2022 Short Course Worlds: Breaking Down Highs and Lows of the 200 IM Prelims Splits

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
• Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
• SCM (25m)
• Prize Money
• Meet Site
• Meet Schedule
• How To Watch
• Meet Roster Index
• Psych Sheets (Updated)
• Live Results
• Day 1 Prelims Heat Sheet
• SwimSwam Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

Women’s 200m IM – Prelims

• World Record: 2:01.86 – Katinka Hosszu, HUN (2014)
• World Junior Record: 2:04.48 – Yu Yiting, CHN (2021)
• Championship Record: 2:01.86 – Katinka Hosszu, HUN (2014)
• 2021 Champion: 2:04.29 – Sydney Pickrem, CAN

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:04.39
2. Alex Walsh (USA) – 2:05.94
3. Marrit Steenbergen (NED) – 2:06.01
4. Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:06.07
5. Charlotte Bonnet (FRA) – 2:06.70
6. Sydney Pickrem (CAN) – 2:07.15
7. Abbie Wood (GBR) – 2:07.20
8. Sara Franceschi (ITA) – 2:07.25

The United States holds the top two seeds in the women’s 200 IM, thanks to the powerful 1-2 punch of University of Virginia teammates Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh. The prelims of this race were a brutal one, with Tokyo Olympic champion Yui Ohashi missing out on the final.

So, how did the swimmers who did make the final split their races? Let’s take a look at how their splits stack up against each other:

Women’s 200 IM – Top 8 Splits

Douglass’ dominance is really on display here, as she posted the fastest splits on both butterfly and breaststroke, with 26.49 and 35.65, respectively. At the end of the breaststroke leg, she was leading her heat by 2.03 seconds, turning for the final 50 meters in 1:33.97 compared to Marrit Steenbergen‘s 1:36.00.

The 22-year-old Dutchwoman showed off her strong closing speed–and her blazing relay splits–at long-course European Championships earlier this summer. That speed was on display again here, as she charged home in 30.01 on the freestyle leg. Notably, Charlotte Bonnet was a close second on that split, just .05 seconds slower at 30.06.

One thing to especially pay attention to is Alex Walsh‘s freestyle split. Favored by many coming into the meet, Walsh established a strong pace at the outset of the race, holding a slight lead over Kaylee McKeown at the 200 and extending it over the breaststroke leg. She seemed to shut things down on the freestyle and just cruise, so watch for her freestyle split to drop down in the finals.

Defending champion Sydney Pickrem had the second-slowest butterfly and backstroke split in the field, ahead of only Sara Franceschi on the butterfly and Bonnet on backstroke. If she wants to have a chance at challenging the Americans, she’ll need to be faster there in the final.

MEN’S 200 IM – PRELIMS

• World Record: 1:49.63 – Ryan Lochte, USA (2012)
• World Junior Record: 1:51.45 – Matthew Sates, RSA (2021)
• Championship Record: 1:49.63 – Ryan Lochte, USA (2012)
• 2021 Champion: 1:51.15 – Seto Daiya, JPN

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Seto Daiya (JPN) – 1:51.76
2. Carson Foster (USA) – 1:51.89
3. Finlay Knox (CAN) – 1:52.50
4. Shaine Casas (USA)/Matthew Sates (RSA) – 1:52.52
5. –
6. Clyde Lewis (AUS) – 1:52.83
7. Alberto Razzetti (ITA) – 1:52.98
8. Ogata So (JPN) – 1:53.00

The women’s 200 IM prelims were close, but the men’s race was even closer. While 2.86 seconds separate first and eighth seed on the women’s side, the spread is only 1.24 seconds for the men. That means that we should be treated to great races in finals.

Despite the narrow spread, Daiya Seto and Carson Foster separated themselves from the field by being the only two men under 1:52. In fact, their times are the ones widening the gap from first to eighth; without them, the range would only be half a second.

Men’s 200 IM – Top 8 Splits

Seto is the defending champion in both the 200 and 400 IM. In prelims in Melbourne, he separated himself from the field with a blazing 31.89 breaststroke split. That’s faster than the 31.93 he split en route to his gold medal last year, which he earned with a winning time of 1:51.15. Recently, Seto seems to have been refocusing on his breaststroke; he’s entered as the top seed in the 200 breaststroke, with a 2:01.63 that’s only .33 off his lifetime best from 2017.

Another key split to pay attention to here is Finlay Knox‘s freestyle leg. Though this table doesn’t show it, his final 25 was 12.87, the only sub-13 in the field. That surge was what pushed him ahead of Shaine Casas to place second in the heat and qualify third overall. His time is only two tenths away from his own Canadian record of 1:52.32. If he can shed some time on the first 150 of his race, watch for that record to go down.

Shaine Casas and Matthew Sates head into finals tied for third with a 1:52.52. Through the first 150 meters, they swam their races similarly. They’re the only two to split sub-24 on the fly leg, and they have comparable times on breaststroke. Casas’ backstroke is about half a second faster, but that’s to be expected from the man who set a World Cup record in the 100 back and flirted with the world record.

However, Casas has a slower split that Sates on the freestyle leg, which could indicate that he backed off on freestyle. The American men were largely hit or miss during this prelims session, so we’ll have to wait until finals to see which camp Casas falls into. He’s had an electric fall on the World Cup circuit, so if he’s on, expect him to be in the mix for a medal.

Like Walsh and Casas, Foster seemed to shut it down on the freestyle too. The American men have the two slowest freestyle splits in the field, which gives some merit to the idea that they both were just doing what they needed to do to qualify and were saving firepower for finals.