Matt Sates Hits #3 Short Course 200 IM In History, New African Record – 1:50.15

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

On the first night of racing at the 2022 Short Course World Championships, Matt Sates won gold in the 200 IM with a 1:50.15 to reset the African record and become the #2 performer in history. He lowered his own continental and national records in the event, which he held at a 1:51.45 from his swim at the Berlin World Cup back in 2021.

Sates’ swim of 1:50.15 is a PB by more than a second and catapults him to the #3 spot on the all-time performances list and #2 on the all-time performers list. World record holder Ryan Lochte swam a 1:49.63 in 2012 to break his own 2010 world record of 1:50.08. Sates replaced Shaine Casas‘ 1:50.37, which he swam earlier in 2022 at the Toronto World Cup.

Splits Comparison

Sates – 1:50.15 (2022) Ryan Lochte – 1:49.63 WR (2012) Sates – 1:51.45 WJR (2021)
Butterfly 23.56 23.71 23.90
Backstroke 27.97 (51.53) 27.03 (50.74) 28.45 (52.35)
Breaststroke 31.70 (1:23.23) 31.74 (1:22.48) 32.21 (1:24.56)
Freestyle 26.92 (1:50.15) 27.15 (1:49.63) 26.89 (1:51.45)

That world record swim by Lochte is also the Short Course World Championships meet record considering that he swam it at the 2012 version of this meet on December 14, 2012 (almost exactly one decade before Sates’ December 13, 2022 swim).

Top Performances All-Time – Men’s Short Course 200 IM

  1. Ryan Lochte (USA) – 1:49.63 (2012)
  2. Ryan Lochte (USA) – 1:50.08 (2010)
  3. Matt Sates (RSA) 1:50.15 (2022)
  4. Shaine Casas (USA) – 1:50.37 (2022)
  5. Kosuke Hagino (JPN) – 1:50.47 (2014)
  6. Daiya Seto (JPN) – 1:50.66 (2021)
  7. Daiya Seto (JPN) – 1:50.76 (2019)
  8. Andreas Vazaios (GRE) – 1:50.85 (2019)
  9. Carson Foster (USA) – 1:50.96 (2022)
  10. Shun Wang (CHN) – 1:51.01 (2018)

Carson Foster‘s silver medal-winning time of 1:50.96 gets him into the top 10, replacing Shun Wang’s 1:51.01 as the 9th-fastest performance in the history of this event.

Top Performers All-Time – Men’s Short Course 200 IM

  1. Ryan Lochte (USA) – 1:49.63 (2012)
  2. Matt Sates (RSA) 1:50.15 (2022)
  3. Shaine Casas (USA) – 1:50.37 (2022)
  4. Kosuke Hagino (JPN) – 1:50.47 (2014)
  5. Daiya Seto (JPN) – 1:50.66 (2021)

Sates’ gold medal swim here further solidifies his case as one of the world’s leading short course swimmers and gets him off to a strong start at his first-ever Short Course World Championships. After breaking several world junior records during the fall of 2021, Sates had to withdraw from 2021 Worlds due to COVID-19.

This gold medal performance by Sates is the first time that a South African man has ever collected a medal in the 200 IM at a Short Course Worlds.

Sates also holds the South African and African records in the short course 200 freestyle with a 1:40.65 he swam in 2021, which he’ll be looking to lower later on at this meet. Sates’ other entries at this meet include the 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, and 400 IM.

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