2017 FINA World ChampionshipsJul 18, 2017 by Maclin Simpson
2017 FINA World Championships: Which Women's World Records Will Go Down?
2017 FINA World Championships: Which Women's World Records Will Go Down?
This article previews the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. It looks at which swimming world records for the women will be broken. Specifically, Sarah Sjostrom, Katie Ledecky, Katinka Hosszu, Lilly King, and Yulia Efimova are mentioned.
2017 FINA World Championships
July 23-30, 2017Budapest, Hungary
Dagály Aquatics Arena
SCHEDULE
LIVE RESULTS
With less than a week to go before the start of the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, we take a deep dive into all of the world records that could potentially go down over the course of the eight-day meet.
Sarah Sjöström (SWE)
WR: 50m Freestyle -- 23.73, Britta Steffen (GER), 2009
2017 Best: 23.83 (+0.10)
WR: 100m Freestyle -- 52.06, Cate Campbell (AUS), 2016
2017 Best: 52.08 (+0.02)
WR: 50m Butterfly -- 24.43, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2014
2017 Best: 24.76 (+0.33)
WR: 100m Butterfly -- 55.48, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 2016
2017 Best: 55.76 (+0.28)
Sarah Sjöström has been absolutely on fire in 2017. Coming off three individual Olympic medals in Rio, including gold and a world record in the 100m butterfly, Sjöström has taken women's sprinting to another level by regularly challenging world records on any given event, any time of year.
After switching coaches to Johan Wallberg post-Rio, Sjöström has seen significant improvements in her freestyle by changing her stroke to be a more powerful, straight-arm technique typically seen with many of the male sprinters. She has taken tenths off her 50m free personal best time and 0.6 off her 100m best time as well -- showing incredible consistency. On the Mare Nostrum tour, Sjöström blasted 50m efforts of 23.95, 23.96, and 23.85 all within one week. On top of that, she rocked a time of 23.83 at the Stockholm Open in April, 23.87 in May, and 23.85 at Swedish Nationals in July.
Although we don't tend to see 50m world records broken in world championship finals these days due to the immense competition, Sjöström definitely has a chance if she can manage her intense racing schedule to the end of the week for this event.
With the absence of current 100m freestyle world-record holder Cate Campbell in Budapest this year, Sjöström will look to take control over this event. As the bronze medalist from Rio last year, she leads the world rankings with a 52.08 in-season from the Mare Nostrum in Canet last month. This event will be stacked with depth in Budapest. Most notably, co-Olympic champions Simone Manuel of the U.S. and Penny Oleksiak of Canada will be looking to back up their performances one year later. Not to be forgotten, reigning world champion Bronte Campbell of Australia and newcomer Mallory Comerford of the U.S. have both put up 52-second swims in 2017. All of these women are capable of dropping time and challenging the absurd 51-second 100m freestyle.
Over the last three years, Sjöström has extended her dominance in the women's sprint butterfly events, winning the world title in the 100m fly in 2013 and 2015 and the 50m fly in 2015. Sjöström sits just 0.33 away from her world record in the 50m and 0.83 in front of world No. 2 Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands and 0.28 from her world record in the 100m fly and 1.13 in front of second-ranked Rikako Ikee of Japan. Talk about dominance.
Since she already holds both sprint fly world records, a personal-best time is enough for her to earn the FINA world-record bonus of $30,000 USD. That's not a bad day in the office.
Katie Ledecky (USA)
WR: 200m Freestyle -- 1:52.98, Federica Pellegrini (ITA), 2009
2017 Best: 1:54.84 (+1.86)
WR: 400m Freestyle -- 3:56.46, Katie Ledecky (USA), 2016
2017 Best: 3:58.44 (+1.98)
WR: 800m Freestyle -- 8:04.79, Katie Ledecky (USA), 2016
2017 Best: 8:11.50 (+6.71)
WR: 1500m Freestyle -- 15:25.48, Katie Ledecky (USA), 2016
2017 Best: 15:35.65 (+10.17)
The world is clearly entrenched in the Katie Ledecky era, as she has not been beaten in an individual event in international waters her whole career. In Budapest, Ledecky will look to add to her seven individual world championship titles -- contesting the 200, 400, 800, and 1500m freestyle events once again. In Rio, she broke the world record in the 400m and 800m, and one would suspect she will be close to, or better than, those times next week.
The 1500m, however, looks vulnerable at 15:25.48. In May, outdoors at the arena Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara, CA, Ledecky blasted a 15:35.65 in-season. With this being recently added as a new Olympic event, we are looking for Ledecky to really flex her muscles in this one and break another world record.
The biggest question mark for Ledecky remains the 200m freestyle. Although she is the defending Olympic champion (1:53.73) and defending world champion (1:55.16), does she have enough firepower and front end speed to take down Federica Pellegrini's 2009 world mark of 1:52.98? If there is one thing we should all have learned by now watching Ledecky's career blossom: never doubt her.
She will again have to face the same battle as she did in Kazan 2015, swimming the final of the 1500m in the same session as the semifinals of the 200m -- with the 1500 coming first. That's a tough double, but all she needs to do is secure a lane in the top eight in the 200.
Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
WR: 200m IM -- 2:06.12, Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2015
2017 Best: 2:08.49 (+2.37)
WR: 400m IM -- 4:26.35, Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2016
2017 Best: 4:33.71 (+7.36)
The Iron Lady is competing at a home world championships -- in her home training pool, no less -- so expect Hosszu to bring her best in front of the strong home crowd. As the reigning double two-time world champion and Olympic champion in both IMs, as well as owning the world record in each race, Hosszu is in prime position in Budapest to beat her already impressive standards.
Hosszu's 2:06.12 in Kazan, Russia, two years ago blew away the field and the previously untouchable world record by the USA's Ariana Kukors from 2009, but Great Britain's Siobhan Marie O'Connor pushed her all the way in Rio last year. The Brit swam a personal best of 2:06.88 in the final to just come up 0.30 of a second short of the gold. O'Connor will push Hosszu again as she aims to go one better.
The 400m IM is a different story. Hosszu blasted a massive personal best of 4:26.36 on day one in Rio last year, winning the gold and destroying the previous world record set by China's Ye Shiwen. She won in Rio by almost five seconds, and, in front of a home crowd, the Iron Lady can only hope for another world record in her native Hungary.
Women's Breaststroke
WR: 50m Breaststroke -- 29.48, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 2013
2017 Best: Lilly King -- 29.66 (+0.18)
2017 Best: Yulia Efimova -- 29.88 (+0.40)
WR: 100m Breaststroke -- 1:04.35, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU,) 2013
2017 Best: Yulia Efimova -- 1:04.82 (+0.47)
2017 Best: Lilly King -- 1:04.95 (+0.60)
WR: 200m Breaststroke -- 2:19.11, Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2013
2017 Best: Yulia Efimova -- 2:19.83 (+0.72)
2017 Best: Lilly King -- 2:21.83 (+2.72)
Rio provided us with another great rivalry that hopefully swimming fans can enjoy for the next four (or more) years. The finger-wagging Lily King of the U.S. walked the walk, so to speak, by winning gold in the 100m breaststroke ahead of reigning world champion Yulia Efimova of Russia, who was only approved at the last minute for competition in the Olympics after an earlier positive doping test.
The Battle of Budapest between King and Efimova should be just as intense as the Olympics, with these two women ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world for the 50m, 100m, and 200m events. Best out of three, who you got?
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