2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- SCM (25m)
- Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00* am ET
- *The final night of finals will be one hour earlier, starting at 6:00 pm local and 5:00 am ET
- Live Results (Omega)
The USA women kicked off the final session of the 2018 FINA Short Course World Championships in record fashion, downing both the meet and the American records with a time of 1:34.03.
Madison Kennedy got things started for the USA with a 24.04 leadoff leg. Then, Mallory Comerford, Kelsi Dahlia, and Erika Brown were a collective model of precision, all three split within 23.28 and 23.37, with reaction times ranging from 0.20s to 0.29s.
Their combined effort put them ahead of the Netherlands’ 1:34.24 from the 2014 edition of these championships to give USA the meet record, and also surpassed the American Record of 1:34.61, also from that same 2014 race.
Here’s a look at the comparative splits between all three races:
| USA 2018 |
Netherlands 2014
|
USA 2014 | |||
| Maddison Kennedy | 24.05 | Inge Dekker | 24.09 | Madison Kennedy | 24.06 |
| Mallory Comerford | 23.28 | Femke Heemskerk | 23.24 | Abbey Weitzeil | 23.4 |
| Kelsi Dahlia | 23.37 | Maud van der Meer | 24.03 | Natalie Coughlin | 23.39 |
| Erika Brown | 23.33 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | 22.88 | Amy Bilquist | 23.76 |
| 1:34.03 | 1:34.24 | 1:34.61 |
The Netherlands’ time from 2014 set a new world record, but a Dutch team that also included Feemskerk and Kromowidjojo broke it at the 2017 European Short Course Championships, setting a mark of 1:33.91 that still stands as the record.
Interesting that Kennedy split almost exactly the same on both relays, 4 years apart!
The old 2014 record was done by an all-Cal squad. I’m probably the only one who would notice that. Go Bears!
Weitzeil and Bilquist swam for Cal in 2014? I’m probably the only one that would notice that.
Madison Kennedy and Natalie Coughlin didn’t swim for Cal in 2014 either.
Erika Brown had a very good meet – its a shame she did not get to swim the 50 or 100 fly for time/
Heck yea…Without Brown they would not have won! She is amazing.