Women’s 100m Freestyle

Emma McKeon is back and ready to deliver more triumphs to Australia. She was most decorated athlete (not only swimmer) at the Tokyo Olympics with 7 medals (4 gold, 3 bronze) and amassed 14 medals over the four legs of the Swimming World Cup, including 10 gold. Even though she bypassed this year’s World Championships in Budapest, later she set another record for a single edition medal tally at the Commonwealth Games (8, 6-1-1), so she is ready to deliver more for the hosts of these championships.

McKeon can also tighten the Aussie grip on the freestyle titles in Melbourne after Lani Pallister doubled down the 400-800m golds, and McKeon is well set to make the 50-100m double too. She already has a title under her belt after she anchored the 4x100m free relay to a world record swim while clocking the fastest-ever split (49.96) in history.

Based on her speed hit in the relay on the opening night, McKeon may continue her nation’s tradition of beating the WR in this event: 5 out of the last 7 WR-breaking performance came from Aussies: Libby Lenton (twice in 2005, then in 2009), then by Cate Campbell, who could better Lenton’s shiny WR in 2015, then could regain the WR from Sarah Sjostrom in 2017. Campbell’s 50.25 is the time to beat – if McKeon could do it in the final, she would become the first one to swim a WR in this event at the Worlds since Athens 2000. Just to see how much speed swimmers gained in two decades: the great Swede’s record was 52.17 22 years ago, almost two seconds slower than the current mark.

A year ago, Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey added a chapter to the history books by making the 100-200m free double in Abu Dhabi. Never before in the history of the World Championships – short- and long-course alike – could any female win these two titles in the same edition. It was done only by East Germans at the Olympics, by Kornelia Ender in 1976 and Barbara Krause in 1980. (Footnote: even among the males this is a rarity: at the long-course Worlds, Romania’s David Popovici was the first one this June in Budapest since the inaugural 1973 edition who could achieve this feat.)

Haughey qualified with the second-best time and probably needs something special to catch Aussie super-rocket Emma McKeon, however, if she could do it, she would be the first one since 2006 who could retain the 100m free short-course world title.

The first eight editions saw four title defences in a row: Le Yingji (CHN) 1993-95, Jenny Thompson (USA) 1997-99, Therese Alshammar (SWE) 200-2002, Lisbeth Lenton (AUS) 2004-2006. As a sharp contrast, the next seven titles went to six different swimmers. During these years, as a great demonstration of the Dutch sprinting school, three greats from the Netherlands managed to hit the wall first four times in total: Marleen Veldhuis in 2008, Ranomi Kromowidjojo in 2010 and 2018, and Femke Heemskerk in 2014.

Men’s 100m Freestyle

Jordan Crooks is 100m away of making history and delivering the first-ever medal at any FINA majors to the Cayman Islands. Training in the US, at the University of Tennessee, the 20-year-old phenomenon has already matched some fast times clocked by Caeleb Dressel at the college meets.

Though Crooks faces some pretty tough challenges from the ‘monsters’ of the field. World record-holder Kyle Chalmers, first of all, is swimming in home waters. Last year, at the Kazan leg of the Swimming World Cup, Chalmers could bring down one of the WRs from the shiny suit era which seemed untouchable: he shaved off 0.10sec from Amaury Leveaux’s towering 44.94 mark from 2008. So far only three swimmers were able to dip under 45sec, Leveaux, Chalmers and once Vlad Morozov (in 2018).

And there is David Popovici of Romania, who ‘dealt with’ the long-course WR this August at the Europeans in Rome, finally beating Cesar Cielo’s mark from the shiny 2009 Worlds, also held in the Foro Italico. It’s yet to be seen if Popovici is able to do it in short-course as well – he clocked a junior WR in the semis (45.91). From a historical perspective, only the great Alexander Popov (RUS) held the two 100m marks (long-course and short-course) simultaneously (between 1994 and 2000). Alain Bernard (FRA) is the other swimmer in history who also broke both the long-course and the short-course WR in this event but never topped the ranks at the same time (in fact in the 25m pool he owned the mark for only six days).

As for world record-beating swims – it has never happened at the short-course World Championships in the 100m free, so with so many fast men around, Melbourne is a perfect site for a blast from the finalists.

Last year Alessandro Miressi pipped USA’s Ryan Held for the title by 0.06sec, to become the first Italian to win this event. Miressi clocked the fourth fastest time in the semis, so he should go for a title defence which is yet to happen since 2000: during the first five editions there were two successful attempts, from Fernando Scherer of Brazil (1993-95) and Lars Frolander from Sweden (1999-2000), but in the new millennium not even the greatest ones could win back-to-back golds.

Keep an eye on France’s Maxime Grousset, with the second-best effort in the semis, as he already bagged a surprise silver at the World Championships in Budapest behind Popovici, and was third in the 50m free. It may sound strange with Alain Bernard’s and Amaury Levaux’s massive presence on the WR-breakers’ list, but no Frenchman ever has been crowned short-course world champion in the 100m free – Fabien Gilot (2010) and 2012 Olympic champion Florent Manadou (2014) clinched one silver apiece in the past.

Be ready for a thrilling finish – in the last four editions, only fractions of a second separated the champion and the runner-up: 2014: 0.06, 2016: 0.01, 2018: 0.02, 2021: 0.06.

Women’s 200m Butterfly

With Olympic champion and title holder Zhang Yufei bypassing this meet and Chinese compatriot Zhang Yifan out after the heats, the golden gate is wide open in front of the finalists.

USA’s Hali Flickinger is still chasing an elusive major title in the 200m fly after finishing runner-up at the 2019 and 2022 World Championships and third at the Olympics in Tokyo. She may just hope not to continue the US’ silver streak – Americans took the second place in the last three editions –, if she manages to come first finally, she would be the first winner from the US since 2008, though compatriot Dakota Luther was more convincing in the heats.

The Americans may seek a 1-2 finish, something that happened only once so far in this event, in 2004. Well, back then two US swimmers, Kaitlin Sandeno and Mary Descenza grabbed gold and silver respectively in Indianapolis.

Lana Pudar is ready to add another chapter to the history books – last year she became the first-ever medal winner for Bosnia and Hercegovina at the short-course Worlds by claiming bronze in this event.

Anyone winning the title may join the company of giants as the 200m fly at this event often welcomed some of the household names of women’s swimming and once they entered, they all delivered. Just to pick a few from the champions’ list: 2-time Olympic champion Aussie legend Susie O’Neil (won in 1995), fellow Aussie greats, 3-time Olympic gold medallist Petria Thomas (2002) and 2-time Olympic champion and 5-time world champion Jessicah Schipper (2006), Rio gold medallists Mireia Belmonte of Spain (2010, 2014) and Katinka Hosszu of Hungary (2012, 2016, 2018).

Men’s 200m Butterfly

This event features the fewest names on the winners’ list as 8 out of the 15 titles were landed by two greats: Great Britain’s James Hickman is still tied first on the all-time ranks with five consecutive wins between 1997 and 2004, and South Africa’s Chad le Clos won the event three times (2010, 2014, 2016) and stoon on the podium in 2018 (silver) and 2021 (bronze) as well.

Chad le Clos’ plan to chase down Ryan Lochte on the all-time individual medal ranks suffered a minor blow on Day 2 as he couldn’t make the podium in the 50m butterfly. Now he may reduce the gap in his pet event – so far Lochte tops the list with 24 podiums, Le Clos has 18.

The other swimmer with 5 straight wins is Daya Seto (in the 200m IM) and the Japanese master of this event is ready to boost his 200m fly medal collection too: he already has a gold (2018), a silver (2014) and a bronze (2016). Seto also has a silver (2019) and a bronze (2017) from the long-course Worlds.

When Italy’s Alberto Razzetti won this event in Abu Dhabi 2021, he brought back the title to Europe for the first time since Hickman’s fifth win in 2004.

Top qualifier Trenton Julian will have a mission in the evening’s final: the 200m fly is one of the three men’s events (besides the 50m and 1500m free), where US swimmers are yet to win a gold medal. In an event, which was ruled by a certain Michael Phelps for ages, this definitely sounds strange, but since the GOAT took part only one s/c Worlds (in 2004, and he did not enter the 200m fly), a silver by Tom Shields from 2016 is the Americans’ lonely medal in 18 editions.

Finishing second in the 50m final, Noe Ponti showed something new – beforehand, the Swiss excelled in the longest distance, he came second behind Razzetti a year ago, it’s yet to be seen if besides the speed he has the stamina for the 200m this time.

Anyway, the race for the gold is wide open since the top two names are missing from the entry list: long-course WR-holder, Olympic, world and European champion Kristof Milak of Hungary, who has been unbeaten in the 50m pool since 2018, and the Tokyo silver medallist Tomoru Honda who stunned the world by setting a new s/c WR (1:46.85) in October – it was a hammering in fact as he ripped 1.4sec off of the old mark set by compatriot Seto in 2018.

Women’s 100m Breaststroke

The first big showdown between the two 25-year-old phenomenon Lilly King of the US and Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania. Both seemed to have their respective heydays already over – Meilutyte won the Olympics in 2012, King in 2016, the Lithuanian indeed once quit swimming before coming back for this year. Now they are back, stronger than ever, and seem to hit a different gear than the rest of the field.

They also had some fine spells at the short-course Worlds, though Meilutyte earned her collection’s larger part back in 2012-14 (3 gold, 3 silver), while King’s only appearance dates back to 2016 when she bagged four titles (three in relays) and a silver in Windsor. Interestingly, the American excelled in the 200m this June in Budapest, while Meilutyte claimed a gold-bronze combo (50-100m) both in Budapest and later in Rome, at the Europeans.

Meilutyte’s only victory in this event came 10 years ago in Istanbul, she could still become only the second swimmer to earn a second title in the 100m. After the first 11 editions saw 11 different winners, Jamaican legend Alia Atkinson clinched three golds in a row (2014-16-18), then China’s Tang Qianting came first a year ago in Abu Dhabi. Swimming on lane 7 in the final this time, the 18 years old Chinese may also have a shot for a second title.

Talking about the world records, this brings us back to the King versus Meilutyte topic – it is also a duel between the long-course and the short-course WR holder. King brought down Meilutyte’s mark in the 50m pool five years ago at the FINA Worlds in Budapest, while the Lithuanian still holds the short-course mark, in the company of Atkinson who, quite stunningly, tied it not only once but twice (1:02.36). Meilutyte, on the top of her career, smashed the l/c and the s/c WR within three months back in 2013, something barely happened in the past in any stroke and any distance (i. e. setting new marks in the same event in the 50m and in the 25m pool in such a short period of time).

Men’s 100m Breaststroke

This summer saw the respective breaks of two of the greatest winning runs in history when Adam Peaty had to bypass first the World Championships, then the Europeans (due to his injury, and then to gain some more recovery time). The British Lion achieved the 50-100 double at three straight Worlds (2015-17-19) and at four Europeans (2014-16-18-21) while won back-to-back Olympic titles in the 100m. Still, as a contrast, the short-course pool has never been his favourite playing field in the past, he had more defeats than wins provided he showed up at all – took part in three majors, the 2014 Worlds and the 2015 and 2017 Europeans but could clinch only a single gold, at the 2017 s/c Euros in Copenhagen in the 50m. Still, now he felt he had to come to Melbourne – and here he is, ready to race in the 100m final once more.

Still, it’s going to be a bit strange to see him on lane 6. Usually he starts from the block with a 4 on its side. Indeed, he amassed 3 Olympic titles, 8 world titles, and 16 European golds – but he is yet to claim a gold at the short-course Worlds (in Doha eight years ago he bagged three silvers). Back in 2020, at the ‘bubble’ meet of the ISL he once proved he could be a threat in the 25m pool too as he managed to bring down Cameron van den Burgh’s marks from 2009, clocked in a shiny suit. Since then, Ilya Shymanovich further improved the record (which stands at 55.28). Now the Belorussian, who is also the title holder, has not been invited to Melbourne, so Peaty, the only man ever covering the distance under 57sec in the big pool, has to clash with other challengers.

USA’s Nic Fink has already proved that he is a fine short-course swimmer – he amassed six medals in Abu Dhabi, including two golds and a bronze in the three breast events, though the only final he could not win was the 100m. Fink already restarted collecting some silverware here in Melbourne as he was part of the US relay winning the 4x50m mixed medley.

Another contender is the top qualifier from Italy, Nicolo Martinenghi, who was one of the five European male greats who won the same event in June at the Worlds in Budapest, then in August at the Europeans in Rome – he came first in the 100m both times, though never failed to mention that the win didn’t have the real value as Peaty was not present. Martinenghi has also kicked in the party at these championships with a silver in the 4x50m mixed medley – it’s his 3^rd s/c World silver as he finished runner-up both in the 50m and 100m individual events last year in Abu-Dhabi.

With Shymanovich being away, a new champion will be crowned in Melbourne. There is nothing new in this: so far only Sweden's Patrik Isaksson could retain his title in 1997-99, and besides him, only Ukraine’s Oleh Lisogor (2002, 2006) and South African Cameron van den Burgh could grab a second gold in the 100m breast (2010, 2018).

Men’s 400m Freestyle

For a while the ‘usual suspects’ grabbed the titles in this event – the ones like Aussie Daniel Kowalski (1993-95), fellow legend Grant Hackett (1999, 2002), Russia’s Yuri Prilukov with a rare triple (2004-06-08) and German emperor Paul Biedermann (2010-2012), who owns two long-course WRs from the shiny suit era which still stands firmly (200&400m free, also the s/c 200m free). Then all of a sudden a new era began with the stunning win of Hungary’s Peter Bernek in 2014, followed by Korea’s Park Tae-Hwan, Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys and Austria’s Felix Aubock – four fine swimmers from four nations barely made the podium earlier in the 400m free at any major events.

Though Aubock is not here, still, the chance is there that this trend might go on – South Africa’s Matt Sates arrived at Melbourne again in tremendous form, and produced a fantastic swim while winning the 200m IM. Switzerland's Antonio Djakovic might have a shot at the title after taking bronze last year. Or Rapsys – before one my turn towards Kieren Smith, representative of the biggest powerhouse. Smith bagged two silvers before winning the event in the Swimming World Cup’s last leg in Indianapolis. He had long- (Budapest) and short-course golds (Abu Dhabi 2021) as members of the US 4x200m free relays, now, after taking a bronze in the 4x100m free here, he may seek individual glory. Should he hit first, will take the title to the US for the first time since 2000 when Chad Carvin grabbed the Americans’ lonely victory in this event.

Besides the last two ‘shiny suit’ individual WRs staying from 2008-09 (200 and 800m free), Yannick Agnel’s 3:32.25 is one of the other two marks which is already 10 years old on the men’s records list. The other is Lochte’s top time in the 200m IM, Sates came close to it on Day 1, can he do the same with Agnel’s all-time best effort from 2012?

Women’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay

If it’s relay time, a new world record seems to be guaranteed in Melbourne: during the first two days of the Championships, all four relay events ended with a new world record. Italy (men’s 4x100m free), Australia (women’s 4x100m free and 4x200m free) and the USA (4x50m mixed medley) all set new global marks while winning the respective events.

This relatively new event – which appeared in the programmes at the majors in 2013 – has seen two WR-breaking swims at the s/c Worlds, though both happened in Doha 2014: the Dutch already bettered the best time in the morning heats before improving it further in the finals. And they went on to set new marks in 2017 and 2020. Ranomi Kromowidjojo was part of all four speeding relays – after she retired, maybe not the Dutch will break the next record.

Indeed, Kromowidjojo stood on the podium at the previous four editions, when this event was held, the Netherlands won the inaugural final in 2014, then Canada delighted the home crowd in Windsor in 2016, while the last two went to the USA.

Since Emma McKeon is back, it might be time for the Aussies to win this race – so far, they earned a single bronze in this relay, in 2018.

Australia is also set to do a complete sweep of the women’s free relays (4x50, 4x100, 4x200). That would match the Netherlands’ feat achieved in Doha 2014 and all three victories came with a new world record. The Aussies have already ticked the two longer distances (gold + WR), now it’s time for the Dash Show.

Men’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay

Italy had a great duel with the Russians in Abu Dhabi where they finished 1-1. Italy won this event, by 0.14sec, and the Russians came first in the 4x100m, by 0.16sec. Indeed, the Russians medalled at all four editions, won the first two (2014, 2016) and were runners-up in the following two. Italy had two bronzes (2014, 2018) before their 2021 triumph, and the US could finally win this event in 2018 after two silver medals when Caeleb Dressel attended the meet. In Abu Dhabi, the Americans failed to reach the podium – the Dutch out-touched them by 0.03sec for the bronze –, something rarely happens to them in any male free relay events.

At home soil, the Aussies will surely have a word or two – they have to, as they are yet to win a medal in this event. Indeed, 10 of the 12 available medals since 2014 went to the Russians (4), Italy (3) and the US (3), with Japan and the Netherlands picking one bronze apiece.

The last two world records came at these championships: the Russians clocked one in Doha 2014, and the US had the next one (1:21.80, still on top) in Hangzhou 2018. WR in every four years – and WR in all relays here in Melbourne; there are at least two good reasons for beating the standing mark this evening.

To Be Continued? 4 Relays, 4 World Records in Melbourne so Far. Watch...