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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Mixed 4×50 Free Relay Lineups (names not listed yet)
Men’s 4×200 Free Relay Lineups (names not listed yet)
Day four of the 2022 Short Course World Championships is here. After today, we will have one-third of the competition left. Today’s prelims session will be a relatively short session with three women’s events (200 breast, 50 free and 1500 free), three men’s events (200 breast, 50 free, and 4×200 free relay), alongside the mixed 4×50 free relay.
Top seed Lilly King is back in the water today in the 200 breast, coming off her 100 breast gold medal win last night. Japan’s Daiya Seto is the top seed on the men’s side after winning Japan’s first medal of the meet yesterday, a silver in the 200 fly.
The women’s 50 free sprint showdown is currently led by Poland’s Katarzyna Wasick, Australia’s Emma McKeon and American Claire Curzan while the men’s race is featuring top seeds Ben Proud of Great Britain, Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, and Dylan Carter of Trinidad and Tobago.
The session will conclude with the first-ever races of the women’s 1500 free on the FINA short course world championships stage. The fastest heat will swim in finals tonight.
Mixed 4×50 Freestyle Relay
- World Record: 1:27.89 – United States, 2018 time – name (CAN), year
- Championship Record: 1:27.89 – United States, 2018
- 2021 Champion: 1:28.55 – Canada
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- France – 1:29.69
- Australia – 1:29.82
- Netherlands – 1:29.95
- United States – 1:29.97
- China – 1:31.21
- New Zealand – 1:31.39
- Japan – 1:31.49
- Brazil – 1:32.15
France’s team of Florent Manaudou, Maxime Grousset, Melanie Henique, and Mary-Ambre Molluh claimed the top spot in the final tonight out of heat three. Manaudou got them an early lead with a 21.10 leadoff split and then Grousset blasted a 20.76, both the fastest splits in the field on their respective legs. Henique held them steady (23.86) and Molluh came home in 23.97.
In heat one, Australia’s Emma McKeon nearly put France in the top seed spot, though, by blasting a 22.98 on the anchor leg. Notably absent from their lineup was 50 free second seed Kyle Chalmers, so if they choose to put him in the relay tonight the Aussies will be extremely dangerous in this event.
The Netherlands seemed to feed off of France’s energy, blasting the third fastest time of the morning out of lane four in heat three. It was Nyls Korstanje‘s 20.96 split on the second leg and their two female sub-24.00 splits on the back half that edged them ahead of the United States.
Notably, Canada and Italy scratched. They were seeded first and fourth, respectively.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
- World Record: 2:14.57 – Rebecca Soni (USA), 2009
- World Junior Record: 2:16.88 – Evgeniia Chikunova (RUS), 2021
- Championship Record: 2:16.08 – Rikke Pedersen (DEN), 2012
- 2021 Champion: 2:17.85 – Emily Escobedo (USA)
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:16.52
- Lilly King (USA) – 2:18.59
- Tes Schouten (NED) – 2:18.70
- Sydney Pickrem (CAN) – 2:19.57
- Tang Qianting (CHN) – 2:19.57
- Jenna Strauch (AUS) – 2:19.75
- Thea Blomsterberg (DEN) – 2:19.88
- Abbie Wood (GBR) – 2:20.26
Kate Douglass made breaststroke look effortless in heat four, gliding from one end of the pool to the other with just six strokes on the final length. She blasted a lifetime best time by two seconds to secure the top spot in tonight’s final. Douglass split the race evenly, making her move in the middle of the race with 17.30/17.34 splits on third and fourth lengths. Her time is the 23rd all-time fastest performance and makes her the 9th all-time fastest performer.
Out of the last heat, Lilly King claimed second place overall after a tight race with Tes Schouten. King went out fast with her signature opening speed (she had the fastest first 25m split in the field of 13.79) but Schouten had a half-second lead when she turned at the 175-meter-mark. King’s 17.71 on the final length pulled her ahead compared to Schouten’s 18.07. This was an incredible swim for Schouten who took nearly one second off her own Dutch national record which she set in October.
Notable scratches include Sophie Hansson, the second seed, and Anna Elendt, the 14th seed.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
- World Record: 2:00.16 – Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 2018
- World Junior Record: 2:03.23 – Akihiro Yamaguchi (JPN), 2012
- Championship Record: 2:00.16 – Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 2018
- 2021 Champion: 2:02.28 – Nic Fink (USA)
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Daiya Seto (JPN) – 2:02.43
- Nic Fink (USA) – 2:02.75
- Ippei Watanabe (JPN) – 2:03.64
- Qin Haiyang (CHN) – 2:03.81
- Antoine Viquerat (FRA) – 2:03.93
- Erik Persson (SWE) – 2:04.01
- Marco Koch (GER) – 2:04.08
- Caio Pumputis (BRA) – 2:04.37
It was top seed Daiya Seto and defending champion Nic Fink dueling in heat five. They were neck-and-neck through the halfway point, until Seto blasted a 15.59 25m split and built a half-a-second lead. Fink chipped away at it with a slightly faster finishing speed, but was not able to get to the wall first.
There was a similar battle in heat three between Japan’s Ippei Watanabe and China’s Qin Haiyang who finished within .17 of each other. Haiyang had faster opening and closing speeds, but the middle 100 meters almost got him in trouble.
Women’s 50 Freestyle
- World Record: 22.93 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 2017
- World Junior Record: 23.69 – Anastasiya Shkurdai (BLR), 2020
- Championship Record: 23.08 – Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2021 checked
- 2021 Champion: 23.08 – Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
Top 16 Qualifiers:
- Katarzyna Wasick (POL) – 23.74
- Meg Harris (AUS) – 23.77
- Julie Kepp Jensen (DEN) – 23.79
- Anna Hopkin (GBR) / Melanie Henique (FRA) – 23.86
- –
- Emma McKeon (AUS) – 23.93
- Michelle Coleman (SWE) – 23.94
- Erika Brown (USA) – 23.98
- Neza Klancar (SLO) – 24.16
- Claire Curzan (USA) – 24.17
- Barbora Seemanova (CZE) – 24.24
- Valerie van Roon (NED) / Wu Qingfeng (CHN) – 24.33
- –
- Kim Busch (NED) – 24.37
- Rebecca Moynihan (NZL) – 24.59
- Caitlin de Lange (RSA) – 24.67
Top seed Katarzyna Wasick narrowly defended her place out of heat eight, coming within .64 of her entry time. Australian 20-year-old Meg Harris had a strong swim to snag second overall, beating Wasick’s final 25m split by .01.
It was actually Denmark’s Julie Kepp Jensen in heat eight who had the fastest opening speed this morning. She split a 11.35 on the first 25 meters compared to Wasick’s 11.53. If Jensen can bring her last split down, she could be dangerous in tonight’s semifinal. Her prelims time came within .30 of Pernille Blume‘s Danish national record.
Australia’s Emma McKeon placed slightly lower than expected, about .4 off her entry time while places two through four beat their entries times. McKeon was looking fast in the mixed 4×50 free relay earlier, though, and will likely swim faster in the individual 50 free tonight.
Notably, fourth seed Zhang Yufei scratched.
Men’s 50 Freestyle
- World Record: 20.16 – Caeleb Dressel (USA), 2020
- World Junior Record: 20.98 – Kenzo Simons (NED), 2019
- Championship Record: 20.26 – Florent Manaudou (FRA), 2014
- 2021 Champion: 20.45 – Benjamin Proud (GBR)
Top 16 Qualifiers:
- Jordan Crooks – 20.36
- Dylan Carter (TT)) – 20.70
- Benjamin Proud (GBR) – 20.88
- Florent Manaudou (FRA) – 20.94
- Ian Yentou Ho (HKG) – 20.99
- Lewis Edward Burras (GBR) /Szebastian Szabo (HUN) – 21.00
- –
- Michael Andrew (USA) – 21.02
- Kyle Chalmers (AUS) – 21.09
- Vladyslav Bukhov (UKR) / Maxime Grousset (FRA) – 21.13
- –
- Alessandro Miressi (ITA) / Kosuke Matsui (JPN) – 21.17
- –
- Kristian Gkolomeev (GRE) – 21.21
- Leonardo Deplano (ITA) – 21.25
- Matej Dusa (SVK) – 21.29
It’s not often that the semifinals top seed comes out of a non-circle-seeded heat, but today was one of those days. In heat six, 20-year-old Jordan Crooks rocketed to a time of 20.36, just .20 off Caleb Dressel’s world record. This crushed Crooks’ own Cayman Islands national record (a time he split during the 100 free final last night to place 6th) by .96. Crooks split the race 9.80/10.56.
Dylan Carter tied his Trinidad and Tobago national record to snag second place overall out of heat nine. In the following heat, Florent Manaudou commanded the race with a strong start off the block in lane three. He flipped at the 25m mark at 9.93, one of only two sub-10 second split in the field. In lane four, Kyle Chalmers had a slightly faster finishing speed than Manaudou (a 10.87 compared to the Frenchmen’s 11.01), but Chalmers will have to pick up the pace on the front half to secure a spot in the final tomorrow night.
Great Britain’s Ben Proud, the top seed going into prelims, lit up the final heat to secure the third semifinals spot. He came within .44 of his entry time.
Men’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay
- World Record: 6:46.81 – Brazil, 2018
- Championship Record: 6:46.81 – Brazil, 2018
- 2021 Champion: 6:47.00 – United States
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- United States – 6:53.63
- Japan – 6:54.26
- Italy – 6:54.54
- Australia – 6:54.83
- Korea – 6:55.24
- Bulgaria –6:56.42
- Spain – 6:56.79
- Canada – 7:00.85
The United States, the defending champions, and Japan had a tight race in heat two. Trenton Julian (1:43.13) and Jake Magahey (1:43.24) built the Americans a .67 lead by the halfway mark and handed it off to Jake Foster (1:45.29). Drew Kibler anchored in a blistering time of 1:41.97, the fastest anchor split in the field by .66. Julian and Jake Foster‘s brother Carson were on this relay during the 2021 short course world championship finals and we will likely see the addition of Kieran Smith, another member of the 2021 relay, tonight.
Japan’s third swimmer Shuya Matsumoto made up some ground on the U.S. with a 1:44.59 split. Temma Watanabe led off that relay in 1:43.45 and handed it off to Hidenari Mano (1:43.59) while Katsuhiro Matsumoto, the 4th place finisher in the men’s 400 free earlier in the meet, anchored in 1:42.63.
Men’s 50 Backstroke – Swim-off
- World Record: 22.11 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2022)
- Championship Record: 22.22 – Florent Manaudou, FRA (2014)
- 2021 Champion: 22.66 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS
Results:
- Apostolos Christou (GRE) – 23.15
- Hunter Armstrong (USA) – 23.30
The swim-off was to decide who would get the last spot in tonight’s 50 back final. Apostolos Christou and Hunter Armstrong were neck-and-neck, flipping at 11.41 and 11.42 at the 25-meter mark respectively. Christou had the faster finishing speed though and that earned him the win. Canada’s Javier Acevedo, who also tied for 8th in the semifinal yesterday, decided not to compete.
Women’s 1500 Freestyle (Slowest Heats)
- World Record: 15:08.24 – Katie Ledecky (USA), 2022
- World Junior Record: 15:42.05 – Katie Grimes (USA), 2022
- Championship Record: N/A
- 2021 Champion: N/A
Top 8 Finishers:
- Kensey McMahon (USA) – 15:49.15
- Jillian Cox (USA) – 16:09.72
- Katja Fain (SLO) – 16:12.06
- Imani de Jong (NED) – 16:15.61
- Stephanie Houtman (RSA) – 16:35.55
- Kiara Bosnjak (CRO) – 16:51.02
- Lai Wa Ng (HKG) – 17:01.32
- Jui-An Kuo (TPE) – 17:16.69
This was an incredible swim for Kensey McMahon who beat her entry time by more than 26 seconds. The eighth swimmer in tonight’s final, after Li Bingjie scratched, is entered with a 16:05.52, and McMahon easily cleared that mark. She led a 1-2 finish for the United States as 17-year-old Jillian Cox out touched Slovakia’s Katja Fain who was ranked ahead of both Americans going into this meet and still beat her entry time.
Men’s 50 Freestyle – Swim-off
- World Record: 20.16 – Caeleb Dressel (USA), 2020
- World Junior Record: 20.98 – Kenzo Simons (NED), 2019
- Championship Record: 20.26 – Florent Manaudou (FRA), 2014
- 2021 Champion: 20.45 – Benjamin Proud (GBR)
Results:
- Kenzo Simons (NED) – 21.28
- Daniel Zaitsev (EST) – 21.34
- Meiron Amir Cheruti (ISR) – 21.45
Kenzo Simons of the Netherlands has narrowly secured the first alternate spot in tonight’s 50 free semifinal. Notably, Daniel Zaitsev came within .01 of his Estonian national record which he set in prelims.
Gosh!! Chalmers entered both relays and the 50 Free semi tonight
Alex Walsh: what is my purpose (at this meet after the 200 IM?)
Coaches: you split 23.7 on free relays
Alex Walsh: Oh gawd (yes!)
Douglass seems to have a similar trajectory (albeit with one more individual).
It’ll be interesting to see how Paris plays out. Only two American women were Olympic champion in Tokyo. There’s a lot of women on the current team who may have their last chance in Paris. It may come down to only one of Walsh or Douglass getting to be one.
Its between Walsh and Douglass for 200 Im in Paris looking at this year in LC or SC events.
McIntosh might have something to say about it.
That backstroke swim off was dodgy – they both kicked on their front into the turn. Thorpe was correct
What happens if they both get DQ’d? No 8th lane? Surely you couldn’t give the lane to someone they beat in the semis.
We just discussed this too. I reckon they would have to
9th and 10th place are both reserves so surely they would inherit the spot
But why? 9th and 10th didn’t make the cut in the semi. Why should a swimmer getting DQ’d in a swim off make them lose their spot to someone they beat in the semi who was never going to qualify.
I assume they would re-swim the swim off
We might see Douglass’ first world record tonight.
This is Championship is becoming a Duel In The Pool…USA vs AUS vs Rest of the world….Currently Gold medals 9 vs 8 vs 6.
No team has sent their proper A team. But Australia and USA are probably the closest to actually sending a real competitive team. Given the increased number of relays it was always going to favour US and Aus.
With respect to the USA, individual medalists missing from the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships:
Ledecky
Grimes
Berkoff
Smith (Regan)
Bacon
White
Hayes
Weyant
Heck, USA Swimming did not even need Leah Hayes for the women’s 200 meter individual medley.
For sure and after first and second day it seems the US already exceed expectations.Tomorrow and Sunday they gonna have a even better day on the relay.
Hmmm I’m guessing USA will further their lead on Australia tonight. But could be an interesting night.
Mixed Free: Australia slight favourites but US definitely could take it.
W200 Breast: US 1-2 easy.
M200 Breast: US with a good chance
W50 Back: US favourite, Aus possible
M50 Back: US favourite, Aus possible
W100 IM: No US or AUS
M100 IM: US favourite
W1500: Aus favourite
M4x200: US favourite
US would have to really drop the ball hard not to be in front after tonight
I wouldn’t call the US the favorite in the women’s 50 back with MacNeil in there being the world record holder and always swimming fast when it counts in finals. I also think Ceccon is going to beat the American men in the 100 IM, but that’s just my own bold call. And I think Cooper touches out Murphy (again my own call, I think Cooper has got some momentum rolling now).
Yes good points. MacNeil is probably slight favourite. But Curzan is having a good week.
I’m not sold on Ceccon at all.
I would love for Cooper to win but I’m absolutely not expecting it.
murphy’s relay was still 0.4 faster than cooper’s semi time. he and macneil like to save the fast swim for finals.
No, he was only 0.15 faster than Cooper’s semi time.
right i was thinking of murphy’s time from semis. it’s enough of a difference that i think he’s saving up.
If he was 0.4 faster then he would have broken the championship record. He didn’t.
W 50 back: How dare you call anyone else the favorite when you have Mac Neil in the field.
Claire curzan looks good yesterday
She did but she’ll probably have the 4×50 a few minutes before, while both MacNeil and MOC will be completely fresh.
You think? They don’t need her on there. Could go Douglass/Huske.
I don’t see them going Douglass when she has the 200 Breast about 2 minutes after.
Haha oh true. I guess they’ll have to use one of them.
Douglass has 200 breast immediately after the relay.
We’ll see but I think Huske is more likely cause she didn’t have any other events today while the 200BR is after the relay.
MacNeil always saves her best for the final.
Agreed. MacNeil has a consistent record of improving her time and placing from heats to semis to finals. My recollection of her gold medals in Olympics/World Champs is that she’s usually not in Lane 4.
McNeil is the expert at getting her fingertips on the wall first!
Haha ok I apologise. MacNeil favourite but Curzan very close and swimming well.
i think people are forgetting how much faster macneil swam in finals last year than semis
I like Isaac for the 50
W1500 not sure but Mcmahon has decent bronze medal chance with her swim.. The only favorite I see is W200Br everything else is pretty up in the air but likely still podium/medal finishes with best gold medal shot is Murphy
You’re not sure about the W1500? The second seed is 26 seconds slower than Pallister. Seems about as heavy a favourite as you could have barring injury or illness.
haha I was just adding the usa medal chance. Pallister has gold on lockdown.
Imagine thinking the fav in 50 back is anyone other that Maggie THEE Macneil. She will deliver in final like she always does. And this year she has less relays duties compared to last year.
Haha I’m SORRY! I apologised! I love Maggie. Would never disrespect her on purpose.
Even if this is a sub-prime US team, the reality that they are more SC optimised tells us that they really should top the medal tally given the massive imbalance in depth between AUS women and mens teams.
Cooper has been a significant pleasant surprise but other than Neill; AUS men are incredibly reliant on Chalmers who HAS been in superhero mode.
In all reality, AUS final tally will probably be very much high side of expectations; albeit with the benefit of “playing at home”.
Yes. I always expected US to win the medal table. It’s never been in doubt in my mind. Our men’s team is weak at the moment, and we’re missing our only two world champions from Budapest on top of that. ZSC and Winnington both likely win their events, and Winnington maybe brings the 4×200 to gold.
Winnington – yes. He was impressive in ISL1 so he can certainly contend in SC & a significant boost to M4X200
ZSC ? Looking at his poor starts and pacing; colour me sceptical as regards his SC prospects.
They may snag 1-2 gold tonight but looking at the schedule for the final 2 days and the pickings look fairly scarce with regards to gold prospects.
Please don’t take this as doomsaying as there are most certainly some very real positives and knowledge to be gained from this meet.
- Chalmers and McKeon have been superb.
- Pallister may be aided by less than fully representative fields but she has been excellent.
- Whilst MOC does not appear optimised for SC on
… Read more »Australia has to be the favorite in the mixed 4 x 50 meter freestyle relay (Chalmers, McKeon).
The women’s 50 meter backstroke is a toss-up. The men’s 50 meter backstroke is a toss-up.
Lani Pallister is the prohibitive favorite to win the women’s 1500 meter freestyle.
Carson Foster and Kieran Smith need to step up in the men’s 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. In addition, there is Trenton “Steinway” Julian, who can singlehandedly torpedo a men’s 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. Watch out for that grand piano to descend from the rafters.
Ch9 telling viewers ‘Lani Pallister coming up in the 1500 heats’… omg
who was that? Not one of the former swimmers?
Channel 9 a long way from Nicole Livingstone & Ray Warren.
Ray Warren was horrific.
He once called someone as being about to ‘destroy’ a WR by over a minute. It was the HEATS of a 400 IM, and it was as someone was going from breast to free.
Gave up on AUS coverage (other than Amazon Prime) some years back. Firstly by “muting” and trusting what my eyes were telling me then by finding the host ENG language feeds. Not always 100% on the ball but significantly lower nausea factor. Thankfully am currently working/based in NED so host ENG feeds are my go-to even though as an Afrikaans speaker, I can follow Dutch commentary.
Rabs Warren was an OK rugby league caller ….. when sober.
I grew up in Melb so never had to suffer him, and had the delight of football callers like Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti who who were both EXCELLENT callers of swimming.
I don’t watch AFL, so I always think of McAvaney & Cometti as the Olympic commentators. Never heard them call an AFL game thankfully, pitiful game. As for Ray Warren I thought he was great with Livingstone when ch 9 had the world championships & the Aussie trials.
He had his moments both good and bad.But as someone said, channel 9 always has to have the Blokey bloke to commentate. It’s annoying as hell.
She is coming up…….in 8 hours time!
Only question for her is whether she laps the entire heat!
Maybe Hunter Armstrong needs an eye examination. Maybe his depth perception is not normal.
The “Magic Man” and his disappearing act have become well renowned at the 2022 Short Course Swimming World Championships.