Summer McIntosh and Gretchen Walsh each received another $25,000 bonus on Thursday for their new World Records. The United States closed the night with a World Record in the women’s 4x200m freestyle, the 12th of the World Aquatics Championships (25m) here in Budapest, Hungary.
It appeared for a moment that 21-year-old Gretchen Walsh of the United States was on her way to her third individual world record of the meet in the 100m freestyle, but in Thursday’s final, she was long on the finish and ended up missing Cate Campbell’s 50.25 world record from 2017.
Walsh, who set the 50m butterfly world record twice this week already, became the first American since Jenny Thompson in 1999 to win World Short Course gold in the 100m freestyle.
Walsh, coached by Todd DeSorbo at the University of Virginia, used her powerful underwater kicks to seize the lead early and it proved no match for the rest of the field as the race became against the clock. Alas, a 49 flat start 100m freestyle will have to wait another day as Walsh broke her own championship record from last night of 50.49 to swim 50.31 to move to second on the all-time list.
“I feel great about it,” Walsh said. “I was really close to that record, which always kind of hurts a little bit, but I was able to get my hand on the wall first in such a tight race. That was really important to me. I am glad that I am racing well and using my competitors to motivate me.”
France’s Beryl Gastaldello (50.63) nearly caught Walsh on the last 25m, splitting 12.97 on the last length to Walsh’s 13.26 as Gastaldello collected her second medal of the week after she won silver in last night’s 50m butterfly at age 29. Gastaldello is coming off a home Olympic Games as she moved up to fifth all-time with her swim, getting under 51 for the first time. It looked for a moment like a US 1-2 finish but Gastaldello swam over the top of Kate Douglass, who won bronze at 50.73 for her lifetime best to sit sixth on the all-time list.
After they traded the championship record through the first two days of the championships, American Jack Alexy got the last laugh in the final of the 100m freestyle, winning gold at 45.38 ahead of Jordan Crooks (45.48) of the Cayman Islands.
Alexy set the championship record on Tuesday leading off the world record setting relay at 45.05, while Crooks broke it in the heats at 44.95. At the end of the day, Crooks will keep the championship record, but Alexy will leave with the gold medal.
“I am happy to get my hand on the wall first and even prouder to be able to do that wearing the American flag on my cap,” Alexy said. “I just try to build on (each of) these successes. Each race is a success when you learn something. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t, but I always try to take something away from each of my swims, and that way you get better and better.
“It’s nice to start off the quad (towards LA 2028) with an individual win. I really hope to carry the momentum into 2028.”
Alexy, coached by Dave Durden at the University of California, Berkeley, became the fourth American to win this event at the World Short Course Championships after Jason Lezak (2004), Nathan Adrian (2008), and Caeleb Dressel (2018).
“It’s a dream come true,” Alexy said. “I grew up watching competitive swimming and liked to watch them race in international swimming. I followed Ryan Murphy and Nathan Adrian and Caeleb Dressell (in their swimming career). I have been in the same training group with those guys at Cal and and then to be on the same Olympic team with Ryan and Caeleb.
“I have tried to step up to fill the shoes of some of these great sprinters, and I hope that I can in the future.”
Crooks was actually beat to the wall by his University of Tennessee teammate Guilherme Santos of Brazil, who won silver at 45.47. Crooks improved on his sixth place finish from Melbourne 2022 as he had the fastest last 25 meters of anyone in the field tonight, but it was not enough to catch Alexy.
“It didn’t play out exactly how I wanted,” Crooks said. “I made a few mistakes but you live and learn and I take each race as a little bit of a lesson and I try to build onto that, and be ready for the 50. I am excited because I love the 50 free. I have learned a lot about swimming in yards.
“And I have learned a lot about swimming long course (for the Olympics). I’m hoping to swim faster by combining all of the knowledge that I have picked up, and put this into the 50 free now.”
For the second time at these 2024 World Swimming Championships (25m), Canada’s Summer McIntosh celebrated a gold medal and a world record. The 18-year-old 3x Olympic champion became the second woman to break 2:00 in the 200m butterfly on Thursday night in Budapest with a 1:59.32, lowering Mireia Belmonte’s 1:59.61 world record from this meet ten years ago at Doha 2014.
This swim follows up McIntosh’s world record in the 400m freestyle from Tuesday as she is also entered in the 400m IM and 200m backstroke where another world record could fall in the former.
“I am pretty over the moon,” McIntosh said. “Yesterday, having the day off was kind of nice to recollect myself after a crazy day one. And tomorrow I have another day off and then right back into the 400 IM so I am super excited to just keep the meet rolling.”
McIntosh swims in the United States for coach Brent Arckey at the Sarasota Sharks in central Florida as she gave Canada yet another medal this week in Budapest. McIntosh is also the first Canadian woman to win this event at the World Short Course Championships.
“I just think the Canadian team has been doing so well overall,” McIntosh said. “It’s so motivating and we all feed off each other’s energy and that’s great. We are all supportive of each other because we understand what each other is going through in these big moments. And we have little celebrations which are awesome.
“The world record means the world and I think it will continue to give me a lot of confidence to keep pushing forward in my 200m fly and in general. It was one of my biggest goals, to break the record in the 200 fly, so this is a big step forward.”
Much like the Olympics in Paris, McIntosh finished ahead of American silver medalist Regan Smith (2:01.00), who broke the American record to move to fourth all-time. Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers (2:02.91), who finished fourth in Paris in this event, rebounded to win bronze here for Australia’s fifth medal of the championships.
O Canada was sung throughout the Duna Arena Thursday in celebration of the two 200m butterfly gold medalists as 19-year-old Ilya Kharun matched Summer McIntosh’s gold in the 200m butterfly with a 1:48.24 in the final, matching Daiya Seto’s championship record from Hangzhou 2018.
Kharun also lowered the Americas record in the process to move to second on the all-time list. This is the first major gold medal for Kharun, coached by Herbie Behm at Arizona State University in the United States. Kharun won double bronze in Paris in both butterfly events as he seems to have an even brighter future as the attention shifts to the 2025 Worlds in Singapore and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“This is such a surreal feeling,” Kharun said. “I am so happy about it. It’s so amazing to be with these guys. I’m just really glad I did it.
“I was pleased with the way I finished in Paris and I just wanted to keep carrying on the momentum from the Olympics. I wanted to show people that I haven’t lost it. I’m going to keep going.
“The Paris results made me really hungry. I want to keep chasing this feeling of how happy I get after I do a really good performance.”
This is Canada’s first men’s individual gold medal at the World Short Course Championships since the inaugural meet in Palma de Mallorca 1993.
“I receive a lot of support from the Canadian team and I am happy that they support me through everything I do. I just want to carry out the momentum with them and be a part of the Canadian team.”
Kharun had plenty of push from Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (1:48.64), who broke the European record in winning silver. Razzetti lowered Laszlo Cseh’s 1:49.00 from 2015 as Cseh presented Razzetti with his silver medal.
Razzetti, coached by Stefano Francheschi, could not match his gold from Abu Dhabi 2021, but he lowered his best time and won Italy’s third medal of the championships.
“I am so happy with the race and a lifetime best and a European record,” Razzetti said. “It’s something I have been chasing since Abu Dhabi where I just missed the record by just six 100th of a second.
“I finally achieved the European record and that is something that not a long of people can say they have. It’s something that I will be proud of forever.
“Today was a fun race, honestly racing Ilya until the end and I can’t complain about the result. It’s always important to start in the right way, as I focus on the next Olympic cycle. I really like short course racing. I think it’s fun racing at this level, and it’s helpful for preparing me to race long course. Let’s hope that these four years continue at the same level as this.”
Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski (1:49.26) won the third medal for his country this week as he won bronze as he moved up to ninth all-time with his swim.
Once again, the 1:02.36 set three times by Ruta Meilutyte and Alia Atkinson a decade ago lives to see another day as China’s Tang Qianting claimed World Short Course gold to close out 2024 in 1:02.38.
After she swam 1:02.37 in last night’s semis, it was expected Tang could finally come over the top to break that world record, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be on this Thursday evening in Budapest, Hungary.
“It was a best time for me,” Tang said. “Yesterday I was only .01 off the world record and today .02. I am happy with my progress and this gives me more motivation to work on improving my swim.”
Out in 29.04, Tang, coached by Pierre Lafontaine, held the lead at every single turn, and matched her gold from Abu Dhabi 2021 as she closed out the year undefeated in this event in short course meters. Tang won silver at this year’s Olympics, but won all three World Cup races, and received an extra $10,000 USD for her World Short Course gold medal here.
“This year has been cool in general with so many opportunities to swim,” Tang said. “Last night I became aware of the double crown when I saw other swimmers achieve it, and this is an additional motivation for me.”
American Lilly King (1:02.80) could not match the speed of Tang, but she won silver, following up her gold from Melbourne 2022 and her silver from Windsor 2016. King has indicated she will retire before the 2028 Olympics as this may be the last time we see her on the world stage.
Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova (1:03.25) had a huge breakthrough in winning bronze at age 17, winning the first ever medal for Estonia at the World Short Course Championships. Jefimova made history this summer at the Olympics as the first Estonian swimmer to make a final at the Games.
Qin Haiyang kept the streak going, finishing the 100m breaststroke sweep for China as March of the Volunteers rang out over the speakers at the Duna Arena in celebration of Qin and Tang.
Qin was out of it at 75 meters as Kirill Prigoda looked to be on his way to winning gold. But Qin found something else, and split 14.72 on the final 25 meters to Prigoda’s 15.10, to grab gold at 55.47 in a new championship and Asian record.
“Coming off yesterday I was not in top shape and I was not 100% confident but then I remembered all of my training and the tactics I have been working on,” Qin said. “The second 50 is my strength.”
Prigoda won silver at 55.49 in his lifetime best. Qin, age 25 and coached by Cui Dengrong, was heavily favored to win gold in Paris at the Olympics, but he couldn’t handle the pressure and finished a disappointing seventh in the final. Qin rebounded in a big way to win the World Short Course title to close out this year.
World record holder Ilya Shymanovich (55.60) made his third podium in this event at the World Short Course Championships, following his silver from Hangzhou 2018 and gold from Abu Dhabi 2021. Shymanovich, age 30, held off Kyrgyzstan’s Denis Petrashov (55.91) for the bronze.
Australia’s Elijah Winnington bided his time successfully in winning the 400m freestyle final on night three of the 2024 World Swimming Championships (25m), becoming the first Australian male to win this event at the championships since Grant Hackett won in Moscow 2002 as Winnington follows the likes of Hackett (1999, 2002) and Daniel Kowalski (1993, 1995) as Australian champions.
Winnington, coached by Dean Boxall, didn’t lead until the 375m mark as he won gold at 3:35.89, putting himself 17th on the all-time list.
“I only started training when these guys were racing at the world cup earlier this year.” Winnington said. “I am not normally at my fittest point right now so I like to take the race out strong and I knew if I did that tonight I might not have it at the end which is where I really love to come home. But really the goal was to stick with them as long as possible.
“I saw Kieran out there with about 200 to go and maybe he was a bit further than I thought. I started putting the burners on maybe a little bit early but it worked out at the end.
“The pointing to my head (after the race) was more to show myself and the world how much it took to get up for this.”
The race was led for 350 meters by defending champion Kieran Smith of the United States, who looked to steal the race from lane eight. The 2022 World Short Course Championships was the last time he made a podium internationally as he returned Thursday with a silver at 3:36.31, tying fellow American Carson Foster (3:36.31) in the process.
“I am very happy with the race and finishing another season coming off the world cup,” Smith said. “It’s a really cool moment to share the podium with Carson, my fellow captain and teammate. The only thing better would be to share gold.”
Foster, who has made a name for himself in the IM events, won his first freestyle medal internationally as he has picked up this event over the last few months, swimming to the American record briefly last month in the 500 short course yards event.
Seventeen-year-old Claire Weinstein brought the hammer down on the last leg of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay, splitting 1:50.31 on the end to give the United States the world record at 7:30.13, as the team of Alex Walsh (1:53.25), Paige Madden (1:53.18), Katie Grimes (1:53.39), and Weinstein (1:50.31) broke Australia’s world record of 7:30.87 from the Melbourne championships two years ago.
“I think this is so special for all four of us. This is our first world record. No matter if it is short course or long course, relay or individual, it’s such a surreal feeling. I don’t think any of us had this on our radar. All three of us saw Claire pull up and she was half a second under and we all just started going crazy. It’s such an honor to do this for Team USa and to close out the Olympic year.”
Weinstein’s leg was the fastest relay split of all-time, which previously belonged to Femke Heemskerk (1:51.22) in 2014.
“I just wanted to do my best,” Weinstein said. “They gave me a lead and I just wanted to finish the job. It was a really good time for me and I am glad that I brought home a gold for Team USA.”
It is also the first time the United States has ever held the world record in this event, after the team broke the 4x100m freestyle relay record on Tuesday on opening night. This is also the third time the United States has won this event at the World Short Course Championships, adding to the wins in Istanbul 2012, and Indianapolis 2004.
Hungary had a big silver, much to the delight of the Budapest crowd with the team of Nikolett Padar (1:52.81), Panna Ugrai (1:52.59), Dora Molnar (1:55.39), and Lilla Abraham (1:52.60) as this is the first time Hungary has won a medal in a women’s relay at a Worlds or Olympics since 1952.
Padar, Molnar, and Abraham were all on the relay that won World Juniors in 2022 as they have developed nicely into a reliable relay for the federation.
Australia won the bronze at 7:33.60 with the team of Leah Neale (1:52.79), Elizabeth Dekkers (1:54.96), Milla Jansen (1:54.01), and Lani Pallister (1:51.84).
