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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18-year-old Isaac Cooper of Australia took the top seed of the men’s 50m backstroke, clocking a new World Junior Record in the process.
Competing in tonight’s semi-final of the event at the 2022 Short Course World Championships, Cooper blasted a new lifetime best of 22.52. That easily overtook the previous WJR mark of 22.77 Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov put on the books in 2018.
Cooper’s semi-final outing landed the teen lane 4 for tomorrow night’s final, placing him ahead of the likes of American Ryan Murphy and Poland’s Kacper Stokowski. Murphy touched in 22.74 while Stokowski tied the 100m backstroke winner here to also flank Cooper for the final.
Before this competition, the Australian national record stood at the 22.91 Mitch Larkin established in 2015. Cooper’s personal best rested at the 23.31 he logged at the Australian National Championships this past August. Cooper already busted both of those times to bits with this morning’s prelims performance of 22.79 before he lowered that to the 22.52 WJR in this session.
For his efforts, Cooper also now checks in as the #3 performer all-time worldwide in this men’s SCM 50 backstroke event.
All-Time Men’s SCM 50 Backstroke Performers
- Florent Manaudou (FRA), 22.22 2014
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 22.47 2021
- Isaac Cooper (AUS), 22.52 2022
- Ryan Murphy (USA), 22.53 2021
- Guilherme Guido (BRA), 22.55 2019
Cooper’s swim comes just a day after the Australian coaches opted to leave him off of the country’s mixed 4×50 medley relay, using Bradley Woodward on the backstroke instead. Woodward only split a 23.87, over a second slower than Cooper’s time from today, and the team missed finals all together by placing 10th in prelims. Even Cooper’s previous best time of 23.31 would have been good enough to get the Aussies into the finals.
Last summer, Cooper was sent home from the Australian team’s training camp prior to the start of the Commonwealth Games after he was caught overusing prescription medication. At the time, Swimming Australia quoted “wellbeing challenges” as the reason for his departure. In an interview Cooper noted that since then, he’s gone to therapy and addressed his issue, stating that he’s “been in a great environment” lately.