Swimmer's Daily

  • Marina Ribi smashed her Swiss record in the women’s 400 IM today at the Swiss Long Course Championships in Geneva. Ribi clocked a 4:48.38, bettering her previous standard of 4:50.53 set in 2009. Dominik Meichtry posted a fifth-fastest time of the year yesterday in the 200 freestyle, with a 1:47.93 in the 200 freestyle. And the day before yesterday, Ivana Gabrilo set a Swiss record in the 100 backstroke, with a 1:03.13 clearing Martina Van Berkels 1:03.18 from 2009. Read more here, here and here on SwimmingWorld Magazine.

  • Alicia Coutts posted world-leading times in the 100 fly and 200 IM today, but has a fear of drowning during the 200 freestyle tomorrow. “When I was 14, I went to Australian Schools’ Nationals in Perth and on the third turn of the 200m freestyle I blacked out.” Coutts says she only blacked out for “a few seconds”, and after coming to she managed to finish the final lap before collapsing. “It kind of gave me a bit of a phobia of it (the 200m) for a few years. I’ve been doing a little bit of work in training for it and hopefully I can make it to the end without drowning.” Read foxsports.com.au.

  • Kristel Köbrich set a world-leading championship record at the Spanish Open today, with a time of 16:02.01 in the 1500 meter freestyle, not so far off her Chilean and South American record 15:57.57. And in the 100 butterfly, 16-year-old Judit Ignacio set a Spanish record, with at time of 59.21, erasing Angela San Juan’s 59.60 record from 2009. Read more here on SwimNews.com.

  • Alicia Coutts dominated the women’s 100 fly at the Australian Long Course Championships today, with a winning time of 57.25, surpassing the previous world pacesetter of 57.62 clocked by Inge Dekker in Amsterdam in March. And then she followed up with winning 200 IM in 2:10.06, ahead of Stephanie Rice in 2:10.41, crushing the previous world best of 2:12.01 set by Hannah Miley last month in Great Britain. Read more here on SwimmingWorld Magazine.

  • Zhang Fenglin downed the Chinese record in the men’s 200 back with a time of 1:56.34 at the Chinese Long Course Nationals today, moving ahead of James Goddard’s 1:57.08 for first in the world 2011 rankings. Read more here on SwimmingWorld Magazine.

  • Sweden’s Rebecca Ejdervik blazed to a 31.06 in the 50 breaststroke during prelims at the Canadian World Trials yesterday. This is the best time in the world this year, with also Sweden’s Jennie Johannsson in 2nd spot with a 31.23 from Amsterdam Swim Cup in March, and also a Swedish record. Ejdervik then won the B final in 31.56. Her best time before this was apparently 31.42 from a meet in Norrköping in Sweden in 2008. Via SwimmingWorld Magazine and ejdervik.blogg.se

  • Katerine Savard of Quebec City broke the Canadian record in the women’s 100 butterfly on Friday at the Canadian World Trials. Savard, 17, clocked 57.97 seconds to eclipse the previous national mark of 58.67 set by Audrey Lacroix in July 2009. It was also the fifth fastest time in the world this year and she beat her personal best by one second. “I’m really proud with that performance,” said Savard. “It shows that I’m getting closer to the best in the world but I’ll have to swim even faster to get in the final at the world championships.” Source: swimming.ca.

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  • A Japanese dog somehow managed to survive three weeks at sea atop the debris of a house, swept out miles to sea after the tsunami. And still it was well enough to wag its tail and hide from the rescue crew. Sources Geekosystem and scaq.blogspot.com.

  • Can you spot him ? (no, there are no prizes)