Swimming WA 25m World Championships 2024

[Ethan 12]

Looks like finally all the super suit records from thw short course events have been cleared ... now only 8 remain in LCM.

[heywoodu 16,013]

7 hours ago, Ethan said:

Looks like finally all the super suit records from thw short course events have been cleared ... now only 8 remain in LCM.

And with some margin in some cases. It's like before this year, nobody took it seriously, it's quite insane to see this many WR's fall...whoever built that pool is incredible  

[Federer91 3,028]

Can they check if the pool is indeed 25 m and not 20 m.. It was very fun in the beginning, but now it's getting absurd, especially with Walsh, who's every swim is basically a WR. I thought the "enormous number of broken WR's at the same event" years were behind us, but here we are.

[heywoodu 16,013]

2 hours ago, Federer91 said:

Can they check if the pool is indeed 25 m and not 20 m.. It was very fun in the beginning, but now it's getting absurd, especially with Walsh, who's every swim is basically a WR. I thought the "enormous number of broken WR's at the same event" years were behind us, but here we are.

Kinda feels like the Russian athletics championships when they were in Cheboksary and all the Russians had mega performances there (and then not really outside of it)  

 

Although to be fair, the World Cup saw tons of WR's as well, so it might feel more like a sort of trend of some new development (hopefully in equipment).

[Topicmaster1010 5,404]

2 hours ago, Federer91 said:

Can they check if the pool is indeed 25 m and not 20 m.. It was very fun in the beginning, but now it's getting absurd, especially with Walsh, who's every swim is basically a WR. I thought the "enormous number of broken WR's at the same event" years were behind us, but here we are.

This is Walsh's first time swimming in a 25m pool at a major competition. The only other time she's competed in short course metres was one mid-season meet in which she first broke the 100 IM World Record. Otherwise, she usually competes in a 25 yard pool at college events where she holds 5 individual world records and also beats her opponents by a similar margin as to what you're seeing here. She's just that good at short course racing.

[heywoodu 16,013]

8 hours ago, Topicmaster1010 said:

This is Walsh's first time swimming in a 25m pool at a major competition. The only other time she's competed in short course metres was one mid-season meet in which she first broke the 100 IM World Record. Otherwise, she usually competes in a 25 yard pool at college events where she holds 5 individual world records and also beats her opponents by a similar margin as to what you're seeing here. She's just that good at short course racing.

It's not just Walsh though, WR's are dropping like flies.

 

8x Gretchen Walsh
3x Summer McIntosh
3x Noè Ponti
2x Jordan Crooks
2x Kate Douglass

 

(and a few single ones plus relays)

 

In 5 days....that is insane. Either something is up with the pool, or no top swimmer has taken short course somewhat serious in the past 20 years or so (which is possible, I guess, but why all of a sudden now? ).

 

It's just a bit odd, and arguably not really great for the image of swimming.

 

Don't get me wrong, still enjoying the event as always  

Edited December 15, 2024 by heywoodu

[Topicmaster1010 5,404]

10 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

It's not just Walsh though, WR's are dropping like flies.

 

8x Gretchen Walsh
3x Summer McIntosh
3x Noè Ponti
2x Jordan Crooks
2x Kate Douglass

 

(and a few single ones plus relays)

 

In 5 days....that is insane. Either something is up with the pool, or no top swimmer has taken short course somewhat serious in the past 20 years or so (which is possible, I guess, but why all of a sudden now? ).

 

It's just a bit odd, and arguably not really great for the image of swimming.

 

Don't get me wrong, still enjoying the event as always  

Well this is McIntosh's first time racing short course metres since 2022 when she was 16 years old and hadn't yet broken any records so that explains those World Records 

 

Walsh, Crooks, and Douglass are all NCAA swimmers who train in yards all winter. I'm not sure how many times they would've competed in yards but it wouldn't have been a focus meet for them. Crooks won a gold at the 2022 World Championships but he's taken his swimming to a completely different level these last two years. Douglass competed in short course at the World Cups this year and instantly smashed the 200m breaststroke World Record.

 

Ponti I have no clue.

 

But having said that, there's definitely been an unusual amount of World records at this meet. Got to be the most at a meet since Rome 2009.

Edited December 15, 2024 by Topicmaster1010

[heywoodu 16,013]

5 minutes ago, Topicmaster1010 said:

Well this is McIntosh's first time racing short course metres since 2021 when she was 15 years old so that explains those World Records 

 

Walsh, Crooks, and Douglass are all NCAA swimmers who train in yards all winter. I'm not sure how many times they would've competed in yards but it wouldn't have been a focus meet for them. Crooks won a gold at the 2022 World Championships but he's taken his swimming to a completely different level these last two years. Douglass competed in short course at the World Cups this year and instantly smashed the 200m breaststroke World Record.

 

Ponti I have no clue.

 

But having said that, there's definitely been an unusual amount of World records at this meet. Got to be the most at a meet since Rome 2009.

Yeah, but there as well: are all of these swimmers suddenly the best ever? I know and understand they're good, but it would be an extreme coincidence if in one specific event suddenly a handful of the best ever appear.

 

It 'smells' way more like either some sort of thing with the pool or some sort of new breakthrough in clothing or something like that, some of the margins with which the records are being smashed are truly insane and seem to go way further than just 'ah, first time she raced in a 25m pool I mean, imagine a 20+ WR world championships in athletics, we'd be desperately looking for explanations (like the super shoes in recent years, so at least there is an explanation there)  

Edited December 15, 2024 by heywoodu

[dodge 1,040]

If some of the top athletes raced the world indoors a few months after they peaked for the Olympics, I’m certain you’d see records tumble too. It’s more like seeing 3/4 records fall there too with the make up of events too. 

 

There were a lot of “soft” world records held by swimmers who wouldn’t be in the discussion for “best ever”

 

We’re all experienced enough sports watchers to be guarded against any “super” achievements, but I do think there are lots of extenuating circumstances here. Not least of which is the true dopers wouldn’t bother with the world short course champs 

[heywoodu 16,013]

 world record to finish of these championships