World Record Watch at the 2022 Short Course World Swimming Championships

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
• Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
• SCM (25m)
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• Meet Schedule
• Meet Roster Index
• Psych Sheets (Updated)
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• Day 1 Prelims Heat Sheet

There have been five World Records set so far in 2022 in short course meters, and four of those records have been swum by athletes who aren’t competing at this week’s World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

The fifth, Li Bingjie of China, will reportedly not swim that event on day 1 of the meet after coming down with a “high fever” according to Chinese media.

So which World Records, if any, are most in danger this week in Melbourne? Below, I’ve picked the races where I think we’re most likely to see a World Record fall.

I’ll set the over-under for World Records being broken at this meet at 2.5. I think 2 will go down for sure, and there’s enough candidates for a 3rd to make it interesting.

In no particular order:

Maggie MacNeil, Canada – Women’s 50 Back/100 Fly

The 50 backstroke is on the table because the 22-year old MacNeil broke the record, somewhat surprisingly, last season at this meet. That was a year that wasn’t her best, and one where she wasn’t training with her primary coach Rick Bishop.

Now reunited with Bishop at LSU in the United States, MacNeil has been on-fire all season long collegiately. There’s no reason to believe that she can’t be better than she was last year in the 50 back.

But the one that really excites me to think about is the 100 fly. The record is currently held by recently-retired American Kelsi Dahlia at 54.59. MacNeil popped off a 54.78 in Toronto in October in less-than-ideal conditions: coming off a long flight from Atlanta, with little sleep, right after racing a college dual meet, in a heavy training period.

Targets:

• 50 back – 25.27, herself, 2021 World SC Championships
• 100 fly – 54.59, Kelsi Dahlia, 2021 ISL season

Kyle Chalmers, Australia – Men’s 100 Free

The Australian Chalmers will be racing against the hype that is swimming’s new young superstar David Popovici of Romania. Popovici broke the World Record in the 100 free at the European Championships in August.

He proclaims himself that he is not as fond or as good in short course as he is in long course, but Popovici says that he’s eager to learn from the best in the world – including Chalmers.

Chalmers seems fit, finally healthy, and motivated, and is the current World Record holder in the event. He swam 44.84 at the Kazan World Cup in October 2021, but ultimately he didn’t get a shot at swimming at Worlds last year because of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, racing in front of a home crowd, and with all of the competitive juices flowing to defend his spot atop a Dressel-less men’s sprint field heading toward Paris, I think this one is in danger.

Target:

• 100 free – 44.84, himself, 2021 FINA World Cup – Kazan

Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong – 200 Free

Another easy one to hype up, because it’s another one that was set at last year’s meet. Haughey has become one of the dominant short course swimmers in the world, and she set the World Record in Abu Dhabi a year ago with a 1:50.31 in the 200 short course meter free.

Her in-season results this year (including a 1:51.13 in Toronto) have been about as good as the leadup to Abu Dhabi. The difference is that with no ISL, she’s had a longer training block back home in Hong Kong, about a month, to prepare. Will that block help or hurt her? Most of us assume it can only help, but that’s not always true (as evidenced by her World Record last year that was juts 12 days after her prior meet).

That’s not a big time zone change, which helps too.

A best time of 3:56 in the 400 free in October and a 51.00 in the 100 free in November lines some things up for this one to go down for her. I think there’s an outside chance at the 100 as well, where her best is 50.79.

Targets:

• 100 free – 50.25, Cate Campbell, Australia, 2017 Australian Championships
• 200 free – 1:50.31, herself, 2021 World SC Championships

The Field – Women’s 100m Backstroke

I’m not sure who is going to break this record, but I feel like someone is going to get very close. When Minna Atherton popped off a 54.89 at an ISL meet in October 2019, it was a surprising swim. She hasn’t gotten back there since, and there’s a bunch of woman who are within half-a-second.

That includes the top seed Louise Hansson (55.20) of Sweden, who is making a bit of a shift from fly to backstroke and is still on the upswing here. That also includes Canadian Kylie Masse (55.22) and Dutchwoman Kira Toussaint (55.42), though the latter has been injured.

Australian Kaylee McKeown is the World Record holder in long course and hasn’t swum the event a whole lot in short course. She was still a 55.81 in August at the Australian Trials coming out of a long summer of training and tapering.

If I’m putting money on it, McKeown is the favorite. But there’s a few different avenues for this one to go down.

Target:

• 100 back – 54.89, Minna Atherton, Australia, 2019 ISL season

Either 200 IM

These are more out of left field than the ones above, all of which felt a lot more obvious to me. But hear me out.

Casas is a dynamic talent, an athlete caliber that is rare in swimming, and has been swimming very well this year. He posted a 1:50.37 during the World Cup season, and I think he’s generally more comfortable in short course than long course (mentally). Dressel’s record in that race is other-worldly, and even with big talents Daiya Seto and Carson Foster in the 400 IM, the timing doesn’t seem right for either to chase Seto’s 3:54, so I’ve got Casas in this 200 IM as the most likely men’s IM to fall.

The training done by Jason Calanog, who was Dressel’s former coach, and honed by Eddie Reese at Texas, gives him a shot at Ryan Lochte’s famous World Record of 1:49.63 in this event from the 2012 World Championships.

Casas is already the #2 performer in the history of the event. He’s young enough to chase #1.

Then in the women’s race, there’s Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass, who as Virginia teammates are among the most dynamic and versatile yards-course talents the NCAA has ever seen.

The fact that Walsh can go 2:03.0 in the 200-yard breaststroke and 1:50.79 in the 200-yard fly is obscene. The fact that Douglass can go 20.8 in the 50-yard free and 49.0 in the 100-yard fly and 2:01.8 in the 200-yard breast is even badder. For those international readers who don’t understand yards times, just trust me.

It’s scary to put such young talents up against peak Katinka Hosszu (2:01.86), because that’s a really good time (Douglass is the top seed in 2:04.24), but we haven’t seen anybody really do what those two are doing in yards before either. So take a flier on this one.

Targets:

• Men’s 200 IM – 1:49.63, Ryan Lochte, USA, 2012 World Short Course Championships
• Women’s 200 IM – 2:01.86, Katinka Hosszu, Hungary, 2014 World Short Course Championships