Mallory Comerford Breaks Missy Franklin’s SCM 200 Free American Record

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
• Hangzhou, China
• Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
• SCM (25m)
• Provisional Entry List
• Entries Book
• Meet Schedule
• Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00 am ET
• U.S. Live Stream (Finals – First Three Days)
• U.S. Live Stream (Prelims, Finals Last Day)
• FINA TV Livestream (All Sessions)
• Live Results (Omega)

Mallory Comerford started off her 2018 Short Course World Championship campaign with a bang, registering a new American Record* in the women’s 200 freestyle in a time of 1:52.52.

*Editor’s Note: Allison Schmidt swam a 1:51.67 at the 2009 Duel in the Pool, but like all times from the 2009 Duel in the Pool, USA Swimming doesn’t recognize it. That’s because, while FINA was still allowing the now-banned polyurethane suits in competition, USA Swimming had already begun their ban.

Her swim broke the previous mark of 1:52.74 set by Missy Franklin at the 2015 Duel in the Pool, and improved on her personal best of 1:53.71 set at the 2016 Championships in Windsor. At that meet, Comerford placed 5th in the final in a time of 1:53.79.

However, she’s seen significant improvement since then, both in short course yards and long course metres. She has now won the 200 free in back-to-back seasons at the NCAA Championships (tying with Katie Ledecky in 2017), and also has become a mainstay on the American relays at major international competitions, winning five relay golds at the 2017 World Championships.

Comerford’s swim ended up being the fastest of the morning, as she qualifies 1st into the final followed closely by Australian Ariarne Titmus (1:52.66) who made up six-tenths on Comerford on the last 50 in their heat. The other six finalists were all between 1:54.1 and 1:54.8.

In the all-time rankings, Comerford is now in a tie for 10th with Madeline Groves (AUS) and Melani Costa Schmid (ESP).