Swim of the Week is brought to you by arena, a SwimSwam partner.
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.
A number of blistering performances have been produced at the Australian Short Course Championships running this week in Adelaide, and one of the best, and most surprising, came from Ed Sommerville in the men’s 200 freestyle.
A rising star in Australia, Sommerville was a relative unknown to international fans coming into the competition, though he did win an individual bronze medal at the 2023 World Junior Championships in the 100 free, clocking 49.16 last year in Netanya.
In the 200 free, Sommerville’s long course best time stands at 1:48.66, set in December 2023, and in short course, he went 1:43.92 last July and has been 1:44-low four other times.
But no one would’ve predicted that the 19-year-old had the type of swim in him that he dropped on Thursday.
After advancing 3rd out of the prelims in 1:44.43, Sommerville unleashed a time of 1:40.64, going out like a rocket over the first 100 meters and managing to hold his pace over the back half.
Flipping in 49.04 at the 100, Sommerville held 25.85/25.75 splits coming home to inch ahead of runner-up Max Giuliani, who also had a standout performance to place 2nd in 1:41.39.
Split Comparison
| Sommerville, Old PB | Sommerville, New PB | Giuliani |
| 24.48 | 23.55 | 23.82 |
| 50.66 (26.18) | 49.04 (25.49) | 49.37 (25.55) |
| 1:17.12 (26.46) | 1:14.89 (25.85) | 1:15.26 (25.89) |
| 1:43.92 (26.80) | 1:40.64 (25.75) | 1:41.39 (26.13) |
The performance from Sommerville earned him a new Oceanian and Australian Record, breaking Cameron McEvoy‘s nine-year-old marker of 1:40.80 from 2015, and moves him into #7 all-time in the event.
All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 Freestyle (SCM)
- Paul Biedermann (GER) – 1:39.37, 2009
- Yannick Agnel (FRA) – 1:39.70, 2012
- Hwang Sunwoo (KOR) – 1:39.72, 2022
- Danila Izotov (RUS) – 1:40.08, 2009
- Duncan Scott (GBR) – 1:40.25, 2020
- Townley Haas (USA) – 1:40.49, 2020
- Ed Sommerville (AUS) – 1:40.65, 2024
- Matt Sates (RSA) – 1:40.65, 2021
- David Popovici (ROU) – 1:40.79, 2022
- Cameron McEvoy (AUS) – 1:40.80, 2015
Sommerville followed up his breakout 200 free swim on Thursday with another victory on Friday, claiming the 100 free in a time of 46.84 to mark his first time under the 47-second barrier.
Follow arena USA on Instagram here.
About arena
arena has revolutionized the world of aquatic sport through insightful collaboration with world class athletes and the development of cutting edge competitive swimwear since 1973. Today, this spirit of collaboration and innovation lives on through a continuous evolution of advanced materials and Italian design that improves the performance, style and expression of all those who chose arena. From leading the lanes to living in style, arena is dedicated to providing all swimmers with the tools they need to express themselves, feel confident, win and achieve more. Because in arena, you can.
That all timer list reminded me that I miss Townley Haas. I’ll never forget that 2016 Olympic Trials post race interview. No thoughts, just elite freestyle. Legend
This is a crazy (good) swim. Excited to see what he can do in LCM
Great swim. I also found out that Sunwoo swam 1:39 from this article. If someone can get down to 1:38 they should be able to swim 1:41.99?
I feel like 1:39 is like 1:44 LC
And 2/3 guys that went 1:39 are 1:42-1:43 swimmers and Sunwoo has gone 1:44 low? I think your equivalence might be correct for someone like Marchand, a 1:44 high swimmer with crazy underwater skills.