U.S. Olympian, gold medalist, and NCAA Champion Tom Shields swam a lifetime best in the 200 yard fly in an exhibition race during the Cal – UCSD dual meet on Friday evening
Shields swam a 1:38.80 in an exhibition race. That improves his old lifetime best of 1:39.65 that he did at the 2013 NCAA Championships. At the time, he tied Michael Phelps‘ 2010 swim as the fastest 200 yard fly in history.
In the almost-7 years since that swim, Shields’ swim slipped to the 19th-best performance in history. After Friday’s swim, however, he is now back to the 6th-best performance, and 4th-best performer, in history.
Shields’ last 200 yard fly came in 2017, where at the U.S. College Challenge he swam 1:41.59. This is his 3rd 200 yard fly since graduating college. His is the fastest time (all ages) in the country this season, half-a-second ahead of Sam Pomajevich’s 1:39.35 from the Minnesota Invite.
The 28-year old Shields has had an emotional year, posting on social media in December that he had attempted suicide a year earlier.
In long course in the summer of 2019, he swam 1:56.12 in the 200 fly. His best time is a 1:55.09 from 2014.
All-Time Top Performers, 200 Yard Fly
- Jack Conger, 1:37.35 – 2017
- Joseph Schooling, 1:37.97 – 2016
- Andreas Vazaios, 1:38.60 – 2019
- Tom Shields, 1:38.80 – 2020
- Zheng Quah, 1:38.83 – 2017
- Vini Lanza, 1:39.28 – 2019
- Dylan Bosch, 1:39.33 – 2014
- Sam Pomajevich, 1:39.35 – 2019
- Jan Switkoswki, 1:39.55 – 2018
- Michael Phelps, 1:39.65 – 2010
Here comes Tokyo!
Here comes Tokyo.
Inspirational swim, Tom! We are all rooting for you!
Shields has been one of my heroes since I first discovered him midway through his college career.
At this stage, I’m a Masters swimmer and the 100/200 fly are some of my focus events. Now, to be totally realistic, I’d be ecstatic to finish a 150 SCY fly by the time he finishes his 200, so I’m not even in the ballpark or same zip code as he is as a butterfly talent, but watching his career’s ups and downs, especially the transition to LCM, has in a way mirrored my own.
I can’t speak to any of the mental health issues he’s dealt with, but as someone who’s had a pretty much consistently rough go of it as… Read more »
Replace those seven open turns with flip turns and see what he can go… Potentially one of the best SCY 200 “free” times this year.
Maybe getting help for mental health actually does help.
Great swim by Tom. I still remember back in 2013, watching how dominant he was in the 200 yard fly as a kid. Is there a race footage available?
Not to take anything away from the swim, which is amazing, but what NCAA rules do they follow at CAL and UCSD?
On page 50 of the 2020-2021 NCAA rule book under Exhibition Performances it states “An exhibition competitor must be eligible under NCAA rules to compete in the meet being contested.”
Tom completed his NCAA career in 2013. It would seem he has no NCAA eligibility remaining.
My mistake… The rule is on page 58 not 50, second paragraph under ARTICLE 1.
Usually it’s a separate from the NCAA exhibition. Swim alone (once he did it with post-grad Natalie Coughlan in back) that just takes advantage of a starter, touch pads. Not sure how the swim is officially sanctioned, but it’s not through NCAA.