SwimSwam Pulse: Crooks’ 50 Free, Walsh’s 100 Fly Voted Top Swims of SC Worlds

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 polls asked SwimSwam readers which swims were the best at Short Course Worlds:

Question: If you had to pick one, what was the top male swim of Short Course Worlds?

RESULTS

• Jordan Crooks – 50 free (19.90) – 56.2%
• Luke Hobson – 200 free (1:38.61) – 28.5%
• Noe Ponti – 100 fly (47.71) – 5.9%
• Noe Ponti – 50 fly (21.32) – 3.9%
• Hubert Kos – 200 back (1:45.65) – 2.3%
• Ilya Kharun – 200 fly (1:48.24) – 2.3%
• Jordan Crooks – 100 free (44.95) – 1.0%

Question: If you had to pick one, what was the top female swim of Short Course Worlds?

RESULTS

• Gretchen Walsh – 100 fly (52.71) – 55.0%
• Summer McIntosh – 400 IM (4:15.48) – 16.3%
• Gretchen Walsh – 50 fly (23.94) – 4.7%
• Kate Douglass – 200 breast (2:12.50) – 4.0%
• Regan Smith – 200 back (1:58.04) – 3.5%
• Summer McIntosh – 400 free (3:50.25) – 3.3%
• Gretchen Walsh – 50 free (22.83) – 2.8%
• Gretchen Walsh – 100 IM (55.11) – 2.6%
• Summer McIntosh – 200 fly (1:59.32) – 1.9%
• Regan Smith – 100 back (54.02) – 1.7%
• Kate Douglass – 200 IM (2:01.63) – 1.4%
• Regan Smith – 50 back (25.23) – 1.2%
• Gretchen Walsh – 100 free (50.31) – 0.9%
• Tang Qianting – 100 breast (1:02.37) – 0.7%

The onslaught of world records we saw at the Short Course World Championships made these lists pretty lengthy, particularly on the women’s side.

Gretchen Walsh, Summer McIntosh, Regan Smith and Kate Douglass combined to break world records in 12 individual events, effectively rewriting the women’s SCM record books, while the men didn’t have as many all-time marks set but had some landmark performances.

Starting off with the men’s poll, there were two clear frontrunners: Jordan Crooks in the 50 free and Luke Hobson in the 200 free.

Despite Hobson being awarded Male Swim of the Meet honors in SwimSwam’s post-meet awards, Crooks’ performance in the 50 free ran away with the poll, earning 56.2% of votes.

Coming into the meet, Caeleb Dressel held the 50 free world record at 20.16, and then after he lowered it to 20.08 in the prelims, Crooks became the first swimmer in history under the 20-second barrier in the semi-finals, clocking an eye-popping 19.90.

Like Crooks in the 50, Hobson broke the world record twice in the 200 free, first going 1:38.91 leading off the U.S. men’s 4×200 free relay to erase the oldest SCM world record from the books, taking down Paul Biedermann‘s super-suited mark of 1:39.37 from 2009.

Then, in the individual event, Hobson one-upped himself, bringing the world record all the way down to 1:38.61, putting him 76 one-hundredths clear of Biedermann.

Those two swims dominated the poll, combining for nearly 85% of votes, while Noe Ponti‘s records in the 100 fly (5.9%) and 50 fly (3.9%) were next up.

For the women, with 14 swims to choose from, there was a clear 1-2 hierarchy followed by 10 swims ranging between 1-5%.

Walsh set world records in four individual events, but the swim that stands above the rest was clearly the 100 fly, where she reset the all-time mark in the heats, semis, and the final.

Coming into the meet, the world record stood at 54.05 from Maggie MacNeil, and then Walsh reeled off consecutive swims of 53.24, 52.87 and 52.71, ultimately finishing 1.34 seconds under the previous record.

Walsh’s 52.71 in the final earned her 55% of votes in the poll, while her records in the 50 fly (4.7%), 50 free (2.8%) and 100 IM (2.6%) only earned a handful of votes apiece.

The only swim besides Walsh’s 100 fly to earn more than 10% of votes came in the 400 IM, where Summer McIntosh bulldozed the world record by more than three seconds in 4:15.48, knocking off Mireia Belmonte‘s longstanding mark of 4:18.94.

McIntosh also broke world records in the 400 free (3.3%) and 200 fly (1.9%), which each picked up some votes, while Douglass’ 200 breast (4.0%) and Smith’s 200 back (3.5%) were their top swims based on the votes.

Five non-world record swims were included in these polls, and they all picked up multiple votes, led by Hubert Kos in the men’s 200 back and Ilya Kharun in the men’s 200 fly. Kos missed the nine-year-old world record in the 200 back by two one-hundredths in 1:45.65, while Kharun tied for the #2 swim of all-time in the 200 fly (1:48.24).

Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: What was the biggest story of 2024?

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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.