Ahmed Jaouadi Believes Longstanding World Record in 800 Freestyle is Within Reach
Not long ago, the world record in the women’s 200-meter butterfly was widely viewed as the most-daunting on the books. But Summer McIntosh has twice made a run at that standard, held by China’s Liu Zige at 2:01.81 since 2009. When McIntosh clocked 2:01.99 at the recent World Championships, she exhibited frustration over her near-record miss, a reaction that showed the world record was a target.
Since it’s seemingly a matter of time before McIntosh edits the 200 fly record, attention turns to the men’s 800 freestyle as the most-challenging standard in the sport. Like Liu’s time, the 800 freestyle record comes from the era of the super suits, sitting at 7:32.12, an effort produced by China’s Zhang Lin at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Given that Zhang’s swim is the equivalent of back-to-back 3:46.06 outings in the 400 freestyle, it is undoubtedly a difficult reach. But at least one individual believes the record can go down, and he’s a guy who recently completed the distance-freestyle double at the World Champs: Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi.
Jaouadi was sensational at Worlds, where he captured gold medals in the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle. In the 800 freestyle, Jaouadi delivered a time of 7:36.88, the third-fastest performance in history. Only Zhang and fellow Tunisian Ous Mellouli (7:35.27) have been faster than Jaouadi, a 20-year-old is extending his country’s distance tradition.
On a recent episode of the Social Kick Podcast, Jaouadi was a highly engaging guest during his conversation with hosts Luke Paddington and Bryan Lundquist. In addition to revealing that he’ll be headed to the University of Florida for an NCAA career, Jaouadi took time to address the world record in the 800 freestyle.
“I definitely like to think that 800 (freestyle) world record is possible,” Jaouadi said. “I always thought it was possible…When I say that in front of my friends, they laugh at me. They say, ‘Ok, start swimming 7:40 first. Calm down.”
Well, Jaouadi has now dipped below the 7:40 barrier, and he accomplished that feat by a considerable margin during his gold-medal swim at the World Championships. In that race, Jaouadi went out in 3:48.92 and came home in 3:47.96. Several days later, the Philippe Lucas-trained athlete won the 1500 freestyle in 14:34.41.
When Jaouadi arrives in Gainesville and begins his Florida career, he’ll join a program known for developing distance stars. The opportunity to train with Katie Ledecky and Bobby Finke will make for some epic training sessions. While Jaouadi is still four seconds shy of the world record in the 800 freestyle, perhaps this new training environment will enable him to surge to another level.
What stands out about Jaouadi is his willingness to think big, and not see Zhang’s world record as untouchable. Once a breakthrough is made, Jaouadi is confident the distance door will be kicked down. There is no shortage of distance stars who will push one another, including the likes of Olympic champions Finke and Daniel Wiffen (Ireland), Germany’s Sven Schwarz, Lukas Martens and Florian Wellbrock, Australian Sam Short and Turkey’s Kuzey Tuncelli.
“I think as soon as someone will go, and I don’t know if it will be me or someone else, I think as soon as someone will go 7:30 or 7:32 or 7:33, everybody will swim fast,” Jaouadi said.
