Just showing up does seem to count for more in short-course meters. Some of the top swimmers didn't put up SCM times.
That said, it also seems that SCM times have been trending downward in recent years. Look at this sample of benchmark 10th place times:
Yr - 50 fr ... 1500 fr ... 200 ba ... 100 br
55-59 men:
05 - 27.89 ... 21:17 ... 2:51.9 ... 1:23.0
06 - 28.39 ... 21:50 ... 2:56.5 ... 1:23.6
07 - 28.11 ... 21:05 ... 2:47.1 ... 1:21.36
08 - 27.21 ... 19:51 ... 2:41.5 ... 1:21.08
40-44 men:
05 - 25.58 ... 19:00 ... 2:26.9 ... 1:15.82
06 - 25.74 ... 19:02 ... 2:29.4 ... 1:15.56
07 - 25.98 ... 18:46 ... 2:25.2 ... 1:14.01
08 - 25.19 ... 18:53 ... 2:25.9 ... 1:13.44
The trend is apparent in a lot of age groups ...
Just showing up does seem to count for more in short-course meters. Some of the top swimmers didn't put up SCM times.
That said, it also seems that SCM times have been trending downward in recent years. Look at this sample of benchmark 10th place times:
Yr - 50 fr ... 1500 fr ... 200 ba ... 100 br
55-59 men:
05 - 27.89 ... 21:17 ... 2:51.9 ... 1:23.0
06 - 28.39 ... 21:50 ... 2:56.5 ... 1:23.6
07 - 28.11 ... 21:05 ... 2:47.1 ... 1:21.36
08 - 27.21 ... 19:51 ... 2:41.5 ... 1:21.08
40-44 men:
05 - 25.58 ... 19:00 ... 2:26.9 ... 1:15.82
06 - 25.74 ... 19:02 ... 2:29.4 ... 1:15.56
07 - 25.98 ... 18:46 ... 2:25.2 ... 1:14.01
08 - 25.19 ... 18:53 ... 2:25.9 ... 1:13.44
The trend is apparent in a lot of age groups ...
