Comparing the NCAA Championship to the Short Course World Championships

This article was originally published in the 2023 College Preview issue of SwimSwam Magazine. Subscribe here.

The NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships are some of the most expressive events in swimming, with performances often among the best in history. Its depth is unparalleled anywhere in the world, and its growing international presence means that not only America’s top athletes, but many of the world’s top athletes, come through the NCAA system.

Some of the NCAA’s records over the years are legendary. For example, Cal’s Natalie Coughlin’s 49.97 score in the 100 backstroke in 2002 was considered by many to be ahead of her time, as it took other swimmers 15 years to break the 50-second barrier. I predicted that, and that prediction turned out to be correct. In 2018, Caleb Dressel of Florida’s 17.63 points in the 50-meter freestyle were a quantum leap, almost a second faster than the second-fastest swimmer in history at the time.

But because the NCAA is played on short course yards, the results aren’t easy to understand, especially for those who don’t follow the college season closely or aren’t from the United States. For example, many people have no idea what it means. , Swim the men’s 50 freestyle in a time of less than 18 seconds.

Therefore, it is not easy to compare NCAA results to those of other major tournaments played in long-course or short-course meters.

Some of the performances in short course yards are definitely on the level of great performances you’ll see at the World Championships and the Olympics. But overall, how do NCAA results compare to these conferences?

Short course yard x short course meter

The Olympic Games and World Aquatics Championships are the most important competitions on the swimming calendar and, as a rule, bring together the highest level of swimming athletes. Therefore, it seems clear that the level of these competitions is generally higher than the NCAA and other swimming competitions around the world.

But it probably makes sense to compare the NCAA to the World Short Course Championships. Despite being a world championship, the short-course version of the event doesn’t attract all the top swimmers on the planet, unlike the long-course event. But like the NCAA, there are always great athletes, world records, and great races.

Therefore, the question remains: which sport is stronger, the NCAA or the World Short Course?

In this article, we will compare the results of the 2022 World Short Course Championships held in Melbourne last December and the 2023 NCAA Championships held in March.

But first, here are some additional interesting comparisons to help you understand the balance of power between these two matches.

In 2000 and 2004, the NCAA ran short course meters. The idea at the time was to compete in the NCAA in the 25-meter pool in an Olympic year, already aimed at preparing for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

That only happened during those two years. In 2008, the next Olympic year, the NCAA was held on short course yards as usual.

As expected, there were fast performances and several world records. And interestingly, at the time, the World Short Course Championships were also held just a few months after the NCAAs.

Therefore, it is possible to directly compare the times of the winners.

2000 NCAA x 2000 World Short Course Championships (fastest times in bold)

2004 NCAA x 2004 World Short Course Championships (fastest times in bold)

In 2000, of the 12 individual events, the women’s NCAA had the fastest winning times in four events, and the World Championships won the 100 backstroke in a tied seven events.

For the men’s events, NCAA results were faster in eight of the 13 events than in five events at the world championships.

In other words, when considering both men and women, the NCAA had faster winning times in 12 events, and the World Championships had faster times in 12 events.

In 2004, it was almost a massacre in favor of the NCAA.

In the women’s NCAA, winning times were faster in 10 of the 12 races. Participated in 9 of 13 races in the men’s NCAA. That means the NCAA’s fastest time was 19 total, compared to his six at the World Championships.

So, as you can see, considering this particular cut, the NCAA is on par with or better than the World Short Course Championship in terms of winning times.

But that was 20 years ago. How’s the panorama today?

Compare the latest results

As mentioned earlier, our purpose here is to compare the 2023 NCAA and 2022 World Short Course Championships.

In terms of fastest times ever, the 2022 World Championships set two world records held by Canada’s Maggie McNeil in the women’s 50 backstroke and 100 butterfly.

As for the 2023 NCAAs, there will be eight fastest times in history, counting women and men. On the women’s side, the 50 free (this time Maggie McNeil representing LSU), 100 backstroke (Gretchen Walsh of Virginia), 200 breaststroke, 100 butterfly, and 200 IM (Kate Douglas of Virginia). On the men’s side, Leon Marchand of Arizona State University recorded the 200m breaststroke, 200m IM, and 400m IM.

The following table shows the winning times for the two competitions. Obviously, short course yards and times from short course meters are not directly comparable. Therefore, the SwimSwam website has an additional column to convert NCAA times for the 25 meter pool using the Swim Time Converter tool.

Conversion from yards to meters is controversial, primarily because it can vary from athlete to athlete. The conversion from short course yards to short course meters is usually more accurate than in the 50 meter pool since the number of turns is equal in most competitions.

For these reasons, the performances highlighted in bold are those in which there is no discussion of which was particularly impressive. On the other hand, events where the winners of two events had similar times after conversion and the difference between them was small will be considered a tie.

2023 NCAA x 2022 World Short Course Championships (fastest times in bold)

On the women’s side, the analysis shows a clear advantage in 5 of the 13 sports and the Short Course World Championship in 4.

On the men’s side, the score was 5-4, again in favor of the NCAA.

Due to the conversions involved, it is difficult to determine which sport had the most impressive winning time. But when you compare, you can see that the NCAA is certainly on par with the World Short Course Championships, if not better. If the NCAA finally returns to short course performance, there will definitely be great performances. For example, he ran the women’s 100 backstroke in under 54 seconds, and she ran the men’s 200 breaststroke in under 1:58.

But for now, this debate will continue to exist in the theoretical world. Sure answers can be fun, but vague answers can be fun too.