Maximillian Giuliani Closes SC Worlds With New Australian Record in the 200 Free

2024 SC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 10-15, 2024
• Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Roster Index
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Pick’em
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Prelims Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
• Finals Live Recap: Day 1  | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
• Complete final results (PDF)

21-year-old Australian swimmer Maximillian Giuliani finished his meet at the 2024 World Short Course Swimming Championships last week with a new Australian and Oceanic Record in the men’s 200 free.

He swam 1:40.36, which broke the former record set in September by Edward Sommerville at 1:40.64. Sommerville was Australia’s other entry in this meet and entered as the top seed, but he was two seconds slower than his then-record to finish 9th in prelims in 1:42.87.

Splits Comparison:

Giuliani’s previous best time was also done at the Australian Short Course Championships in September, which was the same meet where Sommerville did his prior best time. In his new record-setting swim, Giuliani finished markedly better than he did in his prior swims.

Giuliani’s win was a bit lost in the wash, finishing 3.5 meters behind American Luke Hobson, who broke the World Record in 1:38.61 for gold, but it still moved him into 7th-place on the all-time list of top performers in this event.

All-Time Top Performers, Men’s 200 SCM Freestyle

1. Luke Hobson, USA – 1:38.61 (2024)
2. Paul Biedermann, Germany – 1:39.37 (2009)
3. Yannick Agnel, France – 1:39.70 (2012)
4. Hwang Sun-Woo, South Korea – 1:39.72 (2022)
5. Duncan Scott, Great Britain – 1:39.83 (2024)
6. Danila Izotov, Russia – 1:40.08 (2009)
7. Maximillian Giuliani, Australia – 1:40.36 (2024)
8. Townley Haas, USA – 1:40.49 (2020)
9. Edward Sommerville, Australia – 1:40.64 (2024)
10. Matthew Sates, South Africa – 1:40.65 (2021)

More importantly, between the 19-year-old Sommerville and the 21-year-old Giuliani, Australia has a strong foundation for the next generation of their 800 free relay going forward. Their Olympic bronze medal relay in Paris included Giuliani, 19-year-old Flynn Southam, 24-year-old Elijah Winnington, and 22-year-old Thomas Neill, meaning that the Australians will have a ton of depth in this event headed toward the LA 2028 Olympics. That abundance of depth, and the ability to narrow down to the top four for the Olympic final, is the model that the women’s free relays have used so well over the last decade.