2021 FINA WORLD CUP – BERLIN

• October 1-3, 2021
• Europasportpark Pool (SSE), Berlin, Germany
• Short course meters (25m)
• 2021 FINA World Cup Schedule
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Day 3 Recap
• Entries/Results

A contingent of American juniors made the trip to Berlin, Germany to race at the first leg of the 2021 FINA World Cup and will also be racing at the second stop in Budapest, Hungary, from October 7 – 9. The 2 meets give the group a rare opportunity to race in short course meters as the majority of meets in the USA run in either short course yards or long course meters.

Ahead of the first meet, in anticipation of some quick swims from America’s leading 18&Unders, we compiled a list of the fastest short course meters swims in history by juniors from the USA. Some popular names such as Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, Lilly King, and Regan Smith popped up on the list of unofficial records. The oldest mark on the books came from sprint legend Antony Ervin who swam a 21.21 world record in the SCM 50 freestyle at the 2000 NCAA Championships (one of the 2 years that the meet was held in that course).

As expected, the first stop of the FINA World Cup featured some impressive swims and over the course of the 3-day meet, a total of 4 of our unofficial American junior SCM records had fallen.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 breaststroke Lydia Jacoby was responsible for downing two of those marks. In her now-signature 100 breaststroke, Jacoby swam a 1:05.58 for third place in the prelims, getting under the 1:06.32 that Lilly King put up in 2014 at a FINA World Cup meet. Jacoby improved upon that time in the final when she hit a 1:05.20 for a bronze medal. While Jacoby became the quickest American junior in the history of that event, she was actually slower than her LCM best time in the event which is a 1:04.95 from her gold medal-winning swim in Tokyo.

Jacoby also raced the 50 breaststroke in Berlin, first notching a 30.88 during prelims to miss King’s mark in that event of 30.13. In the final, however, Jacoby came back with a 30.04 for the silver medal which made her the quickest USA junior in that event as well. While she now holds 2 of the official marks, Jacoby is only 17 years old and has until February 2023 until she ages up, leaving us to wonder how much more she could lower them before she ages up.

Jacoby’s teammate Tess Howley was actually the first swimmer to set one of these unofficial records in Berlin when she swam a 2:06.09 to win gold in the final. That swim for Howley was nearly 2 seconds quicker than her prelims swim of 2:08.02 and marked an improvement upon the 2:06.17 that former record-holder Mary Mohler (neé DeScenza) set in 2002.

Howley was joined on the podium by fellow American junior Charlotte Hook who actually also cleared the mark by Mohler with her 2:06.15.

Finally, Quintin McCarty became the only man to lower one of the US junior records during the 50 backstroke final when he threw down a 23.64 for the bronze medal. That was fast enough to take out Michael Taylor‘s mark of 23.84 in the event which he posted at the 2016 World Swimming Championships.

Considering Jacoby, Howley, and McCarty’s record-breaking swims over the weekend, take a look at the current state of the unofficial USA short course meters junior national records heading into the Budapest meet:

Unofficial 18&U USA Short Course Meters Records – Men

Unofficial 18&U USA Short Course Meters Record – Women