{"id":268706,"date":"2017-07-28T13:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T20:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=268706"},"modified":"2017-07-27T07:56:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-27T14:56:15","slug":"the-evolution-of-the-womens-100-meter-breaststroke-world-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-evolution-of-the-womens-100-meter-breaststroke-world-record\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of the Women’s 100-Meter Breaststroke World Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ailish Dougherty, Swimming World College Intern.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lilly King<\/strong>‘s world record-breaking performance<\/a> in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke this past week at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest stunned many in the swimming world. Yet at the same time, it was so unsurprising – it was only a matter of time before\u00a0her confidence would drive her to the fastest swim in history.<\/p>\n

King\u00a0lowered Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte<\/strong>‘s previous world record of 1:04.35, set at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, to a 1:04.13. King’s\u00a0first 50 alone was the fifth fastest 50 breaststroke in history, and the second fastest ever (tied with Jessica Hardy<\/strong>) done by an American.<\/p>\n

King\u00a0had her sights set on a world record<\/a>, and she delivered. Let’s take a look at how her performance made history as the fastest 100-meter breaststroke ever swum. Going all the way back to 1921, the first recorded 100-meter breaststroke world record was set at 1:37.60 by E. Van Den Bogaert<\/strong> of Belgium. The\u00a0times then dropped sharply every one or two years for the next 30 years, getting as fast as a 1:16.90 by Eva Sz\u00e9kely<\/strong> of Hungary in 1951. The next recorded world record was set in 1958 by Karin Beyer<\/strong> of Germany, and it marks a shift in the way breaststroke was regulated.<\/p>\n

In 1933, breaststrokers realized that an over-the-water arm recovery was faster and more efficient than an underwater recovery. During this\u00a0year, American Henry Myers<\/strong> became the first swimmer to race\u00a0with a breaststroke “frog” kick paired with what we now call butterfly arms. As you can see at around the 1:40-mark in the video below from 1936, competitors began to use this technique more frequently. In 1952, however, butterfly was established as an individual stroke by FINA, and breaststrokers were forced to go back to an underwater recovery. The archive of world records\u00a0restarted.<\/p>\n