Budapest 2024, Day 4: Luke Hobson Downs Paul Biedermann 200 Free WR; U.S. Wins 800 FR
Whatever else has befallen the American men’s program, the relays seem gloriously unaffected. And in Luke Hobson, the U.S. has another tentpole to build the future around.
Hobson blasted away the last super-suited individual male SCM world record with his opening leg, helping the U.S. destroy the field and the world mark in 6:40.51.
Hobson went 1:38.91 off the front. The bronze medalist from the Paris Olympics undercut Paul Biedermann’s 1:39.37 set in Berlin in 2009. The individual men’s 200 free will be contested Sunday, the meet’s final day.
“It’s awesome, I’m super happy with that,” Hobson said. “I knew that would be possible. I’ve seen that record earlier in the short-course and I figured it was possible and I’m super happy to get it done in fashion, lead those guys off and win the race.”
The U.S. had four of the five fastest legs in the entire race. Carson Foster, fresh off his joint silver medal in the 400 free, went 1:40.77. The man he shared it with, Kieran Smith, brought it home in 1:40.49. In between was a 1:40.34 split from 200 individual medley gold medalist Shaine Casas.
The Americans’ time of 6:40.51 undercuts the nation’s winning time from Melbourne in 2022 of 6:44.12 as the meet and world record.
Trenton Julian and Daniel Matheson also get medals from prelims.
The only swimmer with a time comparable to the Americans was Australian lead-off Max Giuliani, who went 1:40.73 off the front. That, though, only put the Aussies second and nearly two seconds back of Hobson. The Aussies were second at every handoff and broke the Oceania record in 6:45.54. Ed Sommerville, Harrison Turner and 400 free champ Elijah Winnington comprised that quartet.
“It was a young squad to break the Oceania record, really good,” Winnington said. “We nearly averaged what the individual Aussie record was. So we’ve got a really good team, but it’s something to build upon. The U.S. are really strong. We can’t get complacent with that. So it’s just looking positive and we’re just trying to develop the young guys.”
Italy ran fourth at every handoff until Alberto Razzetti split 1:41.62 off the end. That and Carlos D’Ambrosio’s 1:41.48 helped them rally past Germany for bronze when Florian Wellbrock split 1:44.99. Filippo Meglio and Manuel Frigo were the front half for Italy, which won silver in the men’s 400 free relay and gold in the mixed 200 medley relay to start the session Friday.
“Swimming alone and fighting for the podium is always nice – but with your friends in a relay is a lot better,” Razzetti said. “We are very happy, we knew we were going to fight for the medals. For sure, we knew that the USA and Australia would be fast. We were still close so we did a great job.”
Behind Germany was Spain and the Neutral Athletes of Russia.
With Hobson’s swim, the lone surviving SCM record from the super-suited era on the men’s side is the world’s best time set by the French 200 free relay at the 2008 European Championships. The oldest individual record belongs to Yannick Angel in the 400 free from 2014. Biedermann’s long-course records in the 200 free and 400 free, both of which date to the 2009 World Championships, remain stubbornly resilient.
