Jack Conger Accomplished Something on Saturday that Only Michael Phelps Has Done in Yards

On Saturday, University of Texas sophomore Jack Conger broke his own school record in the 200 yard fly with a 1:40.34 that was the 5th-fastest performance in NCAA history and the 8th-fastest performance at any level.

In the process, he became just the second swimmer in the history of 25 yard pools to go faster than 1:41 both in his 200 fly and his 200 back – when he was still in high school, Conger swam a 1:38.75 that ranks him as the 11th-fastest swimmer in the history of that event. The first was the great Michael Phelps, who early in his career was a world-class caliber backstroker. Phelps has been 1:39.72 in the 200 back and 1:39.65 in the 200 fly.

Conger’s shift further-and-further away from the backstroke and toward the butterfly events has been a long-speculated, but only recently-proven, verification that Conger’s best chance at an Olympic team in 2016 might be in the butterfly events. While Conger hasn’t totally given up on the backstrokes (he still calls the 200 back his ‘favorite event’), after recent results in both short course and long course, it’s becoming more-and-more likely that we will see him do some butterfly in Omaha in the summer of 2016.

The list of swimmers who have gone under 1:41 in the 200 fly is much shorter than the list of swimmers who has gone under 1:41 in the 200 back, and Conger’s next challenge would be to join Phelps as the only swimmer under 1:40 in both races.

That got us thinking, however, that surely there are other swimmers who could clear that noteworthy, if arbitrary, barrier in both 200 yard races if they ever swam in 25 yard pools with any kind of an effort.

Five Most Likely Candidates Capable of Joining This List

1. Chad le Clos – That le Clos, the defending World and Olympic Champion in the 200 fly, could go under 1:41 in the 200 yard fly is basically a given. He’s the current short course meters World Record holder with a 1:48.56, and his country mate Dylan Bosch is the fastest ever in yards (1:39.33) – and it would be hard to make a case that given how handily Le Clos beats Bosch in long course (4-5 seconds) that he wouldn’t be faster in short course as well. Le Clos, however, is an underrated backstroker. At December’s KZN Premier Championships, two weeks after his big taper for short course worlds, Le Clos swam a 2:00.47 in long course, and has been as fast as 1:57.93. He seems to be the modern-day most likely candidate to be able to pull this off.

2. Tom Shields – Shields has already done half of this – he was, until 10 months ago, the U.S. Open Record holder in the 200 fly with a 1:39.65 (tied with Phelps – and still American Record holder). With how good he is underwater, though, Shields is much more than a butterflier in the short course pool. Consider that he’s the 9th-fastest 100 yard backstroker in history (44.86), and he’s already proven that he can hold on for a 200 yard race, so there’s every reason to believe that Shields could split, worst-case, 47-53 and get under the 200 yard backstroke target as well. His current lifetime best is 1:44.35 from a dual meet at the end of his sophomore year.

3. Matt Grevers – Now that Grevers has turned his career into primarily one of sprinting (though he still swims a decent 200 backstroke for training), it’s unlikely that he could get under 1:41 in the 200 fly. He’s kind of the flip of Shields, though – Grevers is one of only 9 swimmers to have been under 45 seconds in the 100 fly. We can’t find any record that Grevers has ever swum the 200 fly in yards (or any course for that matter), so this is totally speculative.

4. Laszlo Cseh  – There’s no doubt that Cseh can get the hard one, the 200 fly. In long course, he’s the second-fastest 200 butterflier in history behind only Michael Phelps. What’s often forgotten about Cseh, because so much of his success has come in the IM races (23 European Championships in those events alone) is that he’s also a former European Champion/Worlds medalist in the backstroke races. While he never raced the 200 back as much as the 100 back, we have a hunch that if he can go 1:53 in short course meters at 18, he could have done 1:40 at 23. He can still probably do under 1:41 in the 200 fly even as he approaches 30, if he were rested. Cseh, during a brief stint training in the United States last year, did get a chance to do a little yards racing, and he swam a 1:43.42 in the 200 yard fly at a Sectionals meet in March.

5. Tyler Clary – We were actually surprised to learn that Tyler Clary hadn’t done it. He’s one of the fastest in history in the 200 yard back (1:37.58), which makes sense as the defending Olympic gold medalist. But he also swam the 200 fly at Short Course Worlds in December (1:53 in short course meters at a meet where it was apparent that he was still in training mode). Clary’s best in the 200 yard fly, however, is just 1:44.73 done at the 2014 Minneapolis Grand Prix. It would be a big drop from that best to get under 1:41, but based on his meters times, we think it’s doable.