Record Round-up & More Analysis From Day 1 Of SC World C’ships

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
• Hangzhou, China
• Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
• SCM (25m)
• Live Results (Omega)

#1 – Caeleb Dressel is King

Caeleb Dressel kicked off his Short Course World Championships campaign at a high velocity, leading off the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay with an American Record for his leg. Clocking an opening 45.66 stunner, Dressel broke the hours-old AR set by Ryan Held at 45.82 in prelims. Held’s swim broke the 46.25 mark set by Ian Crocker in 2004, and Pieroni had tied that time in October on one of the World Cup stops.

As a friendly reminder, although Dressel’s mark is officially a new American Record, Nathan Adrian has been faster, leading off the 400 free relay at the 2009 Duel in the Pool in 45.08 (and going 45.42 individually), but those swims were done in the period where USA Swimming had stopped recognizing American Records done with the rubber suits, so the 45.08 was never officially an American Record.

As a testament to just how special Dressel is, the former Florida Gator now owns the American Record in the 100 freestyle across all formats – short course yards (39.90), long course meters (47.17) and now short course meters (45.66). By our research, he is the first American to hold all three 100 free records simultaneously.

#2 – Daiya Seto’s First World Record

A mainstay on the international swimming scene for several years, 24-year-old Daiya Seto finally crossed into new territory with his first World Record. Holding off defending World Champion Chad Le Clos of South Africa in tonight’s 200m fly final, Seto crushed a new WR of 1:48.24 to become the fastest man ever in the event.

Seto took 400m IM bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games and followed that performance up with 2 bronze medals at the 2017 Long Course World Championships in the 200m fly and 400m IM. At the most recent Pan Pacific Championships, Seto continued his elite meet medal haul with 200m fly gold and 400m IM bronze.

Seto also produced some impressive performances over the course of the FINA World Cup Series, including a new World Cup Record in the 400 IM at 3:57.25. He’ll be taking on that same event later here in Hangzhou.

#3 – Katinka Hosszu/Wang Shun First Repeat Winners from 2016

Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu of Hungary stormed her way to the top of the podium in the women’s 400m IM, clocking a winning time of 4:21.40 to become our first repeat winner of these Championships. Hosszu was also the 400m IM champion at the 2016 edition of this meet in Windsor, where she won overwhelmingly by 6+ seconds, producing a gold medal-garnering effort of 4:21.67.

Tonight, Hosszu touched just slightly faster than 2 years ago, but still commanded the victory by over 4 seconds ahead of American Melanie Margalis. Hosszu’s repeat victory checks-in as the 10th fastest performance of all-time.

Wang Shun of China accomplished the same repeat feat on the men’s side, taking the 200m IM in 1:51.01. That beats what he threw down back in 2016 for the title, the 1:51.74 that represented the only man in the Windsor final under 1:52. Tonight Wang remained the only sub-1:52 swimmer, with America’s Josh Prenot settling for silver in 1:52.69.

#4 – Record Round-up

Below are the National, Continental and World Records we tracked during day 1’s sessions in no particular order:

• Ryan Held, American Record, men’s 100m freestyle – 45.82
• Caeleb Dressel, American Record, men’s 100m freestyle – 45.66 (replaced Held’s time)
• Olivia Smoliga, American Record, women’s 100m backstroke – 55.47
• Jan Switowski, Polish Record, men’s 200m IM – 1:53.60
• Brendan Hyland, Irish Record, men’s 200m fly – 1:53.19
• Conor Ferguson, Irish Record, men’s 100m back – 52.04
• Ariarne Titmus, Australian Record/Oceanic Record/Commonwealth Record, women’s 200m free – 1:51.38
• Daiya Seto, Japanese National Record/Asian Record, WORLD RECORD, men’s 200m fly – 1:48.24
• Chad Le Clos, South African National Record/African Record, men’s 200m fly – 1:48.32
• Li Zhuhaho, Chinese National Record, men’s 200m fly – 1:50.92
• German women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, German Record – 3:33.27
• American men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, American Record, WORLD RECORD – 3:03.03
• Wang Shun, men’s 200m IM, Chinese Record – 1:51.01
• Bradlee Ashby, men’s 200m IM, New Zealand Record – 1:54.01
• Fantine Lessafre, women’s 400m IM, tied French Record – 4:27.31
• Martina Carraro, women’s 50m breast, Italian Record – 29.79
• Mallory Comerford, women’s 200m free, American Record – 1:51.81
• Danas Rapsys, men’s 400m free, Lithuanian Record – 3:34.01
• Guilherme Guido, men’s 100m back, Brazilian Record/South American Record – 49.45
• Fernando Scheffer, men’s 400m free, Brazilian Record/South American Record – 3:39.10
• Miho Teramura, women’s 50m breast, Japanese Record – 30.14
• Brazilian men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Brazilian Record/South American Record – 3:05.15
• Russian men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Russian Record/European Record – 3:03.11
• Lisa Mamié, women’s 50m breast, Swiss Record – 31.04
• Yannick Käser, men’s 100m breast, tied his Swiss Record – 58.61
• Katsumi Nakamura, men’s 100m free, Japanese Record – 46.22