arena Swim of the Week: Coll Marti Downs Super-Suited Spanish Record For Upset World Title

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

Amidst a wave of world record swims on Friday at the Short Course World Championships, one performance that might’ve flown under the radar a bit was what Carles Coll Marti did in the final of the men’s 200 breaststroke.

Coll Marti came into the competition having only made one World Championship final in his career, placing eighth in the 100 IM at the 2022 Short Course Worlds in Melbourne.

Currently in his graduate senior season at Virginia Tech, the Spaniard had found plenty of success in the NCAA over the last few years, but had yet to truly breakthrough on the international stage.

That changed this week, as Coll Marti got off to a strong start to Short Course Worlds in Budapest, and then took things to another gear on Friday in the 200 breast.

The 23-year-old first broke the Spanish Record in the 100 breast, clocking 56.67 in the semi-finals to finish 10th overall. His opening 50 split of 26.29 was also under the National Record in the 50 breast.

On Thursday, Coll Marti broke the Spanish Record in the 100 IM twice, first clocking 51.70 in the prelims before getting down to 51.50 in the semis. He came into the meet owning the record at 51.73, a time he established at the Spanish SC Championships last month.

On Friday, Coll Marti earned his first spot on a major international podium, and he landed on the top step.

After qualifying out of the 200 breast prelims in fifth, clocking 2:03.63 in the heats (a new best time by a tenth), Coll Marti unloaded in the final.

Going head-to-head with world record holder Kirill Prigoda, Coll Marti grabbed the lead at the 100-meter turn, was briefly overtaken by Aleksandr Zhigalov, and then reclaimed the top spot on the last 50 to snag gold and break a super-suited Spanish Record.

Coll Marti touched in 2:01.55, edging out Prigoda (2:01.88) to win his first world title and erase the 15-year-old Spanish Record of 2:02.67 set by Melquiades Alvarez in 2009.

Split Comparison

Coll Marti now ranks 7th all-time in the event.

All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 Breaststroke (SCM)

1. Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 2:00.16 – 2018
2. Daiya Seto (JPN), 2:00.35 – 2022
3. Marco Koch (GER), 2:00.44 – 2016
4. Daniel Gyurta (HUN), 2:00.48 – 2014
5. Qin Haiyang (CHN), 2:01.15 – 2018
6. Michael Jamieson (GBR), 2:01.43 – 2013
7. Carles Coll Marti (ESP), 2:01.55 – 2024
8. Anton Chupkov (RUS), 2:01.57 – 2018
9. Nic Fink (USA), 2:01.60 – 2022
10. Anton McKee (ISL), 2:01.65 – 2020

Shortly after the 200 breast final, Coll Marti was back in the water in the 100 IM final, placing fifth in a time of 51.52.

The breakthrough comes on the heels of a phenomenal opening semester for Coll Marti at Virginia Tech, as he currently owns the #1 time in the NCAA in the 200 breast in short course yards (1:50.09).

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