2024 SC Worlds Previews: Without Murphy The Battle For Men’s Back Thrones Is Wide Open

2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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

The backstroke events in the men’s field preannounce a whole new landscape looking back to Melbourne. In fact, Ryan Murphy who was crowned the fastest backstroker in every event, is not on the list of USA’s roster for Budapest. He will not be the only significant absent, but it could be the chance to see which back specialists could take the lead.

50 BACK

• World Record: 22.11 Kliment Kolesnikov – Kazan, 2022
• 2022 SC World Finalists:
  1. Ryan Murphy (USA) – 22.64
  2. Isaac Cooper (AUS) – 22.73
  3. Kacper Stokowski (POL) – 22.74
  4. Lorenzo Mora (ITA) – 22.81
  5. Pieter Coetzee (RSA) – 22.84 (AF)
  6. Apostolos Christou (GRE) – 23.10
  7. Dylan Carter (TTO) – 23.12
  8. Marek Ulrich (GER) – 23.37
• 2024 Doha Worlds Finalists in the field: Isaac Cooper (gold), Ksawery Masiuk, Ole Braunschweig, Michael Andrew

As mentioned earlier Ryan Murphy will not be in Budapest to defend his throne, but a recurrent name on the podium of international 50 back is Isaac Cooper. The australian swimmer presents himself with a treasure of a silver from the last World SCM champs, the title of World LCM champion from Doha, and the best time of the season, having set 22.58 during the World Cup leg  in Shanghai, even faster than his victory time in 2022. As the second and third best times of the season are respectively by Pieter Coetze (22.75) and Kliment Kolesnikov (22.78), which will not take part in this competition, Isaac Cooper looks like the front runner for successor to Murphy.

While the 20-year-old was pursuing the triple crown in Asia, where he won the event two times, in Russia another new contestant was making his way into the international stage. Miron Lifincev, born in 2006, swam 22.79 at the Russian championship a few weeks ago. The swimmer who will take part in the competition as a neutral athlete appears to be in the peak form. Combined with his young age, the premises look pretty good.

A potential medallist is Lorenzo Mora from Italy enters the competition with a season best of 22.89. We know that Mora is an expert of short course and has a lifetime best of 22.65, set during the Melbourne SCM worlds, where he eventually finished 4th in the final. The italian was part of the delegation to World cup series in Asia where he showed a better preparation in the 200m back than in the sprint distance.

The third best entry time of the event is by Mewen Tomac who set is personal bets of 22.84 during the last European champs in Otopeni, a year ago. The frenchman didn’t participate in Doha Worlds long course, neither at Fukuoka, where he only swam the 100m and 200m back.

The last man entered with an under 23 time is Kaiya Seki. The japanese won the national champion title in the event back in October touching the wall in 22.85. At the age of 24 Seki will join for the first time a World championship, with his only presence in the international field during the 2018 World Cup series.

A new entry in the field is the olympic champion Hubert Kos, who is going to dive in the sprint distance. The hungarian specialized in the long distance has a best time of 24.32, but has swum a few 50 yards during the early season of NCAA.

The sprint events are always hard to predict, that’s why is relevant to highlight other notable faces who will be in the Duna Arena. Kacper Stokowski swam a season best of 23.05 resulting with a bronze at the Singapote World cup leg, and he’s the other Melbourne 2022’s medallist a part from Cooper.

Short course sprint masters Dylan Carter and Michael Andrew will also dive into this event.

SwimSwam’s Picks – Top 4

100 BACK

• World Record: 48.33 Coleman Stewart – Naples, 2021
• 2022 SC World Finalists:
  1. Ryan Murphy (USA) – 48.50 (CR)
  2. Lorenzo Mora (ITA) – 49.04
  3. Isaac Cooper (AUS) – 49.52
  4. Pieter Coetzee (RSA) – 49.60 
  5. Apostolos Christou (GRE) – 49.68 
  6. Kacper Stokowski (POL) – 49.74
  7. Mewen Tomac (FRA) – 49.94
  8. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (FRA) – 50.01
• 2024 Olympic Finalists In The Field: Yohann Ndoye-Brouard ,Oliver Morgan

Three out of five of the best 100m back of the season so far come from the Russian SCM Champs held in the last weeks. In St. Pieterburg Kliment Kolesnikov (49.29), Miron Lifincev (49.26) and Pavel Samusenko (49.56) all went down 49.60 elevating the national championships to the level of world-class competition. A part from Kolesnikov, both Lifincev and Samusenko are on the list of swimmers who obtained a neutral athlete status, and look as the most likely to win the title.

Miron Lifincev is also the world junior record holder of this event in long course, having set 52.08 at the Russian World Cup in July. The russian duo is almost entirely new, as Lifincev has never competed outside Russia and BRICS games. Even though we haven’t seen him in years, actually Pavel Samusenko is not a new face: at the SCM Worlds in 2021 he placed 4th in the 100m back with a time of 49.65.

Mewen Tomac enters with a time of 49.72 again from the Otopeni SCM Worlds, however the only time he swam in short course this season is during the last National Championship where he won the title in 50.28.

Kacper Stokowski from Poland looks like a swimmer to watch in the 100m back. The 25-year-old swimmer enters with the fourth time of 49.87 set in November. Stokowski competed in the 2024 World Cup and obtained one silver and two bronzes in this event. He is also one of the last edition’s finalist: in Melbourne he swam is best time ever of 49.33 but ended touching the wall 6th in the final.

Another french will try to make his way to the podium, as the olympic bronze medalist of the men’s 4×100 medley relay Yohann Ndoye-Brouard will be part in the game with an entry time of 49.96. The 24-year-old is also the finalist of this event in Paris along with britain Oliver Morgan. In Otopeni as at the last French Elite championship he came second to his fellow Mewen Tomac.

In the field there are also Lorenzo Mora and Isaac Cooper, both medalists (respectively silver and bronze) in Melbourne two years ago.

SwimSwam’s Picks – Top 4

200 BACK

• World Record: 1:45.63  LARKIN Mitchell AUS ,Sydney 2015
• 2022 SC World Finalists:
  1. Ryan Murphy (USA) – 1:47.41 
  2. Shaine Casas (USA) – 1:48.01
  3. Lorenzo Mora (ITA) – 1:48.45
  4. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (FRA) – 1:49.23
  5. Luke Greenbank (GBR) – 1:49.79 
  6. Mewen Tomac (FRA) – 1:49.93
  7. Radoslaw Kawecki (POL) – 1:50.33
  8. Ryota Naito (JPN) – 1:51.67 
• 2024 Olympic Finalists In The Field: Hubert Kos (gold), Roman Mityukov, Mewen Tomac

The event most affected by significant absences is without any doubt the 200m back. If we look at the eight finalist of the last edition, just three of them are in the entry list for Budapest. The american duo formed by Ryan Murphy and Shaine Casas, who took home gold and silver in Melbourne wil not be there to make a double. Shaine Casas will actually be in Budapest but will only swim the 200 IM.

The top 3 entries of the event are Lorenzo Mora, Mewen Tomac and Joshua Edward-Smith, with a high 1:48/low 1:49. The only swimmer who set its best time during this season (2024) is the australian Edward-Smith who set 1:49.14 at the national SCM champs. The 21yo swimmer currently lead the world best times of the season, coming just 0.2s after Pieter Coezte who won’t be in Budapest.

Lorenzo Mora is the only one who made it to the podium in 2022 and will return back . This is the italian’s favourite event, where he enters with a time of 1:48.43 which is also the national record, achieved in Otopeni last December together with the European champion title. Mora also competed in every leg of 2024 World Cup series, where he obtained two silvers in Shangai and Singapore, swimming times around 1:51. During the national championship held in November he won the gold with a time of 1:49.95.

Coming second in the entry list as at the European championship of 2023 is Mewen Tomac. The french also competed in Melbourne 2022 touching the wall 6th and finished just off the podium of this event at the Paris Olympic games. During this season Tomac swam the 200m back just once at the French Elite championship, where he placed first with a time of 1:51.15.

Olympic 200m back champion Hubert Kos has never swam this event in short course in an international competition so enters with a LCM time of 1:54.14 from 2023. The 21-year-old is the PAC-12 2024 champion in the 200y back with a time of 1:35.69. If we convert this time to short course meter Kos looks like the most capable of winning the gold maybe with a time around 1:46/1:47.

Roman Mityukov, bronze in this event in Paris, didn’t compete at Melbourne last short course worlds, but did in 2021 in the Emirates, where he didn’t reach the final and registered a time around 1:54, same as his olympic performance (LCM).

Fastest of the season is the australian Joshua Edwards-Smith with 1:49.14. The 21-year-old, who narrowly missed an olympic spot touching third at the 2024 Trials, won the gold at the Australian short course championship in September. This will be his first big interntional competition in short course as he only took part in the 2023 World Cup and in 2022 Budapest worlds (LCM).

Oleksandr Zheltiakov, Guannan Tao, Enoch Robb, Dmitrii Savenko completes the top entries of swimmers with under 1:51 times.

Finally I think this could be one of the most interesting back event as we have two olympic medallist, some short course experts and a few new entries who could be a surprise.

SwimSwam’s Picks – Top 4