2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
- Budapest, Hungary
- Duna Arena
- LCM (50-meter format)
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Thomas Ceccon of Italy pulled off a world record-breaking performance in the men’s 100 backstroke, clocking a 51.60 to take out the mark of 51.85 that Ryan Murphy hit back in 2016 at the Olympics.
Ceccon, of course, also reset the Italian, European, and World Championships records with that swim. Evgeny Rylov of Russia held the European record previously at a 51.98, while Thomas Ceccon had the Italian record at a 52.12 from earlier at this meet. The World Championships record in this event was reset during semi-finals by Apostolos Christou of Greece who hit a 52.09.
Ceccon broke the world record by a quarter of a second, splitting 0.01 seconds slower than Murphy did on the opening 50 and then 0.26 seconds faster on the back half. Murphy broke the world record in 2016 during the 4×100 medley relay at the Rio Olympics.
Splits Comparison
| CECCON – 2022 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS | MURPHY – 2016 OLYMPICS | |
| 50 | 25.14 | 25.13 |
| 100 | 51.60 (26.46) | 51.85 (26.72) |
Ceccon’s best time coming into this meet was a 52.30 from the Tokyo Olympics where he finished 4th overall in the final. He’s now dropped more than a second from his best time since the beginning of 2021, having entered last year with a PB of 52.84 from December 2020.
Ceccon was the world junior record champion in this event back in 2019 when he won the event with a 53.46, having also hit a 53.37 time during the medley relay there. That means that in the 3 years between the 2019 World Junior Championships and the 2022 World Championships, he’s gone from a 53.37 to a 51.80. That’s a 1.57 second drop.
Thomas Ceccon Time 100 Backstroke Best Time Progression
| Month | Best Time |
| April 2016 | 53.34 |
| December 2020 | 52.84 |
| July 2021 | 52.30 |
| June 2022 | 51.60 |
This is Ceccon’s first individual medal at a long course World Championships meet, having previously won bronze at this meet in the 4×100 freestyle relay. He also won two Olympic medals last year, taking silver in the 4×100 free and bronze in the 4×100 medley with his fellow Italians.
Ceccon is now the 5th man in history to crack the 52-seconds barrier. Notably, Hunter Armstrong of the USA became the 6th man to do so during the 100 backstroke final by swimming a 51.98 to take the bronze medal.
All-time 100 Men’s Backstroke Performers
- Thomas Ceccon (ITA) – 51.60 (2022)
- Ryan Murphy (USA) – 51.85 (2016)
- Jiayu Xu (CHN) – 51.86 (2018)
- Aaron Piersol (USA) – 51.94 (2009)
- Evgeny Rylov (RUS) / Hunter Armstrong (USA) – 51.98 (2021/2022)
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) – 52.00 (2021)
Did anyone notice that graphic that NBC put up during the telecast with the WR progression in the men’s 100 Back? It incorrectly listed Aschwin Wildeboer Faber with an American flag next to his name (he was Dutch-born, I think, but swam for Spain) and of course Rowdy was talking out a$$ about how Americans have held the WR for 34 years and I was like, nope Rowdy, nope. Spain held the WR briefly just 14 years ago. How did Rowdy look at that graphic and not think ‘oh wait…Aschwin W Faber was not American!’ ??? Lol.
Oh Rowdy
Rowdy is a certified 🤡
I feel I am quite familiar with the name of Spain backstroker. My mind is on Beijing 2008 and Rome 2009 with the likes of Arkady Vyatchanin (quite hard to spell, sorry), Hayden Stoeckel, Liam Tancock and him.
But I don’t remember he had the WR once. So, just like Rowdy, I may have said the same thing : 34 years since David Berkoff have held in 1988.
Let us ask Rowdy : “Who was the world champion of men’s 100 free in 1982 ?”
I want to know his reaction or feeling when he has to remember the East German sprinter.
the mustache is accompanied by unshaven arms and upper body… He probably wants to save that for EuroChamps at home…
Amazing result under any circumstances, but even more under these…
The Italian men showed up!
Interesting to remember that SwimSwam ranked him 31st. I said back then that he was ranked too low and given his versatility he probably has to be considered top 10 right now. Marchand was ranked 48th i think. Will be really interesting to see all the huge moves in the ranking when it is published the next time. Would be nice to have a new list every year in December or so (without puttting too much emphasis on short-course as usual).
The SwimSwam rankings were a bit of a joke. MOC was one of the biggest breakouts of Tokyo and she was ranked 57th, below people who literally swam slower than her in the same events and had no other events. Now she swam the fastest leadoff leg (only .19 slower than the fastest flying split) on the 100 free relay and is likely to get 2 individual medals.
Swimswam ranking is 100% a joke
interesting relay decision to make for the US. I suppose Murphy has the rights to finals if he wants it. Based on his interview, he might think Armstrong is the better bet.
Murphy will swim relay final, unless Armstrong breaks WR in the relay prelims lol
Murphy will get it as the veteran with experience but I have a feeling it’s the last time he’ll be on a finals medley relay with Armstrong taking over the reigns
Murphy’s reign is over. Armstrong is taking over the reins. Tomorrow it will rain.
In the Gold Medal Mel Thread “CAN HUNTER ARMSTRONG BREAK RYAN MURPHY’S 100 BACK WORLD RECORD?”
https://staging.swimswam.com/can-hunter-armstrong-break-ryan-murphys-100-back-world-record/
I answered:
No. Next.
And got heavily downvoted lmfao
Bad form to say I told you so.
I mean he would’ve went under it if he didn’t mess up his start so he most certainly could, and probably should have broken it
He didn’t mess up his start. The RT is wrong. You can see the start is fine
He wasn’t too far off the old world record, so i don’t see how you would consider saying no back then as a huge win.
So should all elite male backstrokers now grow a ‘tache if they want to break a WR? (SCM and LCM records have both gone down with them…)
New 100 back requirement.
It worked for John Naber back in the day too!
Always worked for the East German women.
The guy has exceptional talent and versatility. As a teenager, he would swim incredible times in the 50 and 100 free, 200im (short course), fly and backstroke. However it looked as though he would never be good enough to dominate in any individual race because of the depth of the field in his best strokes (he is also a 47.7 flat start 100 free swimmer). Until today. I am very happy for him. I wonder how good he would be if he focused on free or fly, but hey, I will settle for a WR and gold medal in backstroke!