Kate Douglass Ties American Record in the 100 IM in Shanghai World Cup Prelims

2024 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP-SHANGHAI

• Friday, October 18th – Sunday, October 20th
• Shanghai, China
• Prelims at 9:30am local (9:30pm ET previous night)/Finals at 6:30pm local (6:30am ET)
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Event Schedule
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• Live Results

American swimmer Kate Douglass, one of the best short course yards swimmers in American history, tied the American Record in the 100 meter IM on Friday morning in Shanghai in the preliminary rounds.

Douglass swam 57.72, which tied the time done by Beata Nelson, a short course specialist, at a stop of the International Swimming League in 2021.

Record-tying Splits Comparison

Douglass’ splits by 25: 11.78/14.95/16.90/14.09

The World Record belongs to Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who swam 56.51 at a 2017 World Cup stop in Berlin. Hosszu currently holds the 13 fastest performances in history and 19 out of the top 20. Douglass’ time ties her as the 12th-fastest performer in the history of the event that has historically been dominated by Europeans. At each of the last two World Short Course Championships, the podiums have been made up exclusively of Europeans.

Top 15 Performers All-Time, Women’s SCM 100 IM

1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 56.51
2. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 57.10
3. Beryl Gastaldello, France – 57.30
4. Charlotte Bonnet, France – 57.47
5. (TIE) Alicia Coutts, Australia/Marrit Steenbergen, Netherlands – 57.53
7. (TIE) Mariia Kameneva, Russia/Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Great Britain/Anastasiya Shkurdai, Belarus – 57.59
10. (TIE) – Ruta Meilutyte, Lithuania/Louise Hansson, Sweden – 57.68
12. (TIE) Beata Nelson, USA/Kate Douglass, USA – 57.72
14. Hinkelien Schreuder, Netherlands – 57.75
15. Rikako Ikee, Japan – 57.75

Douglass’ versatility and ability to swim fast in-season made this American Record feel like an inevitability in this, her first tour of the World Cup series. She now has or shares American Records in 15 events. That includes the 50 free (23.91) and 200 breast (2:19.24) individually in long course: among the rarest record combinations the sport has seen at this level.

She also holds the record in the 200 yard breaststroke and previously held American Records in the 50 yard free and 100 yard fly. Last year, she became the first woman ever under 52 seconds in the 100 yard IM.

Douglass is committed to swim all three stops of the World Cup and the World Short Course Swimming Championships in December in Budapest. The fall of racing ‘the circuit’ comes after a four-medal performance at the Paris Olympics, winning gold in the 200 breast and 400 medley relays and silver in the 200 IM and 400 free relays.

Douglass is currently scheduled to swim the 50 and 100 freestyles, the 200 breast, and the 200 IM for Team USA. She wouldn’t have previously been eligible for the 100 IM, as she had no time in the event, but the U.S. has no entries in that event so she could be eligible to add one there if she chose to.

She is scheduled to swim 10 races this weekend (though she likely won’t), and is also the top seed in the 200 breast (2:17.11) on Friday. The short course fastest time by an American in the 200 breast is a 2:14.57 done in December 2009 by Rebecca Soni that is also the current World Record. By a quirk of the rules, that record is not what USA Swimming officially recognizes as the American Record – which is instead Lilly King’s 2:15.56 from the 2020 ISL season.

The 100 IM is unique because it is the only event on the traditional swimming schedule that can really only properly exist in a short course pool.

The Shanghai stop of the World Cup series runs through October 20.