SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers if we’d see a sub-20 in the individual (non-relay start) 50 free at Short Course Worlds:
RESULTS
Question: Will we see a 19-second flat-start 50 free at Short Course Worlds?
- Yes – 54.0%
- No – 46.0%
Just over half of voters predicted that we would see the first man ever to break 20 seconds in the 50-meter (short course) freestyle at Short Course Worlds in December.
The favorite appears to be Caeleb Dressel, who has shattered short course yards barriers (most notably the hallowed 18-second barrier in short course yards) and also broke a textile world record in the 50 free at the most recent long course World Championships, in 2017.
Dressel struggled through the summer of 2018, and later revealed he was injured in a motorcycle accident shortly before U.S. Nationals and Pan Pacs. While he should be recovered from that scrape, he swims in a training system that is notoriously hesitant to rest, so it’s unclear just how primed he’ll be for Short Course Worlds coming off of a relatively short training block (September through December) and with long course Worlds coming up next summer.
Other top threats are Russia’s Vladimir Morozov (who has been consistently fast on the World Cup, and has a lifetime-best of 20.31 from 2017) and Great Britain’s Ben Proud (who actually broke Dressel’s textile world record in long course over the summer, though we don’t know yet if he will swim Short Course Worlds – he was scheduled to swim at Energy for Swim prior to its cancellation).
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters how many of the 51 athletes who signed Energy for Swim contracts would have actually competed if multi-year bans were still on the table as a potential sanction:
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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner
This is the short course sprint record showdown every fan of college swimming could ask for!