2021 FINA SHORT COURSE SWIMMING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 16th – Tuesday, December 21st
- Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- SCM (25m)
- Prize Money
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- FINA Live Results
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Another FINA Short Course World Championships final saw another tie, as the Russian Swimming Federation and the United States each touched in 1:30.51 to take co-gold here on day 5 in Abu Dhabi. They matched the Championships Record in the process.
Russia was the early leader, as backstroking ace Kliment Kolesnikov fired off an opening split of 22.76. He and Brazilian Gabriel Fantoni (22.84) were the only sub-23 second swimmers of the beginning leg, while American Shaine Casas was 23.11.
Next up for RSF was Kirill Strelnikov who produced a breaststroke split of 25.62, sending the squad into 3rd place while American Nic Fink swam lights out to a 25.13 leg to give the stars n’ stripes the edge.
Former Cal Bear Tom Shields busted out a super quick 21.75 while RSF’s Andrei Minakov was only .01 behind in 21.76 to make it a two-team battle. Italy’s Matteo Rivolta was also under 22 seconds in 21.95 to move his squad up to the 3rd spot ahead of Brazil.
Finally, another former NCAA swimmer in Vlad Morozov unleashed a 20.37 anchor to bring RSF to the wall at the same time as American Ryan Held who touched in 20.52. Of note, Italy’s Lorenzo Zazzeri was lightning quick in 20.29, the fastest of the field.
In terms of the Championships Record, the former mark stood at the 1:30.51 Brazil threw down 7 years ago at the 2014 edition for these Short Course World Championships in Doha.
Splits comparison among the trio of relays:
Back
2021 RSF Kolesnikov – 22.76
2021 USA Casas – 23.11
2014 BRA Guilherme Guido – 23.42
Breast
2021 RSF Strelnikov – 25.62
2021 USA Finc – 25.13
2014 BRA Felipe Franca Silva – 25.33
Fly
2021 RSF Minakov – 21.76
2021 USA Shields – 21.75
2014 BRA Nicholas Santos – 21.68
Free
2021 RSF Morozov – 20.37
2021 USA Held – 20.52
2014 BRA Cesar Cielo – 20.08
Great, thanks for sharing this article.
Russia should’ve gone with Kostin on BR. Dude can throw down a 25.3
Hate when people dismiss Cielo’s accomplishments as just being a product of the super suit era. Granted that his 100 free time was definitely suit aided, he’s on a very short list of the best sprinters of all time.
He was pretty consistently 21.3-21.4 after the suit era, pre-injuries. He would’ve medaled at any of the recent OGs with those times and had he not blown out his shoulder in 2015, I think he would’ve been the Olympic champion in 2016. Also one of the most clutch swimmers in history–his season-best times were nearly always in the final of OG/WC. Hawke calls him the greatest big-time swimmer ever.
It’s probably also because he’s tested positive for a banned substance before, even if it was handwaved
well thats a new one for me… have we ever seen 3 teams co-opt a record like this??
Brazils back half in 2014 was insane
It was probably Cielo best SC competition ever.. the same where he went 44,74 on the 4×100 medley
The Gordian knot of ties