2024 Short Course World Championships
- December 10-15, 2024
- Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
- SCM (25m)
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China’s Tang Qianting narrowly missed reaking a world record that had been on the books for more than 11 years in the semi-finals of the women’s 100 breaststroke on Wednesday at the Short Course World Championships, producing the fourth-fastest swim in history.
Tang clocked 1:02.37 to fall just one one-hundredth shy of the world record, which was established by Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte in 2013.
Meilutyte’s all-time record was then matched by Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson at the 2014 SC Worlds, and then Atkinson went the exact same time again at the Paris stop of the 2016 World Cup.
Tang showed blistering front-end speed, turning in 29.04 to put her nearly three-tenths clear of Atkinson’s 2016 split and more than half a second under where Meilutyte was in 2013.
The split was also less than three-tenths shy of Tang’s Asian Record in the 50 breast (28.76).
Split Comparison
| Meilutyte, 2013 | Atkinson, 2014 | Atkinson, 2016 | Tang, 2024 |
| 29.56 | 29.46 | 29.33 | 29.04 |
| 1:02.36 (32.80) | 1:02.36 (32.90) | 1:02.36 (33.03) | 1:02.37 (33.31) |
Despite coming within .01 of the world record, Tang’s swim is only the fourth-fastest in history, though she’s got a great chance to snag the world record in tomorrow’s final.
The 20-year-old did break her own Asian and Chinese Record of 1:02.53, set at the Shanghai stop of the 2024 World Cup in October.
Split Comparison
| Tang, 2024 World Cup – Shanghai | Tang, 2024 SC Worlds |
| 29.12 | 29.04 |
| 1:02.53 (29.41) | 1:02.37 (33.31) |
In the all-time rankings, Tang leapfrogs Lilly King for #3 all-time in the event.
All-Time Performers, Women’s 100 Breast (SCM)
- Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) / Alia Atkinson (JAM), 1:02.36 – 2013 / 2014
- –
- Tang Qianting (CHN), 1:02.37 – 2024
- Lilly King (USA), 1:02.50 – 2020
- Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 1:02.91 – 2016
- Katie Meili (USA), 1:02.92 – 2016
- Leisel Jones (AUS), 1:03.00 – 2009
- Eneli Jefimova (EST), 1:03.21 – 2023
- Jessica Hardy (USA), 1:03.30 – 2009
- Angharad Evans (GBR), 1:03.45 – 2024
King, the defending champion, qualified 2nd into the final in a time of 1:03.23, while Neutral Athlete ‘B”s (Russia’s) Evgeniia Chikunova (1:03.70), Great Britain’s Angharad Evans (1:03.71), Estonian Eneli Jefimova (1:03.80) and Neutral Athlete ‘A”s (Belarus’) Alina Zmushka (1:03.89) were also sub-1:04 in the semis.
Tang won the 2021 SC world title in the event, clocking 1:03.47, an Asian Record at the time, three years ago in Abu Dhabi.
