The Males’s 200 Backstroke World Data Have Stood the Check of Time
Backstroke occasions have seen generational skills take heart stage yr after yr. In 2024, it was Thomas Ceccon and Hubert Kos who swept the accessible males’s Olympic gold medals, whereas the ladies’s occasions have been swept by Kaylee McKeown.
Whereas the aforementioned McKeown and Group USA’s Regan Smith have traded girls’s backstroke world information for a number of years now, there are two backstroke information on the lads’s aspect which have managed to face the check of time.
200 Backstroke (Lengthy Course)
It’s inarguable that Aaron Peirsol is likely one of the biggest backstroke swimmers within the historical past of the game. His accolades communicate for themselves: Seven Olympic medals, 5 of that are gold. 19 World Championships medals, 16 of that are gold. The Irvine native competed in three Olympic Video games and three 200 backstroke finals. He set his first world document on April 7, 2002, within the SCM 200 backstroke.
The silver medalist within the 200 backstroke as a 17-year-old on the 2000 Olympic Video games in Sydney, Peirsol would go on to take the backstroke world by storm, falling to solely a small record of swimmers all through his profession. In 2008, Peirsol noticed his 200 backstroke world document taken by fellow legend Ryan Lochte, however Peirsol would finally regain the mark and preserve a grip.
The 2009 World Championships in Rome have been a bittersweet affair for Peirsol. On the U.S. Nationwide Championships only a month prior, he smashed the 100 backstroke world document with a time of 51.92. However after misjudging his semifinal swim in Rome, Peirsol was locked out of the ultimate.
Shifting his focus to the 200 backstroke, Peirsol picked himself up following his error within the shorter occasion. Over 4 laps, the previous Texas Longhorn destroyed the 200-meter backstroke world document by greater than a second, taking it from a 1:53.08 to a 1:51.92. That swim set him greater than a half second quicker than anybody else in historical past, with the closest swimmer being Japan’s Ryosuke Irie at a 1:52.51.
Closest to Breaking It
Within the 15 years because the World Championships in Rome, just one swimmer has managed to crack the 1:53 barrier. Ryan Lochte had a surprising World Championships in Shanghai in 2011, together with breaking the 200 particular person medley world document with a still-standing mark of 1:54.00. He additionally clocked the third-fastest time in historical past within the 200 backstroke, going 1:52.96. To emphasise the facility of Peirsol’s world Report, nobody since Lochte in 2011 has managed to crack the 1:53 barrier, which is greater than a second off of the World Report.
It’s key to notice that Peirsol’s swim from the World Champs in Rome was aided by a supersuit. The meet featured world document after world document (40-plus in complete) and arrived at a time when expertise pipped pure talent within the pool. With Peirsol ranking as one of many premier backstrokers of all-time, the mix of a supersuit has left his world document – at the very least till now – untouchable.
Russian Evgeny Rylov has been as quick as 1:53.23, however along with his help of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his presence within the sport is unsure. Within the coming years, is Hubert Kos somebody who may take down the usual? The Hungarian captured Olympic gold final summer time on the Olympic Video games in Paris and doesn’t appear close to his ceiling.
Quick Course Meters
Photograph Courtesy: Dan D’Addona
The 25-meter model of the 200 backstroke has seen much less time on the worldwide stage. The primary ‘World Greatest Time’ was established in 1991, when Mark Tewksbury of Canada swam a 1:55.93.
Spain’s Martin Lopez-Zubero broke that point for the primary world document within the occasion a month later, swimming a 1:52.51. It could be one other eight years earlier than Lenny Krayzelburg would take over at a 1:52.47. The American captured Olympic gold in the identical occasion in Sydney in 2000.
The highest-ranked spot in historical past traded palms a number of occasions over the following decade, till Russia’s Arkady Vyatchanin grabbed maintain of it in 2009. His 1:46.11 was the quickest time in historical past for six years. Nonetheless, since 2015, Mitch Larkin has sat effectively forward of anybody else, because of his swim of 1:45.63 from the 2015 Australian Championships. The Australian had a unbelievable 2015, sweeping the backstroke occasions in Kazan on the World Championships.
2024 World Quick Course Championships
Hubert Kos gave Larkin’s document a scare just some weeks in the past. Blitzing the sector on the World Quick Course Championships in Budapest, the Hungarian exploded to a 1:45.65. In a meet stuffed with extraordinary world information, the importance of the Olympic Champion’s swim is to not be forgotten. Abruptly, Larkin’s soon-to-be 10-year-old world document shouldn’t be out of attain.
Hubert Kos of Hungary reveals the gold medal after competing within the swimming 200m Backstroke Males Last in the course of the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games at La Protection Area in Paris (France), August 01, 2024.
Within the Budapest last, Kos touched the wall 3.31 seconds forward of second-place finisher Lorenzo Mora, who was a second forward of France’s Mewen Tomac.
Testing Time
The 200 backstroke has remained an attention-grabbing occasion for males for a wide range of causes. Whereas the ladies’s version of the world document has been exchanged amongst a number of storied names, profitable occasions on the Olympic and World Championships stage in males’s races have stayed within the 1:53 and 1:54 vary (LCM).
Kos’ swim represents a serious step ahead, and may very well be an enormous indicator of what his Texas coaching may usher in 2025. The Hungarian’s long-course greatest rests at a 1:54.14. Whereas which will appear far off the 1:51 that Peirsol registered, Kos’ SCM time hints at a probably huge swim within the massive pool.
Whereas the transition from the 25-meter to 50-meter pool has its challenges, Kos is the true deal, profitable at three of the final 4 main worldwide championships on this occasion (he was not on the 2024 LCM Worlds). Might he be the person who challenges Peirsol’s long-standing document?
