By SwimSwam Contributors on SwimSwam
2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 10-15, 2024
- Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Prelims Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
- Finals Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
- Full Results (PDF)
Courtesy: Nick Starcevich
The 2024 Short Course World Championships did not disappoint and will be a meet to remember after a stunning 30 world records were broken in Budapest. With this meet finished, all super-suited short course world records are now wiped away never to be heard from again. Right?
Technically yes, this is true. All ratified short course world records have now been set in textile suits. The last two to fall were the women’s 50 fly, which Gretchen Walsh broke twice, and the men’s 200 free, which Luke Hobson also broke twice.
However, there is technically a “world’s fastest time” in short course meters that is still super-suited, and is over a second faster than the ratified world record.
The men’s 4x50m freestyle relay currently has a ratified world record of 1:21.80, set by the Americans at the 2018 Short Course World Championships in Hangzhou, China.
Caeleb Dressel led off, and he was followed by three more NCAA standouts, Ryan Held, Jack Conger and Michael Chadwick.
However, due to this event not being added to the World Aquatics list of recognized world records until July 25th, 2013, the “world’s fastest time” set by France at the 2008 European Short Course Championships is still significantly faster than the U.S. was in 2018.
That French squad featured the same group that won silver at the 2008 Olympics in the 4×100 free relay: Alain Bernard, Fabien Gilot, Amaury Leveaux, and Frederick Bousquet combined for a blistering time of 1:20.77.
A video of this remarkable relay is provided below:
Jordan Crooks‘ newly minted world record of 19.90 in the 50 free was a jaw-dropping performance and appears to be a near-flawless race. It makes it hard to believe that Leveaux and Bousquet were ripping 19s from a relay start 16 years ago, before anybody even kicked underwater to the 15-meter mark.
Split Comparison:
| France, 2008 | USA, 2018 |
| Alain Bernard– 20.64 | Caeleb Dressel– 20.43 |
| Fabien Gilot– 20.33 | Ryan Held– 20.25 |
| Amaury Leveaux– 19.93 | Jack Conger– 20.59 |
| Frederick Bousquet– 19.87 | Michael Chadwick– 20.53 |
| Total – 1:20.77 | Total – 1:21.80 |
It’ll clearly take an unforeseen set of four men to break this mark and it may not happen for a very, very long time. Time will tell what this unratified supersuited world record’s fate is.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: The Super-Suit World Record That Wasn’t: Men’s 4×50 Free