2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
- Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
- SCM (25m)
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In the final women’s event of the 2022 Short Course World Championships, the American quartet of Claire Curzan, Lilly King, Torri Huske and Kate Douglass broke the world record in the 4×100 medley relay with a time of 3:44.35, beating out the old standard of 3:44.52 that was also set by the United States.
Things were off to a rough start for the Americans when Curzan led off in a 56.47, well off her individual 100 back time of 55.74. That being said, she did have the deal with the fatigue of swimming a 200 back in the same session, and still got the job done in the relay to put her country in third-place position at the 100 mark. Then, King dropped a 1:02.88 split on breast, which was the only sub-1:04 split in the field. King’s leg was enough to put the Americans in first and erase the nearly one-second deficit that Canada and Australia had on them.
On fly, Huske split 54.53, which was the second-fastest split in the field behind Emma McKeon, who clocked the fastest 100 fly split in history at 53.93. Huske’s swim was a breakthrough one, as she split faster than her flat start time of 54.75—something that she has struggled to pull off in the past. Finally, Douglass anchored in a 50.47, which matched Marrit Steenbergen‘s anchor as the fastest split in the field (and the third-fastest split of all-time).
King was the only person who was on both the new and old record relays. Here’s how the Americans’ new world record compares to their old one:
| United States, 2022 Short Course World Championships | United States, 2020 ISL Final | |
| Back | Claire Curzan — 56.47 | Olivia Smoliga — 55.60 |
| Breast | Lilly King — 1:02.88 | Lilly King — 1:02.40 |
| Fly | Torri Huske — 54.53 | Kelsi Dahlia — 54.79 |
| Free | Kate Douglass — 50.47 | Erika Brown — 51.73 |
| Total | 3:44.35 | 3:44.52 |
Again, Emma needs her own article… fastest spilt in history. Brilliant!
The announcer seemed shocked that the 200M BR champion was anchoring the relay!
Has it ever happened where a swimmer competed one leg of the medley relay in prelims, then a different leg in finals, and won/got the world record?
This is a great question! I looked up a number of people who might have (Otto, Caulkins, Coughlin, Thompson, MA, McKeon…). These folks almost never swam on the prelims relays. It’s possible that Kornelia Ender did this in 1976 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_1976_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_4_%C3%97_100_metre_medley_relay), but I suspect that the order of the prelims relay may be wrong.
I have been wondering about Kate taking her 5th year and I bet now she won’t… that’s a lot of prize money to have to walk away from.
Do they still have to walk away from that money with NIL in place now?
I think they can just cover expenses to get there.
Kate Douglass slay
So does Lilly get the full $25K to herself? (And will she Venmo $6250 each to Claire, Torri, and Kate on the DL so the NCAA doesn’t find out?) 🙂
Ngl this made me laugh, this comment wins
That’s a really good point. If the others all decline to accept their share then I don’t see why King shouldn’t get the full amount. It’s a payment to the swimmers and not the national body, right?
Nah… kids are sneakier nowadays. All dark money is sent via SwimCoin
Just occurred to me that Kelsi Dahlia had two of her three WRs downed within one hour. Fortunately for her I think her LCM one will stand for some time to come!
Fantastic effort by the American women. Kate Douglass in particular crushed it! Congratulations to the team!