Shaine Casas Rips 48.84 SCM 100 Back For New World Cup Record, Now #3 All-Time

2022 FINA WORLD CUP – TORONTO

MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE – FINALS

  • World Record: 48.33, Coleman Stewart (USA) – 2021
  • World Jr. Record: 48.90, Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) – 2017
  • World Cup Record: 48.88, Jiayu Xu (CHN) – 2018

PODIUM:

  1. Shaine Casas (USA) – 48.84 WC
  2. Coleman Stewart (USA) – 49.95
  3. Kacper Stokowski (POL) – 50.02

Shaine Casas has been dominant all weekend at the Toronto 2022 FINA World Cup stop, and he was at it again in the men’s 100 backstroke. The 22-year-old blazed a 48.84, setting his second World Cup record in as many days. The former record was owned by Xu Jiayu in 48.88, which he set in 2018 for a new world record at the time.

Casas, who never trailed during a finals swim in Toronto, was out in 23.33, under world record pace. He fell off the pace on the back-half but his time is still good for the third fastest time in history.

Top 10 All-Time Performers, Men’s SCM 100 Backstroke

  1. Coleman Stewart (USA), 48.33 – 2021 ISL Match 2
  2. Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 48.58 – 2020 ISL Final
  3. Shaine Casas (USA), 48.84 – 2022 Toronto World Cup
  4. (tie) Xu Jiayu (CHN)/Evgeny Rylov (RUS), 48.88 – 2018 World Cup/2020 RUS Nationals
  5. Matt Grevers (USA), 48.92 – 2015 Duel In The Pool
  6. Nick Thoman (USA), 48.94 – 2009 Duel In The Pool
  7. Stanislav Donets (RUS)/Guilherme Guido (BRA), 48.95 – 2010 World Champs/2021 ISL Match 3
  8. Arkady Vyatchanin (RUS), 48.97 – 2009 European Champs

It’s a massive best time for Casas, who was not even in the all-time top 10 prior to the swim. He eclipses his old best, which was 49.23 from 2021 SC Worlds, by .39 seconds.

Split Comparison: Casas v. Xu

Casas – 2022 Toronto World Cup Xu – 2018 Tokyo World Cup Casas – 2021 SC Worlds
50 23.33 23.76 23.29
100 48.84 (25.51) 48.88 (25.12) 49.23 (25.94)

It’s clear from both of Casas’ swims that he paces the race very differently than Xu. Both times, Casas was out significantly faster than Xu’s pace on the first 50. Xu turns the gas on during the back-half of the race, and in 2018 he powered home in 25.12.

That’s four-tenths faster than what Casas split on his second 50 in Toronto. However, the split also show how much Casas has improved the back half of his race. In 2021, he was out under world record pace again, but fell off the pace with a 25.94 split.

In Toronto, he was out just .04 seconds slower than he was in December 2021. This time though, he was able to hold on during the second half of the race much better. He improved his split by .43 seconds, which allowed him to get his hand on the wall just ahead of the World Cup record line.

While Casas is set to race at 2022 SC Worlds in Melbourne, he’s not slated to race the 100 back. Instead, he’s entered in the 50/100 fly, 200 back, 200 IM and leads the chase to add the 100 IM to his schedule.

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About Sophie Kaufman

Sophie Kaufman

Sophie grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, which means yes, she does root for the Bruins, but try not to hold that against her. At 9, she joined her local club team because her best friend convinced her it would be fun. Shoulder surgery ended her competitive swimming days long ago, …

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