2026 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships
- Dates:
- Diving: Sunday, February 15–Tuesday, February 17
- Swimming: Tuesday, February 17–Saturday, February 21
- Location: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending champions: UVA women (6x); Cal men (1x)
- Live Results
- Live Video: ESPN+ ($)
- Schedule of Events (PDF)
- Championship Central
- Pre-Scratch Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
- Teams: Boston College, Cal, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (women swimming & diving/men diving), NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford, Virginia, Virginia Tech
- Day 6 Prelims Heat Sheet
University of Virginia redshirt junior Claire Curzan has become the 2nd woman in history to go under 49 seconds in both the 100 fly and 100 back on Friday morning after posting a 48.83 in prelims at the ACC Championships.
That swim makes her the 3rd-fastest 100 yard backstroker in history behind only training partner Gretchen Walsh (48.10) and another former ACC swimmer Katharine Berkoff of NC State (48.55). Both Walsh and Berkoff have been faster on multiple occasions, and Curzan’s swim is the #8 performance in history. Nobody else has been under 49 seconds in prelims, though.
Splits Comparison:
| Claire Curzan | Claire Curzan | Claire Curzan | Claire Curzan | |
| New PB | Old PB | Mid-Season | Prior to UVa | |
| 50y | 23.51 | 23.80 | 23.81 | 24.06 |
| 100y | 25.32 | 25.31 | 25.31 | 25.4 |
| Total Time | 48.83 | 49.11 | 49.12 | 49.46 |
The splits comparisons show a clear area of improvement for Curzan since transferring from Stanford: her front end speed.
This showed up in the 48.47 that she swam on Thursday for 2nd place in the 100 fly as well, where most of her four-tenths of a second drop came in the first 50 yards (though in that race, she dropped a good chunk on both splits).
Curzan is the defending NCAA Champion in the 100 back and only three other women have even been under 50 seconds this season: Bella Sims from Michigan (49.17), Miranda Grana from Indiana, and Maggie Wanezek from Wisconsin.
Curzan now ranks 2nd all-time in the 100 yard fly + 100 yard back rankings behind only Walsh, who is the U.S. Open Record holder in both races.
All-Time “Butterback” rankings, 100 yard fly + 100 yard back addup
| 100 back | 100 fly | Total Time | Average time | ||
| 1 | Gretchen Walsh | 48.1 | 46.97 | 95.07 | 47.54 |
| 2 | Claire Curzan | 48.83 | 48.47 | 97.30 | 48.65 |
| 3 | Maggie MacNeil | 49.76 | 48.51 | 98.27 | 49.14 |
| 4 | Kate Douglass | 50.47 | 48.46 | 98.93 | 49.47 |
| 5 | Regan Smith | 49.16 | 49.87 | 99.03 | 49.52 |
| 6 | Charlotte Crush | 49.46 | 50 | 99.46 | 49.73 |
| 7 | Miranda Grana | 49.62 | 49.98 | 99.60 | 49.80 |
| 8 | Beata Nelson | 49.18 | 50.65 | 99.83 | 49.92 |
| 9 | Natalie Coughlin | 49.97 | 50.01 | 99.98 | 49.99 |
| 10 | Louise Hansson | 50.74 | 49.26 | 100.00 | 50.00 |
| 11 | Emma Sticklen | 50.85 | 49.27 | 100.12 | 50.06 |
| 12 | Torri Huske | 51.62 | 48.52 | 100.14 | 50.07 |
| 13 | Erika Brown | 50.88 | 49.38 | 100.26 | 50.13 |
| 14 | Leah Shackley | 50.06 | 50.29 | 100.35 | 50.18 |
| 15 | Bella Sims | 48.97 | 51.52 | 100.49 | 50.25 |
Bella Sims would be much higher than 15 if she swam the 100 fly in a big meet. She led off her 400 IM yesterday in 52.94, so she could go much faster than the 51.52 time listed for her.
I feel like Regan’s butter back now would be incredible. Wish she would time trial somewhere.
Awesome for Claire.
I first thought it wasn’t fair to Kate Douglass to include a backstroke combination. But then I did a double-take. Her time is actually really good. Not the top tier, of course, but really good.
I don’t even remember her swimming it. The underwaters of the yard pool definitely help her compared to LC, but I was still surprised a bit!
Douglass actually has a faster PB than AWalsh in the 100 back which is kinda funny to think about
She might have a shot at Gretchen’s 100 back record before she graduates
She has the underwaters to challenge for sure but I think she may not quite get it but would love to see it for her
My guess is she might break it next year
Predictions for this night?
48,5
Still remember that article from 2022 about her becoming like the #1 butterback swimmer or something, crazy how fast the top has gotten since then
oops actually her being #2 after Maggie
https://swimswam.com/only-1-woman-in-history-has-faster-100-fly-100-back-combo-than-claire-curzan/
Only 5 back then under 100 seconds, now up to 10
Crazy that Regan was already #3 back then and is now a 55.6 / 57.1 swimmer in long course along with a 54.0 in SCM backstroke. Would love to see her go all-in on an SCY meet at some point
Great recall.
Yeah MacNeil was 1 week after Smith for first under 50 in both
Gretchen’s fly/back combo is probably faster than most peoples fly/free combo
well probably yeah, 46.9 100 fly and a 100 back time that is faster than anyone else’s 100 fly will do that for you. Gretchen is at 95.0 so you basically have to be 94s to beat her; Huske, MacNeil, Douglass are the only ones I can think of who are there. Curzan is close, might get there at NCAAs or whenever she throws down a good 100 free
excited for tonight and tomorrows 200 back
Seeing Natalie Coughlin still so high on these lists is always crazy. Truly one of the GOATs.
So true!! Go Natalie!!