[RACE VIDEO] Tom Shields Becomes First Man To Break 44 Seconds In 100 Fly SCY

tom-shields
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Olympian Tom Shields flew to a new American and U.S. Open Record in the men’s 100-yard butterfly while swimming in finals of the men’s 2016 AT&T Winter National Championships.

Shields dashed to a time of 43.84 in the fly to become the first man to ever post a sub-44 second swim. The previous American and U.S. Open records were split between Austin Staab (44.18) and Joseph Schooling (44.01) respectively.

Comparative splits:

  • Tom Shields (Dec 2016): 20.57/23.27 – 43.84
  • Joseph Schooling (Mar 2016): 20.46/23.55 – 44.01
  • Austin Staab (Mar 2009): 20.56/23.62 – 44.18

After the race Shields commented that he felt his chance at becoming the first swimmer under 44-seconds was dwindling as he watched NCAA stars Joseph Schooling, Jack Conger, and Caeleb Dressel edge closer to the existing records.

Watch the full race here:

After the race, Shields spoke with Swimming World’s David Rieder about his swim and how it felt to finally break the record that he had pursued for so long. He also previewed what might be to come at next week’s Short Course World Championships.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

106 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Karin Knudson O'Connell

Awesome?? congrats Tom!! ⭐️

Amy Rostvold Ahrens
7 years ago

Go Tom!!!

Ross Knowles
7 years ago

Unreal! Congrats Tom.

Patrick J Willey
7 years ago

Thats fast!

Mark Lewicki
7 years ago

Holy cow! Awesome

Nick Talarico
7 years ago

Awesome!

Michael Barnes
7 years ago

Gary Dodd step up bud ?

Paul Poitevent
7 years ago

Tim Shields your boy’s rockin!

Pat Kennedy
7 years ago

Absolutely awesome. What a phenomenal swim.

Bryan Hardman
7 years ago

So, I know I’m not fast but Matt Nahrstedt and Nick Zeckets you would be better contenders! ?

Nick Zeckets
7 years ago
Reply to  Bryan Hardman

Yikes. That is FAST.

Peter Smith
7 years ago

Dig it brother, “Rocket Man”…..I thought I was fast with a 50.07 back in 1972……

Scott Montgomery
7 years ago

Super impressive. Well earned and deserved! Great job, Tom.

Neil Morgan
7 years ago

How widespread are SCY meets? Is it mostly just the US? Most of our pools are either SCM or LCM.

Peter Scott
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

Mostly USA traditionally all NCAA pools are 25yards. All College, University and school historically have 25yrd pool. Other parts of the world is metric and most pools for competition are 25m or 50m internationally. Some pools in USA have movable bulkheads that can make 25yd, 25m or 50m pools. So yes 25yds racing is mostly an American thing and not international

Peter Scott
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

In UK back in the 70’s most of the pools were 25yds, when I was racing there. Now mostly replaced by the 25m

Rich Davis
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

Peter Scott are you kidding? We had a school meet in 1979 in a 33 1/3 yard pool, lol. Built in central London in the 1800’s. There were other pools with really strange measurements too. I think we won the London Schools relay championships in a 45 yard pool too.
However, our school had a 25m tank.
Thanks for the memories I hadn’t thought about this for a long time.

Charlie Bowman
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

We had a 33&1/3 yard, a 25 yard, a 25 meter, 50 meter, and a 44 yard pool on our circuit. You never knew how your times were going to correlate. The 44 yard pool was supposed to be 50 yards but the city council thought they could save a buck and shortened the pool and building on the plans prior to construction

Peter Scott
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

I swam in Scotland in those days. Yes there was a 33 and 1/3 pool in Dundee. You swam 3 lenths for a 100. Now in fact the trend is sometimes to build useless play pools that you can’t race or train in.

Peter Scott
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

In the 70’s most of my training was in 20yard pool (approx)??.

Peter Scott
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

70’s back in the day all indoor pool training. Now my training in 25 and 50m pools all outdoor??. Also open water training in the sea year round and no need for wet suit…it is a big difference????

Rich Davis
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

Peter Scott this is happening in Canada. 24m pools so the city won’t have to host swim meets!

Rich Davis
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

Peter Scott we had a 20 yard pool too. It had 2, 5 yard shallow ends and the deep end was in the middle?

Peter Scott
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

Yes and kidney shaped pools as well.??

Peter Scott
7 years ago
Reply to  Neil Morgan

We used to use the comparison tables that approximately converted times from different pool lengths. Unfortunately they don’t cater for 24m pools, kidney shapes, and wave pools with artificial beaches etc????

David Ades
7 years ago

What a picture of power on the go. In my day they were still trying to break a minute

Helena Pastierova
7 years ago

This is really awesome! Congrats Tom! ?
I’m just thinking if it would make the difference in the 50m long pool…

Gerald Macedo
7 years ago

Roll on you Bears!

Bob Baker
7 years ago

Wow !

Mark S Miller
7 years ago

Beast mode???

Dave Oberhofer
7 years ago

Wow! Tom! Outstanding!??

Angie VanZee Taylor
7 years ago

Awesome!!

Lance Ford
7 years ago

Wow… that is sick! Way to go Tom!!

Bill Nickell
7 years ago

Congrats

Camille Cono
7 years ago

WOW!

Paul Peterson
7 years ago

Stupid fast

Michael Fleming
7 years ago

Michael Zagorov

Kristina Davis-Giles
7 years ago

Parker!

Vaughn Wiles
7 years ago

Annette Wiles,

Brenda Medina
7 years ago

Fernando Medina

Sammy Gregory
7 years ago

Sienna Prowse Mustafa Ali Orcun ummmmm wtf?

Sammy Gregory
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

oh nevermind its 9m difference in america so doesnt count

Sienna Prowse
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

Sammy Gregory yeah i was about to say doesn’t count

Sammy Gregory
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

theyre so dumb tho like wtf??? just swim in a 50m pool cause thats what it is at the olympics???

Sienna Prowse
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

yeh aha

Mustafa Ali Orcun
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

im pre sure its feet

Sammy Gregory
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

they swim in yards

Mustafa Ali Orcun
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

oh yeah thats it

Mustafa Ali Orcun
7 years ago
Reply to  Sammy Gregory

if that isnt the dumbest thing idk what is

Kurt Litchfield
7 years ago

Wow!! May not last log with Schooling and Conger waiting in the wings, but FIRST is FIRST…congrats, Tom Shields!! Amazing!!

Joel Rittenhouse
7 years ago

Wow

Kyle Starling
7 years ago

Wow! So incredibly freaking fast!

Chloe Bridgford
7 years ago

Wow. Super impressed.

Gabriel Lebeuf
7 years ago

LOL Anthony C-Castonguay comment ça va ton fly toi ?

Anthony C-Castonguay
7 years ago
Reply to  Gabriel Lebeuf

Pas de stress 44 secondes… sur 25m peut-être

Ian Ballantyne
7 years ago

Jake Fisher Colin MacQuarrie Erik Hamsteak McCague Matt Koken

Colin MacQuarrie
7 years ago
Reply to  Ian Ballantyne

I would have been first if I hadn’t partied so much

Ian Ballantyne
7 years ago
Reply to  Ian Ballantyne

Wasted talent

Colin MacQuarrie
7 years ago
Reply to  Ian Ballantyne

Lol “wasted” talent, get it

Erik Hamsteak McCague
7 years ago
Reply to  Ian Ballantyne

I wouldn’t mind that time doing freestyle especially all the disappointment over the last 4 years. I hate all of you

Cristian Corbett
7 years ago

Rik Doornenbal

Chris Hernandez
7 years ago

Cristian Corbett

Rik Doornenbal
7 years ago

Chris Hernandez

Trenton D. Wiegand
7 years ago

Arin Wiegand

Finn Speirs
7 years ago

George Dorrington

George Dorrington
7 years ago
Reply to  Finn Speirs

V fast

Ari Fulgino
7 years ago

Jorge Da Costa Pinto Neves Filho

Jeffrey Luci
7 years ago

My excitement will be tempered until I see that he doesn’t have platinum blond-dyed hair.

David Springer
7 years ago

Daaang! That’s phenomenal

Deeanne Stark
7 years ago

So fired up! This is awesome!

Bill Lindsey
7 years ago

Yea, HB guy.

Patricia Isabirye
7 years ago

Nabil Fadhil

Dustin Bessette
7 years ago

Devynn Bessette

Devynn Bessette
7 years ago

That’s fast

Rahul Cheeniyil
7 years ago

Hayley O’Brien i can do that

Hayley O'Brien
7 years ago

Ok. Do it

Marsha Baxter
7 years ago

W.O.W.!

106
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x