2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
- Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
- SCM (25m)
- Prize Money
- Meet Site
- Meet Schedule
- How To Watch
- Meet Roster Index
- Psych Sheets (Updated)
- Live Results
Daiya Seto put a real scare into the world record in the final of the men’s 200 breaststroke during Friday’s finals session from the Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, as the Japanese star produced the second-fastest performance of all-time in 2:00.35.
Seto, 28, jumped on the early lead in the event and slowly but surely pulled away from a competitive field, winning gold by more than a second over defending champion Nic Fink (2:01.60).
Seto’s time breaks the Asian Record previously held by China’s Qin Haiyang (2:01.15), set at the 2018 Short Course World Championships, and also downs his own Japanese Record of 2:01.30, set on the 2017 FINA World Cup circuit.
Split Comparison
| Qin, 2018 SC Worlds | Seto, 2017 World Cup | Seto, 2022 SC Worlds |
| 27.45 | 27.88 | 27.64 |
| 58.29 (30.84) | 58.77 (30.89) | 58.44 (30.80) |
| 1:29.52 (31.23) | 1:30.03 (31.26) | 1:29.42 (30.98) |
| 2:01.15 (31.63) | 2:01.30 (31.27) | 2:00.35 (30.93) |
Seto now sits second all-time in the event, only trailing Russia’s Kirill Prigoda, who set the world record of 2:00.16 at the 2018 SC Worlds.
All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 Breaststroke (SCM)
- Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 2:00.16 – 2018
- Daiya Seto (JPN), 2:00.35 – 2022
- Marco Koch (GER), 2:00.44 – 2016
- Daniel Gyurta (HUN), 2:00.48 – 2014
- Qin Haiyang (CHN), 2:01.15 – 2018
Seto closed his race much better than Prigoda, who is more of a pure breaststroker compared to Seto, who has the base of training primarily for the 400 IM throughout his entire career.
Split Comparison
| Prigoda, SC Worlds | Seto, 2022 SC Worlds |
| 27.01 | 27.64 |
| 57.62 (30.61) | 58.44 (30.80) |
| 1:28.75 (31.13) | 1:29.42 (30.98) |
| 2:00.16 (31.41) | 2:00.35 (30.93) |
This was Seto’s first World Championship medal of any color in an event that wasn’t in medley or the 200 fly, and he won gold in dominant fashion.
He surprisingly missed the podium in the men’s 200 IM at the beginning of the meet, placing fifth after coming in as the defending champion. Seto followed up with a silver in the 200 fly, and now after this performance, is looking forward to the 400 IM on Saturday, where he comes in as the five-time defending champion.
What does Seto not swim?
lol dude cranks top tier IM/fly/breast times like nothing
Interesting to see if he starts to pursue the event internationally in long course as well. IIRC, his best in the big pool is a 2:08 from a few years ago, and the event is still pretty open for silver and bronze. While his pullouts were clearly a stronger point of his race, he wasn’t losing any ground above the water to Fink, Qin, or Watanabe. Could see him hitting 2:07-low.
not worth the trouble of trying to make the Japanese team in the 2breast
not gonna lie wasn’t expecting seto to go this fast thought he would go around 2:01 low. This is Seto’s best swim in the past few years. Excited for the 4 IM I think its going to be a close race between him and Foster and potentially the WR line.
seto has to be the most versatile swimmer in short course
male swimmer
There are some VERY versatile female swimmers out there.
but i dont know any female swimmer that has a world record in a medley event, had the second most recent world record in a fly event and has the 2nd fastest performance in a breast event.
Katinka Hosszú
Until leon starts swimming scm