Seeliger Becomes #2 Of All Time In 100 Free With 40.75 Prelims Swim

Yanyan Li
by Yanyan Li 11

March 26th, 2022 News

2022 NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Following his 40.75 time in the prelims of the 100 free, Cal’s Bjorn Seeliger overtook Vlad Morozov by 0.01 of a second to become the #2 performer of all-time in the event. After he led off Cal’s 200 free relay in a 18.27, Seeliger is now the second-fastest in all of the sprint freestyles, behind Caeleb Dressel in both events.

Top Performers Of All-Time, Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle:

  1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 39.90 (2018)
  2. Bjorn Seeliger, Cal – 40.75 (2022)
  3. Vlad Morozov, USC – 40.76 (2013)
  4. Dean Farris, Harvard – 40.80 (2019)
  5. Bowe Becker, Minnesota – 40.83 (2019)

In addition to being the second-fastest performer of all time, Seeliger’s swim is also the sixth-fastest performance behind five of Dressel’s swims.

Top Performances Of All-Time, Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle:

  1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 39.90 (2018)
  2. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 40.00 (2017)
  3. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 40.46 (2016)
  4. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 40.48 (2017)
  5. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 40.68 (2018)
  6. Bjorn Seeliger, Cal – 40.75 (2022)

Splits Comparison: Dressel vs. Seeliger

Caeleb Dressel, 2018 (NCAA Record) Bjorn Seeliger, 2022 (#2 of all time)
Front Half 18.96 19.13
Back Half 20.94 21.62
Total 39.90 40.75

Compared to Dressel’s record, Seeliger is 0.17 slower than him on the first 50, but 0.68 seconds slower on the back half. This is not surprising, as Seeliger tends to go out very fast. In fact, the first 25 of his 18.27 50 free is the third fastest front half of all time in the event, but his overall time is the eighth fastest. Similarly, in the 100 free, his front half from this morning is faster than three of Dressel’s swims that were faster than his overall.

Top Six 100 Free Performances Of All-Time, First 50 Only:

  1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 18.96/39.90 (2018)
  2. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 19.01/40.00 (2017)
  3. Bjorn Seeliger, Cal – 19.13/40.75 (2022)
  4. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 19.19/40.68 (2018)
  5. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 19.23/40.46 (2016)
  6. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 19.29/40.48 (2018)

Seeliger is only a sophomore, so he has two more years to improve on his best times and move up the all-time rankings. Headed into the 100 free finals, he is seeded first out of prelims. In the 50 free, he came into finals as the top seed, but ultimately finished second to Brooks Curry.

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Hmmmm
2 years ago

When vlad morozov went his best he was out in 19.14

There's no doubt that he's tightening up
Reply to  Hmmmm
2 years ago

Man was 21 to the feet in the 100 free at 2013 Worlds

Meathead
2 years ago

Dressel breaking 40 might be best swim of the decade. Better than AP 100 breast

Swammer
Reply to  Meathead
2 years ago

Ummm despite how impressive 39.9 is by itself, it was undoubtedly Dressel’s least impressive swim at 2018 NCAAs. 17.6 50 free/42.8 100 fly were way more impressive. It makes sense though since he was on his 13th race in 3 days.

jim
Reply to  Swammer
2 years ago

Disagree a bit…by the time Dressel swam the 100 at NCAA’s, he had already competed in many races….prelims and finals….if you watch his reaction after the 100 free race, he wasn’t celebrating…he was exhausted…that to me makes the actual swim more incredible given he was at the end of the meet, and STILL knocked out 39.90. Imagine a more fresh Dressel with more overall energy earlier in that meet?!?

HJones
Reply to  Meathead
2 years ago

Not even close. That was easily the least impressive record he broke during that NCAA’s, considering he cut 0.6 off his 50 free record but only 0.2 off his 100 free record. There are also at least 10 LCM swims more impressive than that 39.90, some his own, and some being non-record swims (like Agnel’s 200 FR).

PFA
2 years ago

I am still under the belief that Dressel’s pool record is going down tonight but I don’t know who’s breaking it?

Mr Piano
Reply to  PFA
2 years ago

Ain’t no way

BearlyBreathing
Reply to  Mr Piano
2 years ago

40.46 is definitely within reach.

W_P__1
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
2 years ago

Especially when you’re 6’8

Finals choke
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
2 years ago

Yikes this didn’t age well

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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