2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- Live Results (Omega)
The men’s 100m fly final tonight in Hangzhou was one for the ages, as defending title holder South African Chad Le Clos was pitted against on-fire sprinter Caeleb Dressel of the United States, French National Record hlder Mehdy Metella, Chinese powerhouse Li Zhuhao and more.
Le Clos went out stunningly fast, even for him, clocking a eye-popping opening 50 of 22.39. That was by far the fastest opener, with Germany’s Marius Kusch the next swiftest with a split of 22.58. For perspective, Dressel raced an opening 50 of 23.07.
The South African was able to hold on and fire off a final 50 of 26.11 to Dressel’s much speedier 25.64, and ultimately take gold in a winning effort of 48.50, Le Clos’ fastest time and his first occasion under 49-point this season. Dressel registered 48.71 for silver tonight, while Zhuhao touched in 49.25 for bronze.
Le Clos’ 48.08 World Record from the 2016 edition of these Short Course World Championships remains as the World Record, while Dressel checks-in as the 4th fastest performer of all-time. Zhuhao also got on the list as the 9th fastest performer ever, ranking ahead of the likes of Laszlo Cseh, Andrew Lauterstein and Matteo Rivolta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo9Vcaekfyw
No more questions le clos got the best start and underwaters in all of swimming
Has Chad Let Clos always done the Ben Proud style start or is that new?
Newish. He’s been showcasing it a bit on his IG feed in the run up to this meet.
https://m.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/WaterSport/le-clos-revels-in-biggest-short-course-win-20181213
Interesting quotes. Might be a bit of a hyperbole to say this was the biggest SC race of his career but what do I know
Give credit when credit is due! Not sure why all the excuses for Dressel. He got beat by a better swim on this day! Period! Get over it! LeClos lost the 200 fly the same way. Got beat by a better swimmer on that day! It happens! Turns are part of the race and if you have one bad turn at this level it will cost you! One can argue LeClos lost the 200 fly because he always looks around. He didn’t on the 100 fly and he was rewarded. Quite sure his coach warned him NOT too! Maybe he will now learn that small things like turning your head can have consequences and his next 200 fly will be… Read more »
Yeah. Reminds of the Schooling excuse train. Stomach virus, didn’t train, whatever.
Agreed. “My guy didn’t win because he was less prepared to execute his race” does not look good. You can be fully prepared and still miss a turn once in a while, sure, but we’ve seen him coasting into those turns for three rounds of racing now and he failed to make the adjustment in time. If you’re having bad turns that often, it’s just a lack of preparation, period.
Still a great swim and I don’t see why everyone is so dumbfounded that he got beat by the (then) three time world champ and defending world record holder.
Seems to me Chad is very flexible & Caleb has brute strength . If the latter makes a mistake on the turn it has more force & is a bigger deal . Chad makes mistakes & loses races too but where he makes it is just not as noticeable .
Honestly, seeing Dressel screw up so many turns is drawing parallels for me to Phelps’ greatest weakness. He may have been the Greatest of All Time but he needed some serious help measuring his stroke distance into walls. Far too often those lacklustre turns had cost him either a gold medal, a textile personal best, or a world record.
However, so far in his career I’m willing to give Dressel the benefit of the doubt, especially in a SCM competition that is likely a blip on his radar compared to Tokyo 2020.
Phelps only had bad turns when he didn’t train hard (which were a lot of years). His 2004-08 turns were terrific, and his 4 X 100 free relay turn in Rio is considered one of the best turns ever.
Dressel forgot he was at worlds until the last lap. I’d describe his swim as lackluster and he was unprepared to race scm. He just has to accept the result and move on.
it was fun to watch …..any anomaly is welcome for me – love the sport
Across all distances and all course, LeClos is the butterfly GOAT. Not bad for having 2 X 200 free and 2 X 200 fly under the belt to go this fast.
Considering Phelps never swam SCM and was terrible short course in the 50 (especially) and 100 fly, not sure who people would argue is better. Spitz?
Not sure. Did Cseh ever do much short course? Don’t know how his 50 was but his 100 and 200 were probably pretty good in SCM. Tom Shields is very close to Le Clos in SCM but a bit lagging in LCM. I think Le Clos is probably the best butterflier when taking all six races into consideration.
Conger might get there some day, but I’m not holding my breath. He’s been 18 in the 50 free, so he’s got the speed to have a great 50 SCM fly, and obviously his 200 yard fly is pretty good, so the potential is there but he needs a breakthrough. I could see Seliskar challenging him in SCM if he keeps the… Read more »
Not sure that Cseh has held a WR in fly in any course and certainly doesn’t have an Olympic gold. Last time LeClos swam Shields in SCM, he made him look like he was standing still, and obviously, he beats Shields in LCM by several seconds in the 2 fly. Cseh was pretty late to the fly game in his career. Much more the IMer. Third best ever at that.
I find no evidence that Cseh ever held a World Record in anything but the 200 IM (SC and LC) or 400 IM (SC).
Echoing what Ol’ Longhorn said, Cseh was more of a backstroker early in his career. He won the 100 back at the 2004 European Championships in long course – his first breakthrough meet in long course.
Looks like Dressel was schooled by Chad. He gave him a good old fashioned whipping.
In what universe is .21 a whooping…
Yep. And Dressel’s going to remember that beat down the next time they get to race.
If they were each a stock, I’d be long Dressel & short LeClos in the meets that really matter.
Le Clos is still pretty clutch, even if he isn’t the best. Managed to nip Phelps in London, tied Phelps and Cseh in Rio, and had the guts to hold on for silver in the 200 free in Rio after a ridiculous first 100.
If you really wanna make money at a big meet, short the Australians (particularly any Australian who is a first seed or defending world champion).
Clutch but didn’t make it to the 200 free finals here and settled for silver in the 200fly. Clutch but he didn’t even medal in the 200 fly final in Rio. What definition is clutch here?
Yeah, I’m not saying the guy is perfect. He underestimated the field in the 200 free and went under his old world record in the 200 fly but got touched out. It happens. My point is, he’s still a very legitimate threat in several events and has beaten and tied guys like Phelps and Dressel. Chad Le Clos’ whole thing is that when everyone thinks a guy like Phelps or Dressel is a sure-fire win, he is capable of pulling the upset (and he damn near did it to Sun Yang from like lane 8 in the 200 free in Rio, too).
He might not do it every time, but a stock with that history is not one I would… Read more »
agreed with that 100%
Chad did what he does best – get his talent / preparation / experience at work – but hey , with 2 awful turns , Dressel showed amazing ability to claw his way back & nearly got Le Clos at the end ( 5 more meters and Caeleb was on par ) within just 25 meters . He was 5th before his underwater ….. I love both swimmers for different reasons . And Chad just launched a fondation to spread the love for swimming in SA – I sincerely applaud that move
Before the 100 fly Chad had already done a lot of racing maybe if he had been fresh he would have been under world record and maybe Caleb would not have closed in on him the last 25.