Just to clarify, this is short course swimming, in a 25m pool. The times are expected to be faster than at the Olympics which is swum in a 50m pool. The comparison over 50 metres is sometimes as much as one second, depending on how much of the turn is utilized by a particular swimmer. George, who is not an underwater specialist does not typically benefit from the turns in a short course event, although, his times would still reflect a faster swim than his long course times.
All in all, still a great swim, as this would have put him on the podium in Dubai two years ago. The short course season ends with Worlds in Istanbul in December, so we may get a world class swimming medal yet this year.
BTW, the 100IM time was even more impressive. Remember, George was an IM swimmer first, before the injury. Turns out he can still do enough breastroke to train for the 100IM.