2026 CHINA SWIMMING OPEN
- March 19th – March 22nd
- Longgang Universiade Center Natatorium, Shenzhen, China
- LCM (50m)
- Psych Sheets
- Results
- Livestream
- Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap
Australia’s Cameron McEvoy ripped a 20.88 in the men’s 50 freestyle during finals of the event at the 2026 China Open. That broke the previous World Record of a 20.91 set back in 2009 by Cesar Cielo back in the supersuit era.
Credit to Dušan Danilović for doing the data analysis
Velocity
As expected, McEvoy was fastest for the first 15 meters of the race at 2.98 meters/second, 12.3 meters of which came underwater. He held a steady speed for the next 30 meters before falling off a bit from the flags to the wall when he was only swimming 1.86 meters/second.
Velocity/DPS/Stroke Rate
The biggest reason for a decrease in his velocity was due to the decrease in stroke rate. Although he was able to keep around the same distance per stroke (DPS), his stroke rate decreased throughout the race. He took a total of 36 strokes throughout the race.
Full Analysis
McEvoy was out in a 9.33 at the 25 mark and came home in a 11.55, marking a 2.22 second fall off in the event. He notably had a quick reaction time of only 0.53 seconds. He notably does not train thousands and thousands of yards like many swimmers do, rather, the 31 year old focuses on getting reps in the gym.
How anomalous are those velocities?
(Erm…as I type the initial WR thread is gone. Don’t tell me I’m imagining things. I checked and double checked. This has often happened here. Why, SwimSwam. Why?)
It’s back. 😂
And is a 2.22 “fall” on the second half normal?
(I’m sorry – but this “full analysis” is somewhat empty.) 😂
9.33 at 25m! Do we know of anyone faster?
It looks like no American has held the men’s 50 free LC WR since 2000 when Popov broke Jager’s record.
“ He notably does not train thousands and thousands of yards like many swimmers do, rather, the 31 year old focuses on getting reps in the gym.”
Quite the gross generalization of his training… 🤦♂️
Also, McEvoy has great yardage foundation. He was a primarily elite 100-200 freestyler from 2011-2015. He only started focusing in 50 free after Tokyo Olympics.
It’s not like he was Michael Andrew who never had good yardage base.
Not mentioned anywhere in these articles is that he has a fantastic freestyle technique. Always has.
Just watch this WR swim, he’s very high on the water. Also watch his 2016 47.04 100 free. sublime technique.
It’s shouldn’t be reduced to just “getting reps in the gym”
McEvoy, His coach and swimsuit guy all have said that they do not believe that the previous yardage base plays any role in his current success.
Yall cant even give us the 15m split or compare these numbers to other swims?? Kind of a lame analysis
Very cool article, and even more impressive WR!
One thought: the article mentions McEvoy’s velocity dropping due to his stroke rate decreasing, but how do we really know this is the case?
The two phenomena are correlated, but all 50 freestylers slow down at the end of the race as they lose momentum from the start.
Curious if decreased stroke rate is a conscious choice, and if that comes with increased power