Two world records within half an hour, her eighth and ninth of the tournament. American swimmer Gretchen Walsh (21) was the star at the World Championships short course (25 meters) in Budapest. On Saturday, she first improved her own top time from the semi-finals in the 100 meter butterfly in 52.71 – with which she referred the Dutch Tessa Giele (national record in 54.66) to silver. Shortly afterwards, she improved Ranomi Kromowidjojo’s world record from 2017 to 22.87 in the semi-final of the 50 meter freestyle. And on Sunday afternoon in the final of the shortest song, there was world record number ten: 22.83.
Two-time Olympic champion Walsh was not only a standout at the Short Course World Championships, with seven titles in total (five individual, two relay) and eleven world records (nine individual and two relay), she was also a big earner. For each world record, the swimmers received a check for 25,000 dollars (approximately 23,800 euros) from world swimming association World Aquatics. An expensive reward for the association. No fewer than 29 world records were broken this week in Budapest – in series, semi-finals and finals. At the previous edition, in 2022 in Melbourne, there were eleven.
The abundance of world records shows that the international swimming top is seriously focusing on the short course for the first time in a long time: in the run-up to the Olympic Games, the 25-meter pool – which is already lower in prestige than the 50-meter pool – is losing more and more of relevance, because Olympic swimming only takes place on the long course. The European Short Course Championships in 2023 were only moderately occupied. This may also play a role in the fact that this World Cup is the first major tournament after the Games, was suggested by experts to the NOS. This gives less pressure, more relaxation and perhaps therefore better times: cramping is an enemy in swimming.
Surprising silver Tessa Giele
Several Dutch top swimmers missed out on the tournament, which came quite close to last summer’s Olympic Games. Such as Tes Schouten (bronze in Paris in the 200 meter breaststroke), and the Olympic finalists Marrit Steenbergen (100 meter freestyle) and Arno Kamminga (100 meter breaststroke). Yet there were medals for the Dutch team. Nyls Korstanje took bronze in the 50 meter butterfly. The 25-year-old swimmer won his first individual World Cup medal in 21.68. And there was Giele’s surprising silver in the 100 meter butterfly.
“I am very happy and also surprised,” the 22-year-old swimmer responded to NOS on Saturday. In the series, Giele first improved Inge Dekker’s Dutch record from 2009 to 55.71, and then qualified for the final in seventh place in 55.80. She swam her Dutch record of 54.66 from lane 1. “I like starting from an outside lane. Then there is less pressure. Just like at the European Championships in Otopeni (where she won gold in the 50 meters at the 2023 European Championships), it turned out very well.”
International stars
Many international stars used the World Cup in Budapest to make themselves heard a few months after Paris. Jordan Crooks of the Cayman Islands was the first ever to dip under 20 seconds in the 50 meter freestyle: 19.90. And in addition to Walsh, 18-year-old Summer McIntosh was also a trendsetter among the women. The Canadian swimmer, who already won three gold and one silver in Paris, set three world records. In the 400 meter freestyle (3.50.25), she swam no less than 1.05 seconds off the old record of the Chinese Li Bingjie from 2022. She also scored in the 200 meter butterfly (in 1.59.32) – with in the stands her cheering mother Jill, who once swam that same song at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
On Saturday, McIntosh smashed the world record in the 400-meter individual medley. In 4.15.48 she was more than four seconds faster than the old top time of the Spanish Mireia Belmonte in 2017 in Eindhoven. The 25-meter pool in Budapest is one of her favorites, McIntosh told sports channel CBC just before the tournament. Because of the “good memories,” she said, “and it’s a very quick bath.” The (50-meter) pool in Paris was often seen as slow, because it is relatively shallow and would produce more waves – although this was disputed by some swimmers. Were in Paris four world recordsless than in Tokyo (six) and Rio de Janeiro (eight).