Mallory Comerford Re-Breaks American 200 Free Record In 1:51.81

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
• Hangzhou, China
• Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
• SCM (25m)
• Provisional Entry List
• Entries Book
• Meet Schedule
• Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00 am ET
• S. Live Stream (Finals – First Three Days)
• S. Live Stream (Prelims, Finals Last Day)
• FINA TV Livestream (All Sessions)
• Live Results (Omega)

After knocking two-tenths off the record in prelims, Mallory Comerford was almost a full second under Missy Franklin‘s old American Record in the 200 free in the final in Hangzhou, clocking a time of 1:51.81 to top her prelim record of 1:52.52.

In the heats, Comerford’s swim broke Franklin’s old mark of 1:52.74 set in 2015 at the Duel in the Pool. That swim had put Comerford into a tie for 10th all-time, and with this swim moves up into 8th.

After Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands led the way early, Comerford flipped 1st at the 150 in 1:22.93, just three-tenths off world record pace, but it was Australian Ariarne Titmus who charged home with a final split of 28.19 to run down Comerford and snag the gold medal in 1:51.38. That broke the Commonwealth Record for Titmus and put her 4th all-time.

Compared to the prelims, Comerford was faster on all four 50s. Check out a comparison below:

This improves on her finish at the last SC World Championships back in 2016 where she placed 5th in the final in 1:53.79.

It’s important to note that Allison Schmitt has been faster, going 1:51.67 at the 2009 Duel in the Pool, but that was swim was done during the period when USA Swimming stopped recognizing American Records done in the rubber suits.