Taking the Next Step: Cody Simpson Hits FINA ‘A’ Cut with 51.79 Prelims 100 Fly

by Spencer Penland 9

May 18th, 2022 Australia, News

2022 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

MEN’S 100 FLY- HEATS

  • World Record: Caeleb Dressel- 49.45 (2021)
  • World Junior Record: Kristof Milak- 50.62 (2017)
  • Australian Record: Matthew Temple– 50.45 (2021)
  • Commonwealth Record: Joseph Schooling- 50.39 (2016)
  • FINA ‘A’ Cut: 51.96

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Matthew Temple– 51.64
  2. Cody Simpson– 51.79
  3. Kyle Chalmers– 52.10
  4. Ben Armbruster- 52.47
  5. Bowen Gough- 52.52
  6. David Morgan- 52.94
  7. Jesse Coleman- 53.03
  8. Brendan Hyland- 53.13

Cody Simpson has officially entered the fray in the men’s 100 fly, clocking a new personal best of 51.79 in prelims this morning in Oaklands Park. Simpson, an Australian pop and R&B singer, has now cracked the FINA ‘A’ standard of 51.96 in the event, making him eligible to compete at the World Championships this summer in Budapest.

The 25-year-old will have another opportunity to bring the time down further in tonight’s final, where he’ll have a tough race on his hands going against Australian Record holder Matthew Temple. In addition to making Simpson eligible for the Australian World Champs team in the 100 fly, his time this morning is one which would be competitive on the world stage. At the 2019 World Championships (the most recent edition), it took a 51.70 to advance to finals, a time which coincidentally was swum by Temple. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer, 51.79 would have qualified for semifinals, though it took a 51.30 to advance to finals. The good news for Simpson, however, is that we can expect the World Championships to be slightly less deep than usual. With Russia having been banned entirely from the event, and numerous swimmers around the world opting to abstain from these World Champs, it likely will be a “down” year in terms of the times it will take to qualify for semifinals and finals.

The swim was massive for Simpson, taking 0.87 seconds off his previous best of 52.66. In terms of the race itself, Simpson and Temple swam virtually identical races this morning. Temple was out in 24.26 on the first 50, while Simspon was 24.39. Temple was then 27.38 coming home, just 0.02 seconds faster than Simpson’s 27.40.

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GrameziPT
2 years ago

Inspiring

Luigi
2 years ago

Saw him in “Head Above Water” on Prime Video and would have not bet against him. He was clearly serious about it.

VermontSwim
Reply to  Luigi
2 years ago

He is VERY committed – since watching Head Above Water, I’ve been extra fascinated by his story.

PVSFree
2 years ago

I remember like three years ago or something when he went a 51 100 fly… in yards. Everyone in the comments section was like “decent time for a popstar who’s traveling the world and performing.” Now he’s literally putting up elite times. Honestly insane to see this progress. I’m rooting for him to make the Paris team

DCSwim
2 years ago

My friends and I used to blast “Pretty Brown Eyes” after practice the summer it came out, and once we found out he used to be a good swimmer we’d think “man, what could’ve happened if he stuck with it?” Well I guess we’re sorta finding that out!

Swimmerfromjapananduk
Reply to  DCSwim
2 years ago

New problems is one of my favourites

Swammer
2 years ago

Anyone talking about his training attitude will tell you that he’s one of the hardest workers on the team
Nothing but respect for him

SHRKB8
2 years ago

Takes real courage and conviction to do what Cody has done over the last couple of years…hats off to him and I wish him continued success.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  SHRKB8
2 years ago

Courage? Seriously? He’s singing and swimming, not holed up in a steel mill being bombarded, FFS, like other guys his age. I’ll give you conviction, but hell, he has absolutely nothing to lose.