2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
It’s time for day 2 finals of the 2022 World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary. On the docket for day 2 of this meet are the men’s 100 breaststroke, women’s 100 butterfly, men’s 50 butterfly, and women’s 200 IM finals. Additionally, we’ll see the semi-finals for the men’s and women’s 100 backstroke, men’s 200 freestyle, and the women’s 100 breaststroke.
Day 2 Links
Day 2 features the only finals session of this meet that will have neither a distance event nor a relay event, meaning that it will be a slightly shorter session. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t in store for an exciting night of racing because there are some big showdowns on the horizon.
In the women’s 100 butterfly, we’ll see if either Torri Huske or Claire Curzan from the USA can capture their first individual title of the meet or if the likes of Marie Wattel, Zhang Yufei, Louise Hansson, or someone else will manage to touch the wall first.
We’ll also find out who will capitalize off of the Peaty-less 100 breaststroke field as 8 men compete for the crown in the 100 breast. Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy is the top seed here, having swum a 58.46 during semi-finals but Nic Fink, Arno Kamminga, James Wilby, and Yan Zibei won’t go down without a fight.
Caeleb Dressel is also on the hunt tonight for his first individual medal of the meet in the 50 fly but he’ll need to out-swim top seed Ben Proud and co-second seed Thomas Ceccon in order to pull it off. Follow along live for all that and much as we get into night 2 of World Championships.
Men’s 100 Breaststroke Final
- World Record: 56.88, Adam Peaty (GBR), 2019 World Championships
- Championship Record: 56.88, Adam Peaty (GBR), 2019 World Championships
- 2021 Olympic Champion: Adam Peaty (GBR), 57.37
- 2019 World Champion: Adam Peaty (GBR), 57.14
- Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA) – 58.26
- Arno Kamminga (NED)- 58.62
- Nic Fink (USA) – 58.65
- James Wilby (GBR) – 58.93
- Yan Zibei (CHN) – 59.22
- Lucas Joachim Matzerath (GER) – 59.50
- Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) – 59.65
- Andrius Sidlauskas (LTU) – 59.80
Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi collected the first gold medal of the night, delivering a 58.26 in the men’s 100 breaststroke. Martinenghi just improved upon his own best time in this event and lowered the Italian record by 0.02 seconds from the 58.28 he swam at the Tokyo Games.
Martinenghi won a bronze medal event in this event at Tokyo 2020 but this is his first-ever individual medal at a World Championships meet. Martinenghi is now the first man to win this event at Worlds since the 2013 edition as Adam Peaty won 3 straight titles in 2015, 2017, and 2019.
Olympic silver medalist Arno Kamminga repeated the feat here in Budapest, clocking a 58.62 for the silver medal. That swim is roughly a second off his lifetime best of 57.80 from Tokyo 2020, which is the #2 time in history. Kamminga has now won silver in this event for 2 years in a row.
The American Nic Fink just pulled off his first podium finish at a long course World Championships, having won a number of medals at the short course version in December 2021. Fink hit a 58.65 to touch just 0.03 seconds after Kamminga. Like Kamminga, Fink was a bit off his PB here, which sits at a 58.37 from earlier this year.
Women’s 100 Butterfly Final
- World Record: 55.48, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 2016 Olympic Games
- Championship Record: 55.53, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 2017 World Championships
- 2021 Olympic Champion: Maggie MacNeil (CAN), 55.59
- 2019 World Champion: Maggie MacNeil (CAN), 55.83
- Torri Huske (USA) – 55.64
- Marie Wattel (FRA) – 56.14
- Zhang Yufei (CHN) – 56.41
- Louise Hansson (SWE) – 56.48
- Claire Curzan (USA) – 56.74
- Brianna Throssel (AUS) – 56.98
- Farida Osman (EGY) – 57.66
- Lana Pudar (BIH) – 58.44
After collecting her first long course World Champs title in the 4×100 freestyle, Torri Huske has pulled off her first individual win by swimming an American record in the 100 butterfly. Huske threw down 55.64 to take out her own mark of 55.66, which she set in 2021 at Olympic Trials.
This swim is an improvement upon the 55.73 that she swam at the Tokyo Olympics where she placed 4th overall. Huske retains her spot as the 4th-fastest woman in the history of this event behind Zhang Yufei who won bronze here.
All-Time 100 Butterfly Performances
- Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 55.48 (2016)
- Maggie MacNeil (CAN) – 55.59 (2021)
- Zhang Yufei (CHN) – 55.62 (2020)
- Torri Huske (USA) – 55.64 (2022)
- Emma McKeon (AUS) – 55.72
The silver medalist here is France’s Marie Wattel, picking up her first-ever individual medal at a long course World Championships. Wattel dipped nearly dipped under 56 seconds here with a 56.14, which is a 0.02-second improvement upon her 56.16 PB from Tokyo 2020. Wattel finished 6th in this event last year.
Zhang Yufei of China was a 56.41 for the bronze medal and improved upon her seed heading into the final. Her time is a bit slower than her lifetime best of 55.62 from the Tokyo Olympics when she took the silver medal.
Louise Hansson of Sweden was just off the podium, hitting a 56.48 to trail Zhang by just 0.07 seconds. Claire Curzan, the USA’s other representative in this heat swam a 56.74 to trail her PB of 56.35 and placed 5th here to improve upon her 10th place finish at Tokyo.
Men’s 100 Backstroke Semi-Final
- World Record: 51.85, Ryan Murphy (USA) – 2016 Olympics
Championship Record: 52.17, Jiayu Xu (CHN) – 2019 World Championships- 2021 Olympic Champion: Evgeny Rylov (ROC), 51.98
- 2019 World Champion: Jiayu Xu (CHN), 52.43
Top 8:
- Apostolos Christou (GRE) – 52.09
- Thomas Ceccon (ITA) – 52.12
- Hunter Armstrong (USA) – 52.37
- Kwasery Masiuk (POL) – 52.58
- Yohan Ndoye-Brouard (FRA) – 52.72
- Ryan Murphy (USA) – 52.80
- Ryosuke Irie (JPN) – 52.85
- Robert Glinta (ROU) – 53.00
Greecian swimmer Apostolos Christou just put up a dominant swim in the second semi-final here, delivering a 52.09 Championship record. His swim is quicker than the 52.17 that Jiayu Xu of China delivered back in 2019.
This is a significant improvement upon Christou’s best time and Greek record coming into this meet of 52.77, which he put up at the 2021 European Championships. Christou moved up to the #7 position on the all-time rankings here, replacing Mitch Larkin’s 52.11.
It’ll be an interesting race with Christou in the middle lane tomorrow night. He’ll be up against the likes of world record-holder Ryan Murphy who is just 6th overall at this point, having swum a 52.80 in the semis. The #2 man so far is Thomas Ceccon who swam a 52.12 in the semi-final to drop some time from his 52.30 PB.
Murphy’s fellow American Hunter Armstrong was third in the semi-finals here with a 52.37 to out-swim Kwasery Masiuk’s 52.58. Armstrong slightly missed his best time of 52.20 from earlier this year, while Masiuk has just cracked the 53 barrier for the first time.
The final three qualifiers for tomorrow night’s final were Yohan Ndoye-Brouard of France, Ryosuke Irie from Japan, and Robert Glinta of Romania. Notably, former World Champs record holder Jiayu of China and 2015 World Champion in this event Mitch Larkin of Australia missed out on qualifying for the final.
Women’s 100 Breaststroke Semi-Final
- World Record: 1:04.13, Lilly King (USA) – 2017 World Championships
- Championship Record: 1:04.13, Lilly King (USA) – 2017 World Championships
- 2021 Olympic Champion: Lydia Jacoby (USA), 1:04.95
- 2019 World Champion: Lilly King (USA), 1:04.93
Top 8:
- Anna Elendt (GER) – 1:05.62
- Benedetta Pilato (ITA) – 1:05.88
- Qianting Tang (CHN) – 1:05.97
- Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) – 1:06.04
- Reona Aoki (JPN) – 1:06.07
- Sophie Hansson (SWE) – 1:06.30
- Molly Renshaw (GBR) – 1:06.39
- Lilly King (USA) – 1:06.40
German’s Anna Elendt pulled off the fastest swim in the semi-finals of the women’s 100 breaststroke with a 1:05.62. Elendt, who races for Texas collegiately has been improving this season and broke the German record in this event a few months ago with a 1:05.58 at the San Antonia Pro Swim.
Elendt will have a shot at cracking that record during the final on day 3 where she’ll face off against second seed Benedetta Pilato who swam a 1:05.88. This is a nice return to form for Pilato whose last major international meet ended with her being disqualified in the 100 breast at Tokyo 2020.
Pilato was just shy of the Italian record in this event, which is a 1:05.67 held by teammate Arianna Castiglioni. The #3 performer Qianting Tang was also shy of the national record, trailing the Chinese NR of 1:05.32 from Liping Ji. Qianting swam a 1:05.97 for the 3rd spot here, ahead of Lithuania’s 1:06.04.
This is a bug comeback as well for the 2012 Olympic champion Rute Meilutyte who we haven’t seen race on the world stage in a couple of years. Meilutyte recently returned to elite racing and is already set to race in the individual final of the 100 breast, having hit a 1:06.04. Her PB in this event is a 1:04.35, which is the #2 swim in history to Lilly King’s 1:04.13.
Speaking of King, she was the 9th-fastest woman in this event, which almost made her miss out on the final. But since King’s teammate Annie Lazor got disqualified from this event and was ahead of King in the rankings, Lilly King moves up to the #8 spot and will have a chance at defending her World title.
King swam a 1:06.40 here to miss her PB and world record of 1:04.13 by more than 2 seconds. The other 3 women in the final are Reona Aoki of Japan, Sophie Hansson from Sweden, and Molly Renshaw of Great Britain.
Men’s 50 Butterfly Final
- Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 22.57
- Nicholas Santos (BRA) – 22.78
- Michael Andrew (USA) – 22.79
Women’s 100 Backstroke Semi-Final
- World Record: 57.45, Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2021 Australian Olympic Trials
- Championship Record: 57.57, Regan Smith (USA) – 2019 World Championships
- 2021 Olympic Champion: Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 57.47
- 2019 World Champion: Kylie Masse (CAN), 58.60
Men’s 200 Freestyle Semi-Final
- World Record: 1:42.00, Paul Biedermann (GER) – 2009 World Championships
- Championship Record: 1:42.00, Paul Biedermann (GER) – 2009 World Championships
- 2021 Olympic Champion: Tom Dean (GBR), 1:44.22
- 2019 World Champion: Sun Yang (CHN), 1:44.93
Women’s 200 IM Final
- World Record: 2:06.12, Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2015 World Championships
- Championship Record: 2:06.12, Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2015 World Championships
- 2021 Olympic Champion: Yui Ohashi (JPN), 2:08.52
- 2019 World Champion: Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.53
