Two world records fell at the Australian Grand Prix yesterday. Libby Trickett broke the 100 butterfly world record with a time of 55.74, beating Felicia Galvez’s time of 55.89 from two weeks ago. And Leisel Jones lowered her own 100 breaststroke world record from 1:03.86 to 1:03.72. Read here and here at SwimInfo.
Try and tell me that if Matt Biondi or Tom Jager wore these suits they wouldn’t have been much faster. Jager’s 21.81 50 free from 1990 with a two percent decrease is a 21.37. All of a sudden Eamon’s 21.28 isn’t that ridiculous. Biondi’s 21.85 (1990) and 48.42 (1988) turn into 21.41 and a “world record†47.45 respectively.
How about the women? Janet Evans’ 4:03.85 400 free from 1988 turns into a 3:58.97. Mary T’s 2:05.96 200 fly from 1981 turns into a 2:03.44. I could go all day with this, but you get the point.
The truly scary part is that this “two percent†theory applies to the new suits vs. the most recent suits before hand. Compare it to what the older timers above were wearing and you go way past the realm of ridiculous.
Source: SwimNetwork.com
As you can read here on SwimInfo.com, TYR yesterday announced its newest swimsuit called the Tracer Rice at the French Olympic Trials. According to Scott Goldblatt at SwimNetwork.com, one of the novelties of this new suit is that it shifts the center of buoyancy closer to the center of mass, in such a way that the legs now sink less relative to the rest of the body.
Laure Manaudou is having a difficult time at the French Olympic Trials, first finishing only third in the 400 freestyle, and then pulling out of the 200. She holds the world record in both events. Read more about it for instance here on SwimNews and here on iht.com.
Here is the 400 freestyle with Manoudou getting very emotional when questioned by journalists afterwards.
Bernard broke the opposition and softened up the record with the fierce speed of his first length.
“I always went out very fast. If you think before the race that the end will be tiring you’ll never make it,” he said.
He acknowledged there had been a change in approach to the classic 100m race, with the emphasis now on power rather than technique as exemplified by past master Alexander Popov and Van den Hoogenband, who was not well enough to swim the event here.
“Yes, it’s more power, but power always with technique. Without technique it’s very difficult to swim,” Bernard said.
Source: tvnz.co.nz
Courtesy of www.scmsom.se, here is the complete record list of the 2008 World Short Course Championships in Manchester. 18 World records, 35 Championship records, 28 African, 15 American, 2 Asian, 22 European and 17 Oceanic, plus a lot more national.
In case you didn’t know, the complete European Swimming Championships competition analysis is available here at swim.ee, alongside LEN competition analyses dating back to Helsinki 2000. An interesting addition this time is the summary statistics, which summarizes tendencies in swimming tactics and technique at Eindhoven 2008.
Helge Meeuw set a new 100 meter backstroke long course record at the German Olympic Trials today, swimming 53.10 where his and Liam Tancock’s former record was 53.46. And former South African Sarah Poewe set at new 100 meter breaststroke record in the time of 1:07.10, where the record of Ukranian Anna Khlystunova was 1:07.27. Source: SwimNews.
The Australian Olympic Committee has decided to ban Nick D’Arcy from Beijing 2008, after an investigation following the 20-year-old’s nightclub altercation with former Commonwealth swimming champion Simon Cowley in Sydney last month. Coach Brian Stehr says that this probably has ended D’Arcy’s swimming career. Read more here on AidelaideNow.