The Fastest Heats In History Part II: 100 Butterfly

Courtesy: Henry Lyon

As a community, swim fans love to see someone touch the wall in an incredibly fast time. It’s one of the major driving factors for watchers of the sport to come back: the possibility of seeing the winner finish in a new world-leading time, or maybe a new national record, or perhaps even a world record. However, something even more exciting to see can be a whole heat that exceeds expectations. Sometimes, legends of the sport line up behind the blocks at the perfect time in their careers and give us a whole field of swimmers that is faster than any other heat before it.

This is a series I wanted to do in the lead-up to this year’s World Championships in July. Every few days, I’ll release a new article on both the women’s and men’s sides of a long course meters event, in order of their first finals appearance in this year’s Worlds schedule. Sometimes, there will be a definitive answer, but I’ll always bring up multiple ones that are significant for their own reasons. Also, while I may sometimes bring up “greatest” heats of all time, the goal of this series is to discuss the fastest heats of all time regardless of circumstance (as long as they were in compliance with FINA/World Aquatics rules when swum), and that will therefore be the focus of the data and discussion presented. As will be the case for every article in this series, please feel free to mention any you think I should have mentioned in the comments.

Women

In the history of the women’s 100 fly, only eight swimmers have cracked the elusive 56-second barrier. In 2021, four of those athletes all did it in the same race. Going into the final of the event at the Tokyo Olympic Games, five of the competitors had broken the barrier, making it an incredibly anticipated race. At the time, only one heat had seen more than one swimmer under 56, meaning the race was shaping up to be truly historic. That race had also come just the day before in the prelims session, adding to the excitement.

These five swimmers consisted of former world record holder in the event Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden (55.48), American record holder Torri Huske (55.66), who had just broken onto the international scene at U.S. Olympic Trials, 2019 world champion in the event Maggie MacNeil of Canada (55.83), as well as China’s Zhang Yufei and Australia’s Emma Mckeon, who had interestingly both broken 56 for the first time in prelims the day before, tying at 55.82 in the same heat, marking the first ever heat with two 55s, as mentioned above.

The race certainly lived up to expectations, with all but one of the women dipping under that barrier once again. MacNeil got her hand on the wall first in 55.59, just eleven hundredths off the at-the-time world record. Zhang, McKeon, and Huske finished after her in that order, with the American missing the podium in 55.73, only 0.14 seconds back from gold. Sjostrom unfortunately had an off meet in Tokyo, finishing 7th in this race. To this day, the swimming world has never again seen a sub-56 miss a podium, showing how historically fast this field was.

While that is the fastest fourth-place finishing time in history, the fastest silver and bronze medal winning times go to the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials final. This, too, was a highly anticipated race, seeing as NCAA star Gretchen Walsh had just proven herself in the big pool, shattering the 100 fly world record in a 55.18 in the semi-finals. This also took the aforementioned Torri Huske’s American Record of 55.64, adding to the storyline of the final, given she was the 2nd seed out of the semis in 55.79. Not only that, Regan Smith, best known for her backstroke prowess, had just snuck under the 56 barrier for the first time in semis at 55.92. As a sidenote, the second semifinal of this meet, which contained Walsh and Smith, was actually the third time two sub-56s occurred in the same heat, marking the first time since the earlier discussed Tokyo Games.

Once again, the race did not disappoint. While Walsh was off her world record in 55.31, Huske and Smith both clocked PBs, going 55.52 and 55.62, respectively. Huske’s swim was good enough to make her the third fastest performer in history, behind only Walsh and Sjostrom. This was a legendary heat, with the silver and bronze medal-winning times being significantly faster than any other in history. Smith’s time would have won silver in Paris, but she ended up not earning a berth on the U.S. roster in the event.

Only one other heat has seen multiple swimmers under 56, with Huske and Walsh going 55.59 and 55.63, respectively, at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Now, let’s take a look at some data to analyze these races.

Fastest times of each place in the top eight:

The Tokyo Olympic Games final showcases its depth well past the top four in this table, with the 5-8 places being held entirely by swims from that heat. Let’s see how that comes through in the average places table below.

Fastest heats using average times:

The Tokyo Olympic final once again dominates in terms of depth, but the top-end speed displayed at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials grants it two spots on the table.

Whichever heat you think is the fastest is up to your interpretation. The Tokyo final is undoubtedly the deepest heat in the history of the event, although the 2024 US Olympic Trials final also has the undisputed fastest podium in history. It all depends on your definition. I think the biggest takeaway from this analysis is that we are living in a golden age of the women’s 100 fly. While some of the most prominent figures in the event, MacNeil and McKeon, have recently retired, there are still many stars that are making their presence known, and there will certainly be more currently unknown stars that will shine this summer.

The World Championships final in Singapore could turn out to be one of the fastest in history, with the return of Gretchen Walsh, who recently shattered the world record in 54.60, Torri Huske, Zhang Yufei, Regan Smith and Sarah Sjostrom, as well as newer figures who could make waves, such as German record holder Angelina Kohler and teenager Alex Shackell of the USA, who scratched the Olympic Trials final last summer after blasting a 56.78 in the semis (though her path to qualification is daunting). This is certainly going to be a race to watch.

Men

The men’s side of the event has also seen many of its most impressive heats over the last few years, although one of the frontrunners for the title of fastest heat in history came all the way back in 2009. At the World Championships in Rome, at the peak of the supersuit era, Milorad Cavic of Serbia threw down a 50.01 world record in the semi-finals, coming a mere two hundredths away from breaking the 50-second barrier. Also in the mix was the defending world champion and reigning two-time Olympic champion in the event, Michael Phelps, whose PB lay back at 50.22 from the month before. In the end, it was Phelps who touched first in the final in a new world record of 49.82, breaking the 50-second barrier and setting a time that would not be beaten for a decade. Cavic was just behind in 49.95, faster than he was the night prior

The 50-second barrier had been cracked by not one, but two men. Remarkably, it would be another eight years until any other swimmer hit a 49, when American Caeleb Dressel went 49.86 at the 2017 World Championships. Not only that, the bronze medal-winning time in Rome was also the fastest third-place winning time in the history of the event, with Spain’s Rafael Munoz finishing in a best time of 50.41. Munoz was the 50 fly world record holder at the time..

Speaking of Dressel, the next heat that saw two men under 50 seconds in the 100 fly came in 2021, where Dressel broke his world record of 49.50, set in 2019, firing off a time of 49.45. Not only was this the fastest swim ever in the event, Hungarian Kristof Milak was just behind him in 49.68, cracking 50 seconds for the first time and also sneaking under Phelps’s 2009 time. This remains the fastest time swum by someone not named Michael Phelps or Caeleb Dressel.

The third and final heat that saw two swimmers under that monumental barrier came just last summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the aforementioned Milak and Canadian Josh Liendo went 49.90 and 49.99, respectively, to claim the top two spots. This race was also very deep, with six men under 51 seconds, with only the 2017 World Championships and the earlier discussed 2021 Olympic Games finals matching that feat.

The three heats mentioned above, as well as the 2017 final that was briefly alluded to, are the best candidates for the title of fastest men’s 100 fly heat. Let’s now take a look at some of the data to make a better judgment.

Fastest times of each place in the top eight:

The 2024 Olympic final showcases its depth here, although the 2017 World Championships final snags a spot as well, showing that it, too, had impressive depth beyond the podium.

Fastest heats using average time:

With the 2021 Olympic final sweeping the top-end speed spots and the 2024 Olympic final sweeping the deeper spots, it’s safe to say that while the 2021 final had the fastest front runners, the 2024 final had the most depth. It’s also important to note how close this table was at some spots, such as the Paris final, missing the fastest 1-4 average time by only 0.03 seconds.

Once again, whichever you believe is the fastest is entirely up to you. Whether you value depth, speed, or something else entirely that I didn’t touch on here. As on the women’s side, this year’s race in Singapore is shaping up to be on par with, if not better than the heats discussed in this article. While Dressel’s status is unclear after he only raced 50s in Fort Lauderdale, Milak, Liendo, Frenchman Maxime Grousset, who holds a best time of 50.14 and who also threw down a 49.57 relay split at the 2024 Olympics, and Swiss record holder Noe Ponti, who holds a best time of 50.16 and who has been absolutely electric over the last year, breaking the short course world record in December. If Dressel is not in the mix, the U.S. will see a battle for the 100 fly spot at Worlds most likely between Olympian and teenager Thomas Heilman (best time 50.80), 2023 world bronze medalist Dare Rose (50.46), and Shaine Casas (50.40), who has been on a tear since Bob Bowman took over at the University of Texas. Others include Nyls Korstanje (50.59) of the Netherlands, Russian Andrei Minakov (50.82), and Australian Matt Temple (50.25). If many of these swimmers are on form, we could see a heat entirely under 51, which would be truly historic.

As with my last article, research for a topic like this is difficult and time-consuming, so it’s very likely that I missed some noteworthy facts or have some incorrect information. Feel free to correct any errors in the comments.

ABOUT HENRY LYON

Henry Lyon is a distance swimmer with M3 Aquatics located in Chicago, Illinois. He has been swimming since the age of eight, and has been passionate about the sport ever since the beginning. Still only a junior in high school, he hopes to go on to make a difference in the sport as he gets older, starting with his work on the Illinois Swimming Age Group Committee, as well as working as a swim instructor for M3A’s swim school. He hopes to continue both of those things going into college and beyond.