

Imagine where he’d be today if he never left nc state

Last night of 2024 NCAAs / day after
Reply to  Jeah
8 months ago

Full imagination!

Chlorine son
8 months ago

I love olympic year, seeing the people like this that breakout before the Olympics just makes it so much more exciting

NornIron Swim
Reply to  Chlorine son
8 months ago

Breakout?! He won Bronze in Tokyo…

dirtswimmer
8 months ago

Small chance but we could now see 6 sub-50s in the olympics between Dressel, Milak, Liendo, Ponti, Temple, and Grousset. Potentially Rose too if he has another big drop in him

Last edited 8 months ago by dirtswimmer
Jeah
Reply to  dirtswimmer
8 months ago

That’s not happening

Outside Smoke
8 months ago

According to Merriam-Webster, the first definition for “crank” as a verb is “to move with a winding course”. Another is “to gain speed, momentum, or intensity”.

I know some of the verbiage used on this site is over the top, but 50.16 is certainly cranking.

saltie
8 months ago

if the SS authors said achieves or attains every single time that would get super boring. I’d much rather read about someone cranking, or ripping, or dropping, or blasting a 50.1 than “attaining.” Puts much more excitement and emphasis on how good the swim was. maybe thats just me though

Scuncan Dott v2
8 months ago

50.37 in the final. Out 2 tenths quicker but came back 4 tenths slower.

nuotofan
8 months ago

50.37 with a half-stroke finish: he was 23.64 at 50m, faster than in the heat, but in the heat he swam a bit more relaxed, and so efficient, in the second 50m. Anyway great flier.

Lopez
Reply to  nuotofan
8 months ago

His finish in the heat was also bad, he’ll need to time it better when it matters, he already uses the full 15m in the underwater.

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Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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