SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which super-suited world record is next to go down after what Lukas Märtens did in the 400 free in Stockholm:
Question: With the men’s 400 free world record falling, which remaining super-suited world record will fall next?
RESULTS
- M 50 free (20.91) – 40.6%
- W 200 fly (2:01.81) – 21.0%
- M 200 free (1:42.00) – 19.5%
- M 200 back (1:51.92) – 10.9%
- M 800 free (7:32.12) – 8.0%
After nearly 16 years, Paul Biedermann‘s super-suited world record in the men’s 400 freestyle fell by the wayside earlier this month, as fellow German Lukas Märtens clocked 3:39.96 to become the first man sub-3:40, lowering Biedermann’s mark of 3:40.07 from 2009.
With that swim, there are just five remaining individual super-suited long course world records, and we asked SwimSwam readers which of them will fall next in our latest poll.
The top option by a wide margin was the world record in the men’s 50 free, which has stood at 20.91 since Cesar Cielo produced that time at the Brazilian Nationals in late December 2009, just two weeks before the super-suits were banned.
In the 15-plus years since, no one has seriously approached the record, with no swims under 21 seconds. Caeleb Dressel has gotten the closest, twice clocking 21.04, while Cameron McEvoy (21.06) is the only other man to go sub-21.10 (along with Fred Bousquet, who was 20.94 suited).
In addition to that, there’s only one more active swimmer, Ben Proud (21.11), who has been sub-21.20, not including Florent Manaudou (21.19), who is taking a break from competing for the time being.
Regardless, 40.6% of readers believe this record will fall next. It’s possible there’s a belief that the 50 free record will be next to fall because of what Pan Zhanle did to the 100 free world record last year, obliterating it by four-tenths. Maybe some believe Pan focuses more on the 50 and can take this record down, or someone like McEvoy executes the perfect race and pulls it off.
Receiving the second-most votes in the poll was the women’s 200 fly, which for many years has been regarded as an untouchable record, but with the steady progression of Summer McIntosh, opinions are starting to change.
The record stands at 2:01.81, held by China’s Liu Zige, and up until last summer’s Olympics, no one had been within two seconds of that mark since Liu set the record in October 2009.
In Paris, McIntosh won gold in a time of 2:03.03, the #2 swim of all-time, with Regan Smith also cracking 2:04 for the second time in her career in 2:03.84 for silver.
Then, just last month, McIntosh produced a time of 2:04.00 at the Pro Swim Series stop in Westmont, a remarkable performance given it’s an in-season swim.
There were 21% who think Liu’s record falls next, with McIntosh the most likely candidate.
The men’s 200 free, which is Biedermann’s lone remaining world record (he initially held all four of the LC/SC 200/400 free), picked up 19.5% of votes, with David Popovici having entered into sub-1:43 territory in 2022, clocking 1:42.97 at the European Championships to pull within a second of Biedermann’s mark of 1:42.00.
No other active swimmer has been under 1:44, so Popovici is the clear candidate to take a run at this record, though Pan seemingly has some untapped potential in the event.
The other two records still on the books are the men’s 200 back and 800 free.
In the 200 back, Aaron Peirsol fired off a time of 1:51.92 at the 2009 World Championships in what was a redemption swim of sorts after he missed the final of the 100 back as the world record holder. Since then, the only swim sub-1:53 is the 1:52.96 produced by Ryan Lochte in 2011.
The 800 free is a completely different animal, with Zhang Lin‘s record of 7:32.12 from the 2009 Worlds final sitting more than three seconds faster than the second-fastest swim ever, which was the 7:35.27 produced by Oussama Mellouli in the same race.
Since then, no one has broken 7:37, with Ahmed Hafnaoui (7:37.00) and Sam Short (7:37.76) the only other swimmers under 7:38.
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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
21.64 in a brief. No cap. Flat start. Never forget.
Popov. What a legend. If you take away the speed boosts from starts and underwaters, is Alexander Popov the fastest freestyler on the surface?
200fr… who knows when, but someday somebody is going to appear out of no where, sprint the entire race, and shatter the record.
Shatter no, but 1:41.99 maybe 😂
Summer is going to break the 200fly WR this summer.
The only way that 800 goes is if Thorpey and Katie Ledecky have a son together lol
Let’s ask another interesting question: what would be the WR time today if super suits were still allowed?
Probably Hafnaoui’s 7:37.00
If 800 was an olympic event in 2012, Sun Yang would have gone better than that i think
If we use the percentage change from 2011 to 2012 for the 1500 which is .33% and apply it to the 800 that would give us a time of 7:37.00…
Well, that’s not going to happen for a lot reasons
In 2018, SwimSwam ranked the remaining 17 supersuited world records in terms of likelihood to get broken.
https://swimswam.com/govorov-knocks-off-suited-world-record-but-many-still-remain/
Men’s 50 free was ranked as the 2nd most likely to be down. Now there are only 7 supersuited WRs left (including the relays), but the 50 free is still there.
Men’s 50 back (ranked 10 th) was down only a few months after that article. Men’s 200 fly (ranked 11th) was down only a year latter. Men’s 400 free (ranked 13th) was finally down this month. But the 50 free (ranked 2nd) is still there!
You can make the case for each one of them:
- W 200 fly: There’s one person who has shown the potential to do it. No one else is going to get within a second of it in the next 2 quads, but that’s also because of the weak field.
- M 200 free: No one has shown that they can open faster than 49.9 and finish sub 1:44.5. They’ll need to open in 49.5 to break this. Like the W 200fly, this really depends on Popovici
- M 50 free: According to Brett Hawke, when you’re fast – its hard to get faster and he’s right.
- M 800 free: I stand by that the man who breaks this will need to
… Read more »Cam says if you combine his best start to 15 with his best last 35 that’s a WR. But probably
Much easier said than done to swim your best ever start and best ever swim over the water in one race.
if you combine Dressel’s first 25 with Cams second 25 I bet it’d be 20.70. In 2021 Dressel murdered the WR line off the start but then got run down
Every super-suited WR runs you down the last few meters. That’s just how super suits work. To give you some perspective, Lukas was three seconds ahead of the WR line at the 300m mark and almost got run down by tenth of a second…
Supersuited is a bit pejorative