2024 SC Worlds Previews: The Stars Are Out In The Women’s IM Events

2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

100 IM Preview

The women’s 100 IM has the potential to be “the race” of the 2024 Short Course World Championships, thanks to the head-to-head matchup between Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass.

The teammates turned the 100 IM on its head this fall. Douglass got the first bite at the apple, setting an American record and becoming the second-fastest performer in history at the Shanghai World Cup. Mere hours later, Walsh blew her swim out of the water, blazing a 55.98 during a time trial at the Virginia vs. Florida dual meet to smash IM legend Katinka Hosszu’s world record. She’s the first woman to get under the 56-second barrier—a feat that was barely in the public conversation until she achieved it.

Meanwhile, Douglass continued to chip away at her lifetime best over the next two stops at the World Cup, bringing it down to 56.57 in Singapore, which puts her just six-hundredths from Hosszu’s now former world record.

Barring a big surprise, this is a race between these two swimmers, the first and third-fastest women’s 100 IMers in history.

So, who’s in line for the bronze medal?

The majority of the 2022 IM final returns in Budapest, and it seems likely that the bronze medal will come down to a race between Beryl Gastaldello, Louise Hansson, Sydney Pickrem, Helena Gasson, Rebecca Meder, Lena Kruendl, and Mary-Sophie Harvey. Of this group, Gastaldello, the 2022 silver medalist, has the fastest lifetime best, checking in with a 57.30. A versatile short-course meters sprinter, Gastaldello has already been as fast as 57.93 this season, which puts her just behind Harvey.

Harvey has made huge improvements over the last twelve months, particularly in the freestyle and butterfly. After a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle at the Olympics, those gains are paying off in her short-course meter IM events. Harvey took on a range of events at the World Cup, including the 100 IM, where she swam a lifetime best 57.82 in Shanghai. Havey has never earned an individual medal at a major senior international meet, but she’s got a strong chance to reverse that trend here in Budapest. Her Canadian teammate Sydney Pickrem will also be in the field; she was fourth in Melbourne with a 58.26. She’s neared that this season with a 58.42 and will likely need to swim a best to snag the third step of the podium.

Hansson also participated in the World Cup, where she swam her season-best of 58.77. We know she can be faster—she owns a lifetime best of 57.68 from the 2022 Short Course World Championships, where she won bronze. She repeated as the bronze medalist at the 2023 European Short Course Championships behind France’s 1-2 punch of Charlotte Bonnet and Gastaldello.

New Zealand’s Gasson has already announced that this will be her last meet before retiring from professional swimming. Gasson finished fifth in Melbourne, swimming a lifetime best 58.40. She was first at the final turn and got swallowed up by the field on the freestyle leg, but still had enough in the tank to touch six-hundredths ahead of Meder. So far this season, Meder’s been faster, swimming 59.19 to Gasson’s 59.53. Meanwhile, Kreundl hasn’t logged a swim this fall, though she swam a lifetime best 58.65 at the 2023 European Short Course Championships.

SwimSwam’s Top Four Picks:

200 IM Preview

The 200 IM was one of the most exciting races of the Paris Olympics, and while it certainly lived up to its billing, it also ended up being one of the most controversial events because Alex Walsh was disqualified for her back-to-breast turn after stopping the clock second to Summer McIntosh. While four Olympic finalists will be in the race, the top of the psych sheet looks quite different. Olympic bronze medalist Kaylee McKeown withdrew from this meet a while ago, and when the psych sheet dropped, McIntosh, the gold medalist, had opted to pursue the 200 backstroke at this meet instead of the 200 IM.

Those decisions leave the way clear for Douglass to repeat as the short-course world champion. Two years ago, she scared Hosszu’s record in the 200 IM, putting up a 2:02.12 to become the second-fastest performer in history, .26 seconds behind Hosszu’s world record from 2014. That record is now a decade old, but there’s a strong chance that it doesn’t make it into the new year—since swimming her lifetime best, Douglass has reached new heights in her swimming career. Among other accolades, she’s an Olympic champion, has broken 2:07 in the 200 IM, and broken the short-course meter 200 breaststroke record twice this fall. Everything’s lined up for her to put together a special performance in Budapest.

Walsh gave the United States a 1-2 finish in this event in Melbourne, earning silver with her lifetime best 2:03.37. Walsh is a question mark coming into this meet. We haven’t seen her race since the Olympics, as she’s been rehabbing after a minor procedure on her meniscus this fall. This meet is her return to competition since the injury. The fact that she’s in Budapest suggests that her recovery has gone smoothly, and her lifetime best puts her far enough ahead of the rest of the field that she’s a strong contender to reach the podium again.

We’ll see many of the same swimmers in the 100 and 200 IM. The Canadian duo of Harvey and Pickrem are once again likely finalists and should vie for a spot on the podium. This is another event where Harvey could earn her first individual senior international medal; she swam a lifetime best 2:04.82 in Incheon. Pickrem’s best is a 2:04.00 from the 2020 ISL season. Like Walsh, she hasn’t raced the 200 IM in short-course meters since the 2022 World Championships.

One new addition from the 100 IM field is Great Britain’s Abbie Wood. She should be a factor in both the 200 and 400 IM and is the defending European Short Course champion in both events. Her lifetime best is 2:04.77, and she’s been 2:08.49 so far this season.

Further back, Tara Kinder swam a lifetime best 2:06.56 in October, which puts her just ahead of Kreundl on the psych sheet. Meder will be in the mix for a final lane as well after a 2:07.34 lifetime best earlier this season, and another name to keep an eye on will be Ireland’s Ellen Walshe, who will likely be a bigger factor in the 400 IM but could grab a final lane here in the 200 IM.

SwimSwam’s Top Four Picks: 

400 IM Preview

• World Record: 4:18.94 — Mireia Belmonte, Spain (2017)
• Championship Record: 4:19.86 — Mireia Belmonte, Spain (2014)
• 2022 SC World Champion: Hali Flickinger, United States — 4:26.51
• Returning 2022 Short Course Worlds Finalists:
• 2024 Olympic Finalists in the Field: Summer McIntosh, Katie Grimes, Ellen Walshe