Simon Bucher Clocks 50.88 To Break His Own Austrian Record In The 100 Butterfly

Austrian swimmer Simon Bucher has made history at the Singapore World Championships, becoming the first person from his country to break 51 seconds in the men’s 100 butterfly.

The 25-year-old clocked 50.88 for 4th place in the first semifinal, sneaking into the final by 0.08 seconds. For the first time ever at Worlds, every finalist went sub-51.

Bucher was third at the turn but dropped to fourth over the final 50 meters. He split 23.63/27.26, faster than his old national record on both halves (23.69/27.49). While he went out 0.06 faster, it was the 0.23 improvement on the back half that made the difference in cracking the 51-second barrier.

His previous Austrian record of 51.28 came during the heats at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, where he went on to finish sixth in the final. That result established Bucher as a consistent presence in major international finals, a status he’s maintained over recent years.

The 23-year-old has been a mainstay in major international finals in the 100 fly in recent years, touching seventh in the 100 fly at the 2021 Short Course World Championships and then reeling off back-to-back sixth-place showings in the 100 fly at both the Long Course and Short Course World Championships in 2022 (also hitting the wall 11th in the 50 fly at both meets).

Bucher reached the 50 fly final at the 2023 Long Course World Championships in Fukuoka, placing seventh, while finishing 26th in the 100 fly. Earlier this week, he lowered his own Austrian record in the 50 fly, posting 22.95 to eclipse his previous mark of 23.05 from the Fukuoka semifinals.

He captured silver in the 100 fly at the lightly-attended Doha World Championships with 51.28, matching his 2022 World final time and sitting just 0.10 outside his national mark at the time.

At the Olympics, he placed 37th in Tokyo with 52.52, then jumped to 10th in Paris with 51.35, missing the final by just 0.27 seconds.