Korstanje, Then Ponti Each Knock Down 50 Fly World Championships Record

2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m)

• December 10-15, 2024
• Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Full Schedule
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Live Results

The men’s 50m fly is an event in which Noe Ponti of Switzerland broke the world record this year, and the 23-year-old is on the warpath once again.

Racing in the prelims of the event this morning in Budapest, Ponti fired off a warning shot of 21.53 to take the top seed. That was just .03 off the world record he set on the World Cup circuit this fall and also took down the competition record of 21.78 Brazilian former world record holder Nicholas Santos put on the books in 2022.

Ponti’s time represents the #2 performance in history and just the 2nd outing by anyone under the 21.60 threshold.

Just before Ponti dove in, however, it was Dutch national record holder Nyls Korstanje who established a short-lived championship record of 21.62 to also get under Santos’ previous standard.

Korstanje’s effort checked in as a new Dutch record, overtaking his own 21.74 notched on the World Cup. He now ranks as the #2 performer in history.

Top 5 Performers All-Time, Men’s 50 SCM Fly

1. Noe Ponti, Switzerland, 2024 – 21.50
2. Nyls Korstanje, Netherlands, 2024 – 21.62
3. (TIE) Nicholas Santos, Brazil, 2018/Szebasztian Szabo, Hungary, 2021 – 21.75
5. Steffen Deibler, Germany, 2010 – 21.80

The pair led a quartet of sub-22-second swimmers with Canada’s Ilya Kharun clocking a new national record of 21.84 followed by Singapore’s Tzen Wei Teong‘s new national record of 21.97.

Kharun held the former Canadian benchmark with the 22.28 notched at the 2022 edition of these championships so the 19-year-old smashed that to bits with his first-ever sub-22-second performance.

As for Tzen, his former SGP standard stood at the 21.98 produced on the World Cup circuit.

Men’s 50 Butterfly

• World Record: 21.50 – Noe Ponti, SUI (2024)
• World Junior Record: 22.28 – Ilya Kharun, CAN (2022)
• World Championship Record: 21.78 – Nicholas Santos, BRA (2022)
• 2022 SC World Champion: Nicholas Santos, BRA – 21.78

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Noe Ponti (SUI) – 21.53 CR
2. Nyls Korstanje (NED) – 21.62
3. Ilya Kharun (CAN) – 21.84
4. Tzen Wei Teong (SGP) – 21.97
5. Grigori Pekarski (NAA) – 22.08
6. Oleg Kostin (NAB) – 22.16
7. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN) – 22.18 (tie)
8. Dylan Carter (TTO) – 22.18 (tie)