2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 23 to 30, 2023
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Marine Messe Fukuoka
- LCM (50m)
- WORLD CHAMPS WATCH PARTY – DAILY
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Entry Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Day 5 Prelims Live Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap
The future of American men’s sprint freestyle is bright.
In the finals of the men’s 100 free at the 2023 World Championships, first-time Worlds qualifier Jack Alexy dropped a big-time swim, clocking a time of 47.31 to win a silver medal. He was in the lead for the majority of his race and ended up finishing just 0.16 seconds behind champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia.
Alexy is now the second-fastest American 100 freestyler ever, passing Dave Walters and only lagging behind Caeleb Dressel. He is also the 13th-fastest performer of all-time in the event.
All-Time Top U.S. Performers, Men’s 100-Meter Freestyle:
- Caeleb Dressel — 46.96 (2019)
- Jack Alexy — 47.31 (2023)
- Dave Walters – 47.33 (2009)
- Ryan Held — 47.39 (2019)
- Michael Phelps — 47.51 (2008)
- Nathan Adrian — 47.52 (2012)
Alexy’s silver medal win was a bounce-back for him. After setting a best time of 47.68 in prelims, he botched his start in the semi-finals and swam a time of 48.06 to barely qualify for finals in eighth. Then, in finals, he stepped up big time to clock another best time and win a medal.
Compared to his prelims and semi-finals swim, Alexy was faster on both his first and second 100. Taking his race out super fast put him at a great advantage, as he flipped 0.19 seconds ahead of anyone else in his race. But he was also able to close strong, posting the fifth-fastest last 50 in the field.
Splits Comparison:
| Jack Alexy, finals | Jack Alexy, semi-finals | Jack Alexy, prelims | |
| 50m | 22.48 | 22.98 | 22.76 |
| 100m | 24.83 | 25.08 | 24.92 |
| T0tal | 47.31 | 48.06 | 47.68 |
Coming into 2023, Alexy’s best time was a 48.69 from the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials. He dropped down to a 47.75 at U.S. Nationals this year, and then continued to improve at Worlds. In addition, he also outperformed his split on the men’s 4×100 free relay, which was a 47.56.
If Alexy had just average underwaters/starts he’s easily be 46
… in a rubber suit
Well well well looks like the Jersey Devil has natural immunity against Popovicitis!
Watching his finish, while I don’t think he would’ve beaten Chalmers, I think he could’ve cut that in half if he took one less stroke. Maybe other swimmers/coaches would disagree with me, but I was always taught to finish freestyle on a full stroke (and taught my swimmers this). If you look at the video swimswam allowed us to watch (https://swimswam.com/watch-australia-sets-wr-in-4×200-fr-titmus-hits-fastest-split-in-history-race-videos/), at the beginning of 3:26 of the video, he’s actually AHEAD of chalmers (literally 1 meter from the wall). Chalmers happens to finish on a nice full stroke, and Alexy had to decide to roll to his finish or take another stroke…he took another stroke and that, at least in my opinion, added maybe a tenth… Read more »
Didn’t Phelps also beat Crocker cause of that stroke?
I think Alexy lost this race for two other reasons. First, he got off the blocks way better than that crash into the water in the Semi’s but he was dead last coming out of the breakout, I mean dead last. If he would have just been in the middle to the field there, Chalmers would have never caught him bad finish or not. Second, despite the horrible start he still amazingly beat Crooks and Grousett to the wall and turned first, which mean to me that he way over swam the first 50. He throttles that back just a smidgeon so he doesn’t lock up in the last 7.5 meters and Chalmers again doesn’t run him down. Alexy has… Read more »
If he works on his start he can possibly be the top guy in the 50 also. Bright future.
I love the way swimming works. Something clearly went wrong with his start yesterday, if the field would have been as fast as last year in Budapest he wouldnt have advanced into the finals and he wouldnt have had the chance to bring what he was capable of, but he was lucky enough to slip into the top 8 and the rest is history. Incredible swim, I thought he had It with 25m to go
Ugh, I always hate this. Jack Alexy scored a silver medal right now. Might never place any higher than that at an Olympics / WC ever again, might never go faster either.
Things can be for now!
Steve remember what Ricky Bobby always said
Are you kidding me? He’s 6′ 7″ and 20 yrs old. A diamond in the rough that’s got a few things to clean up but he’s a beast.
You failed to post the finals results for the men’s 100 freestyle in this article.
You failed to take 2 seconds to click to another link and look at it
Jalexy is a giant.
Dave Durden knows how to develop swimmers to reach their potential.
Whitley
LMFAO
Jack Xie, Andrea Vergani, Ethan Young. What do all those names have in common?
Top 20 recruits and complete busts with 0 NCAA points scored with them not even getting invites most years, all swam for Durden, all from the same recruiting class. The numbers prove that Durden is nowhere near the elites at developing swimmers. Yet delusional Cal “fans” (the bandwagon fans that liked the warriors during their insane years) still try and pump out this narrative that Durden is good at developing swimmers.
Post the stats across multiple years, multiple top tier teams, and let’s see.
There is a special skill, somewhat different from simply “developing swimmers,” in molding and advancing a stud talent. Durden has done that extremely well over a long period. And Cal draws enough of the studs in recruiting that the the overall effect is a consistently great team.