Jack Alexy has set a new world record in the men's short-course 100m freestyle, clocking 44.64 seconds at the United States Short Course World Championship Trials in Westmont, Illinois. The performance, on the third night of the trials on 30 October, cut 0.20 seconds off the previous global standard of 44.84 seconds.

That previous mark was held jointly by Australia's Kyle Chalmers, from 2021, and Russia's Egor Kornev, who equalled it at a World Cup meeting four weeks earlier. Alexy went out in 21.25 seconds, inside world-record pace, and came home in 23.39 to win by more than half a second. Chris Guiliano finished second in 45.22, and veteran Caeleb Dressel was third in 45.65.

The road to Beijing

Alexy had already signalled a big swim in the morning preliminaries, clocking a US Open record of 45.09 seconds, just 0.04 seconds outside his own American record of 45.05 set at the 2024 World Championships in Budapest. In the final he found another gear, and the record is his first individual world record, adding to a first individual gold in the event at those Budapest championships.

The result books his place for the World Short Course Championships in Beijing, held from 1 to 6 December in the Water Cube, where short-course races are swum in 25-metre pools rather than the 50-metre pools used at the Olympics. Alexy said afterwards he hopes to go even faster in Beijing. On the same night in Westmont, Claire Curzan also broke a world record, winning the 100m backstroke in 53.92 seconds.