2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- SCM (25m)
- Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00* am ET
- *The final night of finals will be one hour earlier, starting at 6:00 pm local and 5:00 am ET
- Live Results (Omega)
22-year-old Frenchman David Aubry smashed France’s National Record in the men’s 1500 free final in Hangzhou, producing a time of 14:23.44 to place 4th overall.
His teammate Damien Joly had lowered the record in the prelims in 14:28.25, breaking the 2009 mark of 14:30.58 held by Sebastien Rouault, and with this swim Aubry brings the record down almost another five seconds for a total drop of seven for the competition.
Aubry had swum in the heat before Joly, and nearly broke the French Record first as he went 14:30.72. He came into the meet with a best time of 14:32.78 from November.
In tonight’s final, Aubry and Joly were never much more than a second apart swimming in lanes 7 and 5 respectively. It came down to the last 50 in the race for 4th and the French Record, and it was Aubry who pulled it out with a 26.57 split. Joly finished 5th in 14:24.00, crushing his prelim record by over four seconds and also ending a trend that had seen him add from prelims to finals in this event (which is not that uncommon) in international competitions in recent years.
Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine won gold in 14:09.14 over Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri (14:09.87), as the two of them produced the 2nd and 3rd fastest swims in history. Bronze medalist Henrik Christiansen broke the Norwegian National Record in 14:19.39.
Aubry moves into 13th all-time in this event, while Joly is now in a tie for 14th with Great Britain’s Timothy Shuttleworth.
