Kate Douglass Swims Second Fastest SC 200 IM In History With 2:02.12 American Record

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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

  1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:01.86 (2014)
  2. Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:02.12 (2022)
  3. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.13 (2014)
  4. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.53 (2015)
  5. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.61 (2014)
  6. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:02.90 (2016)
  7. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:03.07 (2014)
  8. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:03.20 (2013)
  9.  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

  1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:01.86 (2014)
  2. Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:02.12 (2022)
  3. Alex Walsh (USA) – 2:03.37 (2022)
  4. Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:03.57 (2022)
  5. Yui Ohashi (JPN) – 2:03.93 (2020)
  6. Sydney Pickrem (CAN) – 2:04.00 (2020)
  7. Melanie Margalis (USA) – 2:04.06 (2020)
  8. Yu Yiting (CHN) – 2:04.48 (2021)
  9. 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)

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Emo boi
1 year ago

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.

Fraser Thorpe
1 year ago

Sonia Douglas a modern Caulkins?

Admin
Reply to  Fraser Thorpe
1 year ago

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.

Fraser Thorpe
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

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.

Swimgeek
1 year ago

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)

jeff
Reply to  Swimgeek
1 year ago

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 »

Last edited 1 year ago by jeff
OldNotDead
1 year ago

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/ …

jeff
1 year ago

before this race, only one woman had broken 2:04 and now there’s 5?

USA
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

Three*

Ohashi and Mckeown had been under before this race

jeff
Reply to  USA
1 year ago

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

Chad
1 year ago

For me, this was the highlight of day 1, even with McKeon’s 49.9 anchor.

Gummy Shark
1 year ago

I know this article is about Katie Douglass, but shoutout to Alex Walsh for being the #3 performer all-time!

Lisa
Reply to  Gummy Shark
1 year ago

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

Last edited 1 year ago by Lisa
DPS
1 year ago

Katinka Hosszus 29.9 on the back is just absolute insanity