2021 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 16th – Tuesday, December 21st
- Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- SCM (25m)
- Prize Money
- Meet Site
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
A pair of national records bit the dust this morning in Abu Dhabi in the men’s 200m fly, courtesy of Swiss swimmer Noe Ponti and Estonian Kregor Zirk.
Racing in the heats on this very first prelims session of the 2021 FINA Short Course World Championships, 20-year-old Ponti put up a mark of 1:50.82 to capture the 3rd seed heading into tonight’s finals session.
Splitting 53.44/57.38, the former NC State freshman’s time of 1:50.82 marks his first-ever time under the 1:51 threshold in this SCM 2fly. Entering this meet, Ponti’s lifetime best rested at the 1:51.18 he logged just last month. Splits for that earlier performance included 52.71/58.47.
Ponti was the surprise bronze medalist in the long course version of the 100 butterfly while he placed 10th and just missed the final in this 2fly event there in Tokyo.
As for Estonian Zirk this morning, he hit a heats mark just .10 behind Ponti, capturing the 4th seed in 1:50.92. Zirk opened in 53.02 and closed in 57.90 to fall within a second of leader Trenton Julian of the United States.
22-year-old Zirk, who seemingly breaks a national record every time he dives in, also grabbed his first-ever performance under the 1:51 threshold tonight. He held the previous EStonaian national record at the 1:51.14 logged during the ISL final as a member of Energy Standard.
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Trenton Julian (USA) – 1:50.32
- Chad le Clos (RSA) – 1:50.63
- Noe Ponti (SUI) – 1:50.82
- Kregor Zirk (EST) – 1:50.92
- Alberto Razzetti (ITA) – 1:51.33
- Antani Ivanov (BUL) – 1:51.49
- Jose Martinez (MEX) – 1:51.58
- Tomoe Hvas (NOR) – 1:51.83
The Cambodian National Record was also broken.