LC World Records pre-Polyurethane Suits

By publishing this I do not intend to diminish the acheivements of any of the World Record breakers since February 2008. Too often we lose sight of the fact that these guys are truly gifted athletes who work incredibly hard to acheive what they have. However, as the rules have changed re: swimsuits, so will the results. I have compiled what I consider the new targets for swimmers to shoot for. These are the records that stood before Polyurethane suits were used (February 2008).

. Discipline Time Name NAT Date Event . 50m Freestyle 21.64 Alexander Popov RUS 6/1/2000 Russian Olympic Trials . 100m Freestyle 47.84 P. v.d Hoogenband NET 9/19/2000 Olympic Games . 200m Freestyle 1:43.86 Michael Phelps USA 3/27/2007 World Championships . 400m Freestyle 3:40.08 Ian Thorpe AUS 7/30/2002 Commonwealth Games . 800m Freestyle 7:38.65 Grant Hackett AUS 7/27/2005 World Championships . 1500m Freestyle 14:34.56 Grant Hackett AUS 7/29/2001 World Championships . 50m Backstroke 24.8 Thomas Rupprath GER 7/27/2003 World Championships . 100m Backstroke 52.98 Aaron Peirsol USA 3/27/2007 World Championships . 200m Backstroke 1:54.30 Ryan Lochte USA 3/30/2007 World Championships . 50m Breaststroke 27.18 Oleg Lisogor UKR 8/2/2002 European Championships . 100m Breaststroke 59.13 Brendan Hansen USA 8/1/2006 US Nationals . 200m Breaststroke 2:08.50 Brendan Hansen USA 8/21/2006 Pan Pacific Championships . 50m Butterfly 22.96 Roland Schoeman SA 7/25/2005 World Championships . 100m Butterfly 50.4 Ian Crocker USA 7/30/2005 World Championships . 200m Butterfly 1:52.09 Michael Phelps USA 3/28/2007 World Championships . 200m Individual Medley 1:54.98 Michael Phelps USA 3/29/2007 World Championships . 400m Individual Medley 4:06.22 Michael Phelps USA 4/1/2007 World Championships . 4 x 100m Freestyle 3:12.46 United States USA 8/19/2006 Pan Pacific Championships . 4 x 100m Medley 3:30.68 United States USA 8/21/2004 Olympic Games

. 4 x 200m Freestyle 7:03.24 United States USA 3/30/2007 World Championships . . Discipline Time Name NAT Date Event . 50m Freestyle 24.13 Inge de Bruijn NET 9/22/2000 Olympic Games . 100m Freestyle 53.3 Britta Steffen GER 8/2/2006 European Championships . 200m Freestyle 1:55.52 Laure Manaudou FRA 3/28/2007 World Championships . 400m Freestyle 4:02.13 Laure Manaudou FRA 8/6/2006 European Championships . 800m Freestyle 8:16.22 Janet Evans USA 8/20/1989 Pan Pacific Championships . 1500m Freestyle 15:42.54 Kate Ziegler USA 6/17/2007 TYR Meet of Champions . 50m Backstroke 28.09 Li Yang CHI 10/19/2007 World Military Games . 100m Backstroke 59.44 Natalie Coughlin USA 3/27/2007 World Championships . 200m Backstroke 2:06.62 Krisztina Egerszegi HUN 8/25/1991 European Championships . 50m Breaststroke 30.31 Jade Edmistone AUS 1/30/2006 AUS Nationals . 100m Breaststroke 1:05.09 Leisel Jones AUS 3/20/2006 Commonwealth Games . 200m Breaststroke 02:20.5 Leisel Jones AUS 2/1/2006 AUS Commonwealth Trials . 50m Butterfly 25.33 A. Kammerling SWE 3/12/2005 Swedish SC Championships . 100m Butterfly 56.61 Inge de Bruijn NET 9/17/2000 Olympic Games . 200m Butterfly 2:05.40 Jessicah Schipper AUS 8/17/2006 Pan Pacific Championships . 200m Individual Medley 2:09.72 Yanyan Wu CHI 10/17/1997 China's National Games . 400m Individual Medley 4:32.89 Katie Hoff USA 4/1/2007 World Championships

. 4 x 100m Freestyle 3:35.22 Germany GER 7/31/2006 European Championships . 4 x 100m Medley 3:55.74 Australia AUS 3/31/2007 World Championships . 4 x 200m Freestyle 7:50.09 United States USA 3/29/2007 World Championships .

* - February 2008 is the date when poly suits were first introduced. Listing the records at this date is open to interpretation. There were a number of world records in Melbourne 2007 after some relatively quiet years 2000-20006, this could also be explained by faster suits. Its hard to forget all the claims made by Speedo of how much the various Fastskins were supposed to drop drag and reduce effort. Most people that have ever worn full legs or full body suits would agree that they benefit you, regardless of the textile/non-textile argument. Fastskin II was supposed to drop the drag by 4% to all other suits, clearly an advantage. The reason I haven't set it back to 1998, when bodysuits first came on the scene, is that swimmers have unquestionably become faster since 98 in most events. They train harder, for longer and have better support nowadays than before bodysuits. It is fair to assume that the 1998 records would have been broken, in most cases, by the same swimmers with or without the bodysuits.