2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
- Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
- SCM (25m)
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Kate Douglass swam her way to gold in the 200 IM with a 2:02.12 in the 200 IM at the 2022 Short Course World Championships. That time is a new American record, improving upon Melanie Margalis‘ 2020 record of 2:04.06. Douglass looked for a moment as if she might threaten the world record of 2:01.86 by Katinka Hosszu, but was a bit short.
Hosszu’s world record in this event is also a meet record here, which she delivered for gold back in 2014. Douglass’ time is the second-fastest in history and makes her just the second woman in history to crack 2:04 in this event after Hosszu. Douglass has also broken onto the list of top 10 performances of all-time, a list that Katinka Hosszu previously owned in its entirety. Alex Walsh‘s silver medal swim of 2:03.37 is the 11th-fastest swim in history and makes her the 3rd-fastest woman ever.
Top Performances All-Time – Women’s Short Course 200 IM
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:01.86 (2014)
- Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:02.12 (2022)
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.13 (2014)
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.53 (2015)
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.61 (2014)
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.90 (2016)
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:03.07 (2014)
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:03.20 (2013)
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:03.25 (2018/2013)
Kaylee McKeown improved upon her own best time and Australian record of 2:03.68, which was formerly the #2 time in history with a 2:03.57.
Top Performers All-Time – Women’s Short Course 200 IM
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:01.86 (2014)
- Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:02.12 (2022)
- Alex Walsh (USA) – 2:03.37 (2022)
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:03.57 (2022)
- Yui Ohashi (JPN) – 2:03.93 (2020)
- Sydney Pickrem (CAN) – 2:04.00 (2020)
- Melanie Margalis (USA) – 2:04.06 (2020)
- Yu Yiting (CHN) – 2:04.48 (2021)
- Evelyn Verraszto (HUN) / Ye Shiwen (CHN – 2:04.64 (2009 / 2012)
This is a significant best time for Kate Douglass whose previous fastest short course 200 IM was the 2:04.24 she swam during prelims at the 2021 Short Course World Championships. Douglass nearly set a new PB during prelims when she hit a 2:04.39 for first place.
Splits Comparison
| Douglass – 2:02.12 AR (2022) | Hosszu – 2:01.86 WR (2014) | Douglass – 2:04.24 (2021) | |
| Butterfly | 26.34 | 26.47 | 26.44 |
| Backstroke | 31.29 (57.63) | 29.93 (56.40) | 32.00 (58.44) |
| Breaststroke | 35.36 (1:32.99) | 36.09 (1:32.49) | 35.69 (1:34.13) |
| Freestyle | 29.13 (2:02.12) | 29.37 (2:01.86) | 30.11 (2:04.24) |
I believe if Kate Douglass prioritized the 2 IM and 2 Breast over the 50/100 free and the 1 fly on both the collegiate and international level, she could have a shot at both(2 Br, 2IM) world records in SCM and LCM.
Sonia Douglas a modern Caulkins?
Yes!
But for a lot of people, nobody will ever be Caulkins.
But also, I think you have to draw a pretty sharp delimitation between pre-NCAA and post-NCAA women’s swimming. It’s a wildly different sport now. Just like no baseball pitcher will ever touch Cy Young’s record 749 complete games, I don’t think you can compare pre/early-NCAA results with modern results, where the fields are so much deeper and more competitive overall.
Which only seems to speak to how incredibly gifted Douglas is.
Also thank you for being able to understand the garbled iPhone typos/autocorrect of the original post.
This bodes well for Douglass making a run at the 200 BR SCM WR in a few days. In yards, her best IM is almost exactly 11 seconds faster than her best 2BR. If she does the same gap in SCM, that would put her at a 2:13-low projection for 2BR. (Soni’s WR is 2:14.57)
I’d add an extra 10% onto the 11 second gap for SCM (or about a second extra) since the race is about 10% longer which would put her at just about Soni’s time. In reality the gap is probably still a little bigger still since Douglass’ SCY 200 IM personal best is outdated at this point compared to her 200 breast.
Like assuming her “true” SCY 200 IM time is a 1:50.0 right now, her 200 breast time converts to around 2:15.29 if ratios are held constant (SCM IM/SCY IM = SCM Breast/SCY Breast or SCM IM/SCM Breast = SCY IM/SCY Breast). That matches up surprisingly well with SwimSwam’s own conversion of a 2:01.87 SCY to SCM, which is… Read more »
On all-time top 10, I found Julia Smit missing from list – at 2:04.60 at 2009 Duel in the Pool, world record at the time. Tech-era, but/ …
before this race, only one woman had broken 2:04 and now there’s 5?
Three*
Ohashi and Mckeown had been under before this race
ah, I was going off of the “ Douglass’ time is the second-fastest in history and makes her just the second woman in history to crack 2:04 in this event after Hosszu” but I’m guessing that’s supposed to be second woman to crack 2:03 instead
For me, this was the highlight of day 1, even with McKeon’s 49.9 anchor.
I know this article is about Katie Douglass, but shoutout to Alex Walsh for being the #3 performer all-time!
Looking at this year result for 200 Im , I think going forward they both have the potential to break the WR in LC and SC events
Katinka Hosszus 29.9 on the back is just absolute insanity