World Championships, Day Two Semifinals: Thomas Ceccon Rebounds to Nail Down Lane Four in 100 Back Final

Thomas Ceccon of Italy prepares to compete in the 100m Freestyle Men Semifinal during the FINA Swimming Short Course World Championships at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Melbourne, Australia, December 14th, 2022. Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Thomas Ceccon -- Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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World Championships, Day Two Semifinals: Thomas Ceccon Rebounds to Nail Down Lane Four in 100 Back Final

The man who stunned the world one year ago as he crushed the world record in the men’s 100 backstroke found himself in a tricky spot after his first backstroke race in Fukuoka. Thomas Ceccon qualified 14th for the 100 back semifinals, his time of 53.85 more than two seconds behind his impressive standard of 51.60 set last June in Budapest. But Ceccon, fresh off an impressive anchor leg of Italy’s silver-medal winning 400 freestyle relay Sunday evening, quickly restored order in the semifinals.

Ceccon went out well ahead of his heat, flipping first at 25.27, and he cruised to the finish in 52.16, the quickest time in the world thus far for 2023, surpassing the 52.26 that China’s Xu Jiayu recorded earlier this year. Ceccon’s first-half split of 25.27 was just off world-record pace before he cruised home down the stretch. Ceccon finished in 26.46 in his world-record performance, and we’ll see if he can replicate that finishing surge as he seeks to defend his title.

In the second semifinal, Xu blasted ahead of the heat and held on to finish in 52.42, which brought him to the wall six tenths clear of his heat and good for the No. 2 seed overall. Third went to last year’s silver medalist, the United States’ Ryan Murphy, who cruised the first 50 before coming home in 26.56, best in the field, to finish in 52.56. Murphy currently ranks fourth globally, with his top time of 52.39 from U.S. Nationals last month.

Just ahead of Murphy in the rankings is Hunter Armstrong, the 50 back world-record holder and bronze medalist in the 100 back last year. Armstrong also had trouble in the prelims, with his time of 53.94 only getting him into the semifinals by one hundredth over 17th-place finisher Isaac Cooper. Like Ceccon, Armstrong was able to rebound in the semifinals but only enough to narrowly squeeze into the final. Armstrong swam a time of 53.21 to beat out Great Britain’s Isaac Cooper (53.21) for the last spot in the final. Armstrong’s best is 51.98, and he swam a time of 52.33 to edge Murphy at Nationals.

A pair of French swimmers got into the final with Mewen Tomac finishing fourth in 52.86 and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard fifth in 53.07. Hungary’s Hubert Kos took sixth in 53.17, and Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk, last year’s Worlds bronze medalist in the 50 back, was seventh in 53.20.

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