Year: 2009

China’s Jing Zhao set a new 50 meter short course backstroke world record this morning, during prelims at the World Cup meet in Stockholm. Her time was 26.08, where Marieke Guehrer’s world record from the World Cup meet in Moscow last Friday was 26.17. See result list

USA’s Jessica Hardy improved upon her own 50 meter breaststroke short course world record, clocking 29.36 where her record from the 2009 Durban stop was 29.45. Russia’s Evgeny Korotyshkin became first man under 49 seconds in the 100 butterfly, with a new world record time of 48.99, where USA’s Ian Crocker’s world record from 2004 was 49.07. And South African George Du Rand smoked the 200 backstroke world record, with a time of 1:47.08, where Austria’s Markus Rogan’s world record from the World Short Course Championships in Manchester 2008 was 1:47.84. Read SwimmingWorld Magazine

Hungary’s Evelyn Verraszto set a new 200 meter individual medley short course world record at the FINA World Cup 2009 meet in Moscow today, with a time of 2:06.02, where Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry’s world record from the 2008 World Short Course Championships in Manchester, Britain was 2:06.13. See official results.

Australia’s Marieke Guehrer set a new 50 meter short course world record today, at the FINA World Cup 2009 meet in Moscow, with a time of 26.17 where Croatia’s Sanja Jovanovic’s world record from the European Short Course Championships in Rijeka, Croatia was 26.23. See official results.

Germany’s Steffen Deibler set a new 50 meter butterfly short course world record yesterday in Aachen, with a time of 22.06 where France’s Amaury Leveaux’s world record from the European Short Course Championships in Rijeka 2008 was 22.18. Read swimnews.com

Yesterday at the Chinese Nationals, China’s Liu Zige demolished the 200 meter butterfly long course world record, with a time of 2:01.81 where Australia’s Jessicah Schipper’s world record from the World Championships in Rome this summer was 2:03.41. The new world record is “as fast as Mark Spitz was as he sped towards his destiny with seven gold medals in Munich in 1972“, and faster than the current 2:03.12 short course world record of Japan’s Yuko Nakanishi. Read swimmingworldmagazine.com

Sweden’s Therese Alshammar withdrew from the 100 meter IM final at the FINA World Cup meet in Durban today, even though she set a new world record in the event during prelims this morning. Instead, she focused totally on the 50 butterfly, and managed to set a new world record also in this event, with a time of 24.75, where Australia’s Marieke Guehrer’s world record from the World Cup meet in Berlin last year was 24.99. Read swimmingworldmagazine.com

USA’s Jessica Hardy set at new 50 meter breaststroke short course world record, with a time of 29.45 where her world record from the 2008 World Short Course Championships in Manchester was 29.58. And USA’s Peter Marshall set a new 50 meter backstroke world record, with a time of 22.75 where USA’s Randall Bal’s world record from the 2008 World Cup meet in Berlin was 22.87. Read swimmingworldmagazine.com

Video of 50 Breaststroke WR
Video of 100 Backstroke WR

Sweden’s Therese Alshammar set a new 100 meter individual medley world record this morning, at the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2009 meet in Durban, South Africa. The new world record time is 58.51, where Australia’s Emily Seebohm’s world record from last August was 58.54. Read swimmingworldmagazine.com

42 year-old olympic swimmer Dara Torres is to have her left shinbone broken, in order to create more room for cartilage to grow around the kneecap. After that, she’ll have to recover for up to 18 months, but hopes that this will motivate her even more, to come back for the 2012 London Olympics. Read espn.go.com

Dara Torres

(Torres after winning silver in Beijing. Picture courtesy of bryangeek, cc by-sa)