Who Won’t Defend Melbourne 2022’s Titles At SCM Worlds In Budapest?

2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• 10-15 December 2024
• Duna Arena, Budapest, Ungheria
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Roster index

See also: Olympic medalists who won’t be at the 2024 SC World Championships.

In a few days, we will hear the starting whistle for the 2024 Short Course World Championships in Budapest. This event will be special as it marks the end of the Olympic year, which began with the Long Course World Championships in Doha, followed by the European Championships in Belgrade, and the Paris 2024 Olympics.

In fact, many medalists and titleholders from the 2022 Melbourne World Championships, will not be present in the water at Duna Arena. Despite this, there are also numerous swimmers who have chosen to take on the challenge, eager to return to competition and push their limits (or human limits) once again. Among them, we will find athletes of the caliber of Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Hubert Kos, Daiya Seto, and Summer Mcintosh.

It is interesting to note that most of the World Champions who have chosen to participate in Budapest despite the few months since the triumphant Olympics, have swum or are still swimming for an American college. The NCAA season, in fact, not only uses a 25-yard pool (about 22m) for competitions but also starts in the last week of September. By November, the season leading up to the final championships (conference and national) is already at its halfway point, with athletes achieving remarkable times. It is no coincidence that swimmers accustomed to competing so frequently, and early after major championships, have eagerly accepted the World Aquatics invitation for Budapest.

Moreover, many swimmers have quickly returned to the water, delivering remarkable performances and results at the World Cup in Asia held between October and November.

Given the demanding season—including the World Championships in Doha, Olympic trials, the Olympics, and the World Cup—and considering that the next major event will be the long-course World Championships in Singapore 2025, athletes have to balance strategy, ambitions, and mental health in their decisions to compete.

THE REIGNING CHAMPIONS WHO ARE MISSING

Out of 18 individual female events, only 5 reigning champions will be able to defend their titles from Melbourne. In fact, 13 events will be missing the gold medalists from 2022 in Budapest.

On the men’s side, the categories of reigning world champions we already know the near future of are split into two: those we will see again next season and those who will no longer be seen in the world’s most important lanes.

RETIRED – Emma Mckeon, Nicholas Santos, Hali Flickinger, Maggie MacNeil, Dakota Luther

This is the saddest section, I admit. This feeling has already been experienced, much more intensely, during the previews for the Paris Olympics, but after the Games, new names have been added to the list.

As officially announced a few days ago, but already hinted at since August, Emma Mckeon has decided to retire from competitive swimming. The most decorated Olympic Australian in history had confirmed her dominance in freestyle at the Melbourne World Championships. There, Mckeon won seven medals: two individual golds in the 50 and 100 freestyle, two golds in the 4×100 freestyle women’s relay and 4×50 medley women’s relay, and three silvers in the 4×50 freestyle women’s relay, 4×100 medley women’s relay, and 4×50 medley freestyle. Mckeon’s legacy has been passed on to Mollie O’Callaghan, while in Europe, the crown has remained on Sarah Sjostrom. Without the two main challengers, who will take the title this year?

Among the athletes already absent from the Olympics is Hali Flickinger, who won gold in the 400 IM and silver in the 200 butterfly at Melbourne; and Nicholas Santos, who at the age of 42 won gold in the 50 butterfly.

Also absent is Maggie Macneil, who retired from professional swimming after the Paris Olympics. The Canadian had won three golds in Melbourne: 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly, and 100 butterfly. Another young athlete who ended her career after the U.S. Olympic Trials for the 2024 Olympics is Dakota Luther. The then 23-year-old from the University of Texas took advantage of a thing group in the 200 butterfly, winning the gold ahead of Flickinger and Elizabeth Dekkers.

NOT ENTERED- Kaylee McKeown, Torri Huske, Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Kyle Chalmers, Marrit Steenbergen

As mentioned earlier, many Olympians and Olympic or World Championship medalists have chosen a different path for the end of the 2024 season (and the beginning of the following one).

Among the most notable absences include Kaylee McKeown and Torri Huske. Both, returned home from Paris with at least one gold medal around their neck.

Both swimmers have also excelled (perhaps paradoxically) in short course. At the 2022 SC Worlds, Huske won a gold in the 50 butterfly and a silver in the 100 en route to Olympic gold in the latter race. The Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke, as well as the Olympic bronze medalist in the 200 IM, McKeown climbed exactly the same steps on the Paris podium as she did at the home World Championships in 2022.

The Queenslander set a World Record in the 100 backstroke at the start of the year before being surpassed by American Regan Smith twice. Additionally, McKeown holds the best time of the season in the 50 backstroke thanks to her swim in the World Cup in Shanghai where she touched the wall in 25.36.

Backstroke will undergo a complete and thorough power shift: in fact, besides Kaylee McKeown, defending men’s champion Ryan Murphy will not be named either. The American champion had collected a pile of medals in Melbourne, sweeping the gold medals. After touching the wall first in all events from the 50 to the 200, and winning the 100 at the 2023 Fukuoka World Championships in long course, Ryan Murphy was unable to reaffirm himself at the top at the Paris Olympics. In the French capital, the 29-year-old won “only” a bronze in the 100 backstroke and failed to reach the final in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 10th place.

The 2022 edition of the World Championshipswas filled with doubles, with only 11 female swimmers and 12 male swimmers winning World Championships out of a total of 36 individual events -including Murphy.

Other multi-winners who will not be replicated include those of Gregorio Paltrinieri and Nic Fink.

In Melbourne, Fink secured a double gold in the 50 and 100, with American Records in the 50 (25.38) and the 200 breaststroke (2:01.60). In the latter, he won silver behind Daiya Seto. The American is also on a break, awaiting to determine his next objectives, after a season that saw him climb to the top of the world first in the 100 breaststroke in Doha, and then with the 4×100 medley relay in Paris during the Olympic Games. He also saw the birth of his first child with fellow elite swimmer Melanie Margalis since the Games. At La Defense Arena, Fink won a silver in the 100 breaststroke behind Nicolò Martinenghi and tied with Adam Peaty, and a silver in the men’s medley relay.

Even the champion Gregorio Paltrinieri is currently enjoying a well-deserved vacation after winning two medals at the Paris Olympic Games and helping to increase Italy’s medal tally with a silver in the 1500m freestyle and a bronze in the 800m. In short course, Paltrinieri boasts six World Championship medals and six European medals, with a total of seven golds. In 2022, in Melbourne, the Italian swimmer secured two of these gold medals, in the 1500m and the 800m, the latter setting a new Championship record with a time of 7:29.99.

Among the three Olympic medalists from Italy, we cannot forget the remarkable feat of Thomas Ceccon, who returned from Australia with six medals around his neck and two world records. The Olympic champion in the 100m backstroke won gold in the 100m IM, as well as two golds with world records in the men’s 4x50m medley relay and the 4x100m freestyle relay. Additionally, he contributed to the silver in the 4x50m freestyle relay final and the bronzes in the 4x100m medley and 4x200m freestyle relays.

The 23-year-old, despite his Olympic title, has yet to win a World Championship title in the 100m backstroke in short course, consistently focusing on more unusual events, such as the 100m IM or 50m butterfly, leaving the most important events—those that have already brought him to the top of the Olympic podium—for the future. It would have been exciting and spectacular to witness a battle between Ceccon, Leon Marchand, Noe Ponti, Duncan Scott, and maybe Kolesnikov in the 100m IM; or another challenge in the 100m freestyle between him and the Chinese Pan Zhanle, whom Ceccon defeated during the first World Cup stop in October. However, these scenarios will remain in fantasy, as Ceccon has confirmed he will not compete in 2024 to focus on the World Championships in Singapore.

OTHER NOTABLE ABSENCES

• Claire Curzan
  • silver in the 50 backstroke, 200 backstroke
  • bronze in the 100 backstroke
• Mollie O’Callaghan
  • silver in the 100 backstroke
  • bronze in the 50 backstroke
• Kyle Chalmers –
  • gold in the 100 freestyle, in the 4×50 freestyle, 4×100 medley,
  • silver in the 4×100 freestyle, 4×200 freestyle, 4×50 freestyle mixed,
  • bronze in the 4×50 medley
• Marrit Stenbergen –
  • gold in the 100 IM,
  • bronze in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 4×50 freestyle mixed.

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