Canada’s Acevedo, Poland’s Stokowski Set National Records During 50 Backstroke Prelims

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Day 3 of action at the 2022 SC World Championships got off to a quick start for Canadian Javier Acevedo and Pole Kacper Stokowski both broke their respective national records in the men’s 50 backstroke. 

In the prelims of the event, Stokowski finished 1st in heat 4, placing 1st overall into the semifinals. His time of 22.78 cut time off of Tomasz Polewka’s Polish National Record of 22.96 that was set back in 2015. In addition, he bettered his personal best of 22.98. 

Stokowski has already made an appearance in a backstroke final in Melbourne, racing to a 6th place finish in yesterday’s 100 backstroke final with a time of 49.74. 

Acevedo managed to touch 2nd in his heat behind Stokowski with a time of 23.10, good for both the 6th seed for the semi finals and a new Canadian Record. With his swim, Acevedo shattered both his best time and previous national record of 23.20 that he set during last month’s World Cup stop in Indianapolis. Prior to that, Acevedo also broke the record with a 23.24 at the World Cup in Berlin. 

The swim marks an upswing for Acevedo after he got off to a rocky start during the first days of the meet. Despite entering the meet as the 6th seed in the 100 backstroke and the 11th seed in the 200 IM, Acevedo failed to make it past the prelims round of either event, placing 18th in the 100 back and 17th in the 200 IM. In the 100 backstroke, he added more than a second to his personal best of 49.71 that was set just last month at the World Cup. 

Acevedo having a turn-around could be a good sign for the Canadian relays, as he serves a critical role on the 400 medley relay and may potentially find himself on one of the mixed relays as well.