Hunter Armstrong, the American swimmer, has achieved a new world record in the men’s 50-meter backstroke. During the International Team Trials at Greensboro, North Carolina, held on Thursday night, Armstrong clocked an impressive time of 23.71 seconds in this non-Olympic event.

This competition aims to select the U.S. team for the upcoming world championships in Budapest, Hungary, scheduled for this summer. The addition of this event to the calendar followed the postponement of the 2021 worlds in Fukuoka, Japan, twice due to the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The rescheduled competition is now set to take place in 2023.

Armstrong, a 21-year-old student at Ohio State, had previously secured a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last summer as part of the 4×100 medley relay, contributing significantly with his backstroke leg. Despite this achievement, he expressed astonishment at his latest performance in the 50 back, surpassing the previous record of 23.80 set by Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov in 2021.

Notably, Armstrong had already established an American record in the morning preliminaries, and he managed to further improve upon it in the evening. Reflecting on his achievement, he commented, “It was a complete shock. My best time before this was a 25.50, and in prelims, I was able to throw down a 24.00, and that gave me hope. But you know Kolesnikov is one of the fastest backstrokers and freestylers in the world. To be up there with him is just incredible.”

On the inaugural day of the sub-junior and junior national aquatic championships, Sambhavv R from Karnataka surpassed the longstanding record of renowned Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj in the 200m freestyle. This achievement was part of a day where three more national records were shattered.

Sambhavv completed the 200m freestyle for group I boys in an impressive 1:53.41 seconds, rewriting Nataraj’s three-year-old record of 1:53.54 seconds. Aneesh S Gowda, also from Karnataka, secured the second position with a timing of 1:53.54 seconds, while Vedaant Madhavan from Maharashtra claimed the bronze with a time of 1:55.93.

A thrilling contest unfolded in the 200m individual medley for group I boys, primarily between Bengal’s Swadesh Mondal and Shoan Ganguly of Karnataka. Despite Shoan’s initial lead in the butterfly leg, Mondal caught up during the backstroke and seized the lead in the breaststroke segment. In the end, Mondal touched first with a time of 2:08.88, while Shoan settled for silver with a time of 2:09.05. Notably, both swimmers surpassed the national record time of 2:10.26 set in 2018 by Neel Roy of Maharashtra.

In the 200m freestyle for group III girls, Karnataka’s Dhinidhi Desinghu made history by breaking an 11-year-old national record set in 2010 by Monique Gandhi of Maharashtra. Dhinidhi secured the gold with a time of 2:14.94 seconds, while Aditi Hegde of Maharashtra claimed silver in 2:23.93, and Shakthi Ishwar Prasad of Tamil Nadu took the bronze with a time of 2:24.77.

In the Olympic aquatic events, confusion arises over the terminology used for certain disciplines. While officially labeled as marathon swimming (comprising 10-kilometer races for men and women at Tokyo Bay) and artistic swimming (a women-only event featuring duets and teams performing synchronized routines with dramatic music at the Olympic pool), competitors often have their own preferred terms.

American swimmer Haley Anderson, who finished sixth in women’s marathon swimming, prefers to call it “open water,” emphasizing the endurance aspect of the race. Svetlana Romashina from Russia, who secured a record sixth gold medal in artistic swimming, acknowledged the ongoing confusion surrounding the terminology. Despite the global preference for “artistic swimming,” she mentioned that in her country, it is still commonly referred to as synchronized swimming.

The sport, initially known as synchronized swimming since its inclusion in the Olympics in 1984, has faced challenges in being taken seriously. To enhance its popularity and attract sponsors and television partners, the governing body FINA renamed it “artistic swimming” after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. While some athletes resisted the change, believing it harkens back to the sport’s water ballet origins, the shift appears to be slowly gaining acceptance.

USA Synchro officially changed its name to USA Artistic Swimming, reflecting the broader transformation of the sport. Despite the name change, athletes like Romashina stress the importance of showcasing the beauty and athleticism of the discipline, whether called synchro or artistic swimming.

In contrast, long-distance swimming races held in oceans, rivers, and lakes are commonly referred to as open water. However, at the Olympics, the 10k event added in 2008 is officially named the marathon. Despite this, many swimmers, including Ashley Twichell of the U.S., continue to use the traditional term “open water” to describe these challenging races. Ultimately, for these athletes, the focus remains on achieving gold, silver, and bronze, regardless of the terminology used.