Van Mathias swam the men's 100m breaststroke in 55.14 at the U.S. Short Course World Championship Trials in Westmont, Illinois. The time lowered Ilya Shymanovich's five-year-old world record of 55.28 by fourteen hundredths. It was the first individual world record of Mathias's career.
A morning warning, then the record at night
Mathias had signalled his form in the Thursday prelims, setting an American and U.S. Open record of 55.48. In the final, on Night Two of the meet, he went more than three tenths quicker.
He opened in 25.76, nine hundredths under Shymanovich's old opening split of 25.85 and about half a second ahead of Brian Benzing's 26.23 at the turn.
The second 50 settled it: his 29.38 was the only split under 30 seconds in the race, and it was faster than Shymanovich's closing 29.43. He won by more than a second from Benzing, who touched in 56.23, with Josh Bey third in 57.23. No other swimmer broke 57 seconds in the final.
Past Peaty and Shymanovich on the all-time list
The swim moved Mathias, 26, to the top of the short-course list, ahead of Shymanovich's best marks and Adam Peaty's 55.41 from 2020. Before this night, no swimmer other than Shymanovich had ever gone faster than Peaty. Away from the pool, Mathias works as Director of Operations for Indiana University swimming and diving.
"We just wanted to come back faster on the second 50 tonight," Mathias said afterwards. "Some of the details were still a little sloppy, and I got caught up in the atmosphere of racing." He added that there was more to clean up, but that he was really happy with the swim.
The time, well inside the 57.38 qualifying mark, secured his place on the U.S. team for the World Short Course Championships in Beijing, held December 1-6 at the Water Cube.
