Duncan Scott Shatters British Record with 4:09.18 400 IM, #1 in the World

2022 BRITISH SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

MEN’S 400 IM FINAL

  • British Record – 4:09.62, Max Litchfield 2017
  • World Championships Qualifying Time – 4:13.67

Podium:

GOLD – Duncan Scott – 4:09.18 *NATIONAL RECORD
SILVER – Brodie Williams – 4:14.69
BRONZE – Jacob Greenow – 4:18.41

In a display of his incredible versatility, Duncan Scott roared to victory in the 400 IM tonight in Sheffield, throwing down a 4:09.18, the first sub-4:10 in the world this year. Not only did Scott break the British Record of 4:09.62, he took 6 seconds off his personal best time to do it. His previous best of 4:15.44 was established just last month. The British Record stood at 4:09.62, held by Max Litchfield from the 2017 World Champs.

2021-2022 LCM Men 400 IM

LeonFRA
Marchand
06/18
4:04.28
2Carson
Foster
USA4:06.5606/18
3Chase
Kalisz
USA4:07.4706/18
4Ilya
Borodin
RUS4:08.0507/25
5Lewis
Clareburt
NZL4:08.7007/30
View Top 26»

In addition to landing Scott at the #1 position in the world this year, his performance tonight would have been fast enough to win Olympic Gold last summer in Tokyo. It was American Chase Kalisz who won Gold in Tokyo, swimming a 4:09.28. Here is a split comparison between Scott’s swim tonight, Max Litchfield‘s previous British Record swim, and Kalisz’s Olympic Gold performance last summer.

Split Duncan Scott – 2022 Canadian Trials Chase Kalisz – 2020 Olympics Max Litchfield – 2017 World Champs (Previous GBR Record)
Butterfly 56.77 56.23 56.33
Backstroke 1:03.20 1:04.10 1:03.33
Breaststroke 1:11.95 1:09.14 1:11.24
Freestyle 57.26 59.95 58.72
FINAL TIME 4:09.18 4:09.42 4:09.62

Comparing Scott to Litchfield, the biggest difference was freestyle, where Scott was nearly 1.5 seconds faster. Compared to Kalisz, Scott was significantly faster on freestyle and nearly a second faster on backstroke. We don’t yet know who will represent the U.S. at the 2022 World Championships this summer, but we can now definitively say that Duncan Scott has entered the conversation for medal contention.

With the performance, Scott now holds British Records in the LCM 100 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM. Speaking on his incredible versatility, Scott is now the 2nd person in history who has been under 4:10 in the 400 IM and under 48 seconds in the 100 free. The only other swimmer to have ever accomplished that is Michael Phelps, who also holds the 400 IM World Record (4:03.84).

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leo
1 year ago

didn’t know Duncan was Canadian

maura iris macnaughton
Reply to  leo
1 year ago

Oh NO NO he is from Scotland……

Andy Hardt
1 year ago

Duncan Scott’s past year reminds me of that dots-and-boxes game where (in some sense) players draw as many lines as possible without making it possible to finish boxes. Eventually, the lines snake their way across the grid, which is now covered in partially-drawn boxes. Finally, the grid is almost full and the game suddenly goes off: the boxes are all completed nearly one after another.

In just the past year, Scott has:
— Olympic Silver in the 200 free
— Olympic Silver in the 200 IM
— Olympic Gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay, with the fastest split
— Now, a 400IM time that would have won gold in that event

In other words, he’s shown… Read more »

Troyy
Reply to  Andy Hardt
1 year ago

He did go off in Tokyo but it still wasn’t enough. If only Dean didn’t have a rabbit in the lane next to him.

Khachaturian
1 year ago

Swimming just keeps on getting faster and faster. The 400 im crowd has suddenly gotten extremely competitive over the last 2 years. Before the top eight every year were like 5 seconds apart or more. Now it might be just 2 seconds seperating first from eighth.

MTK
Reply to  Khachaturian
1 year ago

Yeah, for a long time you had a select few guys that could break 4:10, and a bunch of 4:12-4:14 competing to make finals. Now, as we saw at the Olympics last summer, 4:10-4:11 might be the standard to make finals.

Awsi Dooger
Reply to  Khachaturian
1 year ago

The standards have been pathetic for a long time and only recently have begun to creep toward where they should be. Women’s distance events and the individual medleys from both genders have been way too soft for years. It’s like we had Phelps, Lochte, Hosszu and otherwise a bunch of slackers who were content to pretend dawdling was perfectly fine.

BadShoulder
Reply to  Awsi Dooger
1 year ago

Cool story, bro. What’s your best time?

Calvin
1 year ago

Compared to Kalisz, Scott was significantly faster on breaststroke.
No

Sun Yangs Hammer
1 year ago

How many Duncan Scotts can you fit in a single Ben Proud arm

Sapnu puas
1 year ago

400IM same session as men’s 4×100 relay at worlds right? Wonder what he does

NMJ
Reply to  Sapnu puas
1 year ago

400IM historically has been on the last day of world champs. Unsure what the schedule this year is however

Scuncan Dott
Reply to  NMJ
1 year ago

It’s on the first day this year, same day as 4×100.

Scuncan Dott
Reply to  Sapnu puas
1 year ago

Can he do both? Finals of the relay is straight after the final of the IM but I’m guessing the medal presentation of women’s 400 free would be inbetween + Duncan’s used to racing quick back to back as we’ve seen in the ISL.

Big Mac #1
Reply to  Scuncan Dott
1 year ago

He’ll probably just draft off the guy next to him and still go 46.9

Last edited 1 year ago by Lucas Caswell
Jimmy
Reply to  Big Mac #1
1 year ago

I have seen this passive aggressive comment a lot over the last 2 years.

It’s a perfectly legal tactic to draft off someone you’re chasing in swimming. People need to stop making it sound like Scott didn’t deserve to beat Nathan Adrian in 2019.

Last edited 1 year ago by Jimmy
Vortsq
Reply to  Jimmy
1 year ago

I’d bet you’d often find the same people praising Lezak for doing the same thing.