Sprinting Into 200 Yards Events

To swim well in short course yards in 200 freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly, you need to be fast in the 100. Very fast.

Is this really true? So it seems, as we’ll check the data.

If we make the same comparison between 100 and 200 races in long course meters, perhaps the association is not so immediate.

Then let’s see.

For example, in the men’s 200 breaststroke, the world record holder in long course meters is Australia’s Zac Subblety-Cook, as he swam a 2:05.95, the only swimmer in history to crack the 2:06 barrier. On the other hand, he is not as fast in the long course meters 100 breaststroke. His personal best time in the 100 is a 59.51, which does not rank him among the 50 fastest performers in history.

There are several other examples in long course meters. The women’s 200 freestyle world record holder, Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, with 1:52.98, is not among the 30 fastest women of all time in the 100 with 53.18. In the men’s 200 freestyle, the world record holder is Germany’s Paul Biedermann with a 1:42.00, and in the 100, his personal best time is a 48.31, outside the top 100 all-time.

(Although not the specialties of these swimmers, the times of the 100 meters events were obtained in important meets, where the athletes were in their prime, tapered and shaved)

In short course yards, that just doesn’t happen. As already mentioned, to swim well in 200 yards events, you need to be very fast in 100 yards.

The All-Time Rankings Don’t Lie

Take for example the men’s 200 freestyle in short course yards. Five athletes in history have broken the 1:30 barrier. And all of them have times around 41 seconds in the 100 – remembering that only one swimmer in history, Caeleb Dressel, swam below 40 seconds in the 100. In other words, 41 seconds is so fast that is an impossible time for most people.

Top 10 All-Time: Men’s 200 Freestyle (SCY)

Something similar happens in the women’s 200 backstroke. Of the 10 fastest female swimmers in history, nine – including all of the top 5 – have cracked the 51-second barrier in the 100 backstroke. Which is really fast.

 Top 10 All-Time: Women’s 200 Backstroke (SCY)

In fact, if you look at the NCAA record holders of the eight 200 races in short course yards, you will see that in three of them, the record holders do not have times in 100 races that rank them in the top 20 all-time.

But this happens only due to circumstances. For example, the NCAA record holder in the men’s 200 breaststroke is Leon Marchand with 1:47.67. His best time in the 100 breaststroke is 51.01 in the 100 breaststroke. But, during 2023 NCAAs, he split a 49.23 in the 400 medley relay. That is, he would have the potential, who knows, for a sub-50 in the 100 breaststroke in flat start, which would put him in the top 3 all-time. His best time of 51.01 was only due to him not having competed in the event at his prime.

 Top 10 All-Time: Men’s 200 Breaststroke (SCY)

Something similar occurs in the female short course yards 200 breaststroke. NCAA record holder Kate Douglass swam a 2:01.29 in the 2023 NCAAs, and her best time in the 100 breaststroke is 58.14 – which is clearly outdated, as 58.29 was her split in the first 100 of the 200. She has potential for an sub-57 in the 100, which would put her in the top 5 all-time.

 Top 10 All-Time: Women’s 200 Breaststroke (SCY)

The only exception is Ella Eastin, NCAA record holder in the 200 butterfly since 2018 with 1:49.51. She never really recorded fast times in the 100 yards event – her best time in the 100 butterfly is 52.51, and most female swimmers with fast times in the 200 have times between 49 and 50 seconds in the 100.

 Top 10 All-Time: Women’s 200 Butterfly (SCY)

All in all, of the eight NCAA record holders in 200 races, seven of them are insanely fast in 100 races. And most of the swimmers in the top 10 all-time performers in those events also are among the fastest in history of 100 events.

 Top 10 All-Time: Women’s 200 Freestyle (SCY)

 Top 10 All-Time: Men’s 200 Backstroke (SCY)

 Top 10 All-Time: Men’s 200 Butterfly (SCY)

This is a trend that is also observed not only among record holders but also among the 10 fastest performers in history of each 200 race. The vast majority have great times in 100 races.

The Difference Between SCY and LCM

As already mentioned, this does not necessarily occur in events in long course meters. It doesn’t take much effort to remember exceptional swimmers in the 200 and not so good in the 100, in addition to the aforementioned Subblety-Cook, Pellegrini and Biedermann: Rikke Pedersen, Rie Kaneto, Viktoria Gunes, Hali Flickinger, Mirela Belmonte, Anton Chupkov, Daiya Seto…

Hali Flickinger is an emblematic example. Olympic and world medalist in the 200 butterfly, one of the best swimmers in the world in the event in recent years. The best result she achieved in NCAAs was a third place in 2015. At the time, first place went to Kelsi Dahlia, with a time more than a second and a half faster than Flickinger’s. Dahlia was a sprint swimmer, known for her ability in the 50 and 100 butterfly events.

However, in short course yards, sprinters tend to do very well in 200 events – just like Dahlia, Louise Hansson, Simone Manuel, Zach Apple, Max McHugh, Joseph Schooling, and several others, who are not even close as efficient in 200 races in long course meters. This is a kind of similar to what happens in short course meters, but far from what is observed in long course meters.

There are two reasons for that: the presence of more turns, which means that swimmers with more explosiveness are able to exploit this skill in the impulses from the wall and in underwater swimming, and because they have to swim less. 200 yards is equivalent to 183 meters.

So a great 100 meter event swimmer is already halfway there to becoming a great 200 event swimmer in short course yards. The historic data shows this. If you want to succeed in the 200 yards, become a very fast swimmer in the 100. More than in long course meters, it is speed that will make you successful in short course yards.