Top 50 Swimmers of 2012 - 30 to 21

The second annual Speed Endurance Top 50 Swimmers of the Year is upon us. There is no set-in-stone criteria, but as you would expect, this year the Olympic Games carried the most weight in the decision making process. Other outstanding achievements away from London were also acknowledged, but it took an extraordinary feat to better an Olympic medallist. Also worth noting, relay medals alone were not valued highly, however race-changing relay contributions were.

 The third part of the list takes us from 30 to 21...

30. Satomi Suzuki - 2012 Highlight - Riding Rebecca Soni's waves in the 200 breast to win silver, equalling the Asian record of 2:20.72 in the process

Suzuki had her major international breakthrough this summer in London. Her bronze in the 100 breaststroke was a surprise, but her 200 breaststroke was the star making swim. Suzuki was never more than 0.75 seconds behind Soni for the first 150m and finished just 1.13 seconds back from Soni's world record breaking swim.  Still just 21 years of age, it will be fascinating to see what kind of progress the Japanese breaststroker can make at Worlds in 2013.

29. Alicia Coutts - 2012 Highlight - Swimming the sixth fastest 200 IM in history en route to a silver medal in London

Coutts came home from London with quite the medal haul. In individual events she collected silver in the 200 IM, and added a bronze in the 100 fly (moving to 8th on the all-time list). She also had some fine relay swims in each of the Aussie women's three relays collecting a further gold and two silvers. Coutts is becoming one of the most dependable swimmers in major championships having been a multiple medallist at Pan Pacs, Commonwealths, Worlds and now Olympics. The only medal missing from her collection is an individual gold from Worlds or Olympics.

28. Park Tae-Hwan - 2012 Highlight - Finishing equal second with Sun Yang in the Olympic 200 freestyle final

The Korean superstar didn't manage to equal the success he had in Beijing where he won gold and silver, but returning home with two silver medals was still a tremendous result.  After being reinstated after a false start disqualification was overturned in the 400 freestyle heats, he led the final for 300m, before Sun Yang turned on the afterburners in the final 100m. He swam a well paced 200 freestyle to finish behind Yannick Agnel, tied with Sun Yang and ahead of both Ryan Lochte and Paul Biedermann. Park also finished 4th in the 1500 final.

27. Emily Seebohm - 2012 Highlight - Getting within 0.11 of the 100 backstroke world record in the 100 backstroke heats in London

Gemma Spofforth's world record of 58.11 seemed like a mark that would last some time before Seebohm gave it an almighty rattle in her 100 back heat swim. Unfortunately she wasn't able to improve on her heat time and ended up with silver in the 100 back, silver in the 4x100 medley relay (as well as gold from her heat swim in the 4x100 freestyle relay). Seebohm may have been a victim of her own early speed. After the stunning heat swim, all attention in the 100 back shifted from Missy Franklin to Seebohm, and gave Franklin a rabbit to chase. Seebohm left London in the knowledge that her heat swim remained the fastest 100 back swam in London. The swimming world can look forward to a Franklin-Seebohm rematch at Worlds.

26. Mireia Belmonte Garcia - 2012 Highlight - Swimming a tactically brilliant 800 freestyle to win silver ahead of home favourite Rebecca Adlington

Belmonte Garcia was not expected to factor in the 800 free podium in London. That seemed to be the territory of Adlington, Katie Ledecky and Lotte Friis. Instead, the Spaniard crashed the party with her steady pacing. Running 5th all the way to 450m, she then moved up to 4th before taking 3rd from Friis at 600m. At 700m she picked off Adlington, finishing with the silver in a time of 8:18.76. Her other silver medal in the 200 fly was equally as impressive and also involved beating more fancied rivals. Her national record of 2:05.25 placed her ahead of Hoshi, Hershey, Adams, Lowe, Jakabos and Zige. Belmonte Garcia became the first Spanish swimmer to win two Olympic medals.

25. Michael Jamieson - 2012 Highlight - Just running out of pool as he closed down Daniel Gyurta in the 200 breaststroke

Jamieson was one of the revelations of the Olympics and finished with Britain's highest place of the Games. Qualifying fastest for the 200 breast final opened many peoples eyes, but the race was still expected to be between Gyurta and Kosuke Kitajima. Jamieson tracked Gyurta for the first 150m before taking half a second out of the Hungarian's lead on the final 50m. Ending up just 0.15 shy of Gyurta and his new world record, he became (at the time) the 4th fastest ever in the event and second fastest ever in textile. He also picked up silver in Istanbul at World SC in a loaded final, losing out to Gyurta once again.

24. Aliaksandra Herasimenia - 2012 Highlight - Racing to a national record of 24.28 in the 50 freestyle, picking up her second silver medal from London

The reigning co-world champion in the 100 free, Herasimenia proved that Shanghai was no fluke. Only Ranomi Kromowidjojo stood in her way in London as she picked up silvers in the 50 free and 100 free. In Kromowidjojo's absence she won the world short course title in the 50 free in Istanbul to complete a great year for the Belarussian. 2012 was the year that Herasimenia confirmed her status as one of the world's premier sprinters.

23. Akihiro Yamaguchi - 2012 Highlight - Shocking the world with his 2:07.01 world record in the 200 breaststroke at the Japan Open

Yamaguchi was a difficult man to place in this list. His ranking comes down to how highly you value world records. The 18-year-old missed out on a place in London, but made sure the world didn't forget about him by blowing away Daniel Gyurta's world record before the ink had even dried in the record book. He finished 4th in his first global final in Istanbul, just shy of Jamieson and Viatcheslav Sinkevich. The emergence of the young Japanese breaststroker has made the men's 200 breaststroke one of the must-see events in world swimming as we enter 2013.

22. James Magnussen - 2012 Highlight - Getting within touching distance of the 100 freestyle world record with his 47.10 from Australian Olympic Trials

Another of the most difficult swimmers to place in the top 50 list. He was 0.01 second away from being much higher in this list. Firstly, the positives. Magnussen's 47.10 swim is a strong candidate for swim of the year. It changed the world's image of what was possible in the 100 freestyle. London didn't go well for Magnussen though. Picking up silver in 47.53, just a hundredth of a second behind winner Nathan Adrian was not what the Missile would have expected. That final came after an underwhelming 48.03 lead-off in the 4x100 freestyle, where the hot-favourite Australian team had to settle for fourth. All in all a frustrating Olympics for Magnussen, but he still ends the year 0.42 clear of the rest of the world after that stunning 47.10 effort.

21. Tyler Clary - 2012 Highlight - Beating long-time rivals Ryan Lochte and Ryosuke Irie to win gold in the 200 backstroke in London

Clary missed out on Olympic qualification for the 400 IM, instead making the team in the 200 fly and 200 back. His fifth place in the 200 fly was solid, but he was well out of the medal hunt. Then came his 200 back final. The seemingly invincible Ryan Lochte led to 150m, but Clary never let his compatriot get away. Clary closed Lochte down for the entire second 100m of the race and eventually moved clear on the final length to record one of the biggest upsets of the Olympic Games. With Michael Phelps out of the picture in many of Clary's events, he should have his pick of races in 2013.

Top 50 so far...

50. Brendan Hansen
49. Oussama Mellouli
48. Yulia Efimova
47. Aya Terakawa
46. Cesar Cielo
45. Yevgeny Korotyshkin
44. Katinka Hosszu
43. Melanie Schlanger
42. Lu Ying
41. Vladimir Morozov
40. Nick Thoman
39. Thiago Pereira
38. Cullen Jones
37. Ryan Cochrane
36. Takeshi Matsuda
35. Christian Sprenger
34. Anastasia Zueva
33. Rebecca Adlington
32. Elizabeth Beisel
31. Ryosuke Irie
30. Satomi Suzuki
29. Alicia Coutts
28. Park Tae-Hwan
27. Emily Seebohm
26. Mireia Belmonte Garcia
25. Michael Jamieson
24. Aliaksandra Herasimenia
23. Akihiro Yamaguchi
22. James Magnussen
21. Tyler Clary

Breaking News: Aleksandra Herasimenia Denies Elbowing Alicia Coutts

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding 'Elbow Gate', the allegations from Alicia Coutts that she was elbowed in the head and spat at before the 100m Freestyle final at the World Championships in Shanghai. 

Coutts still has not revealed the name of the alleged culprit, but did say that it was one of the European finalists in the race. Since the story broke last week we have seen Ranomi Kromowidjojo cleared by Coutts herself on Twitter as well as a denial from Femke Heemskerk. Fran Halsall saw the incident, heard the apology and forgot who was involved describing the incident as 'a non entity'.

In a Speed Endurance exclusive we can now add another denial to that list. Joint gold medal winner Aleksandra Herasimenia.

I caught up with Herasimenia and in a strongly worded denial she told me that the allegations were 'stupid' and questioned the authenticity of the claims. 'I know that I did not do it, and Jeanette (Ottesen) too, I spoke to her. Nor could she do that!', she said. 'I did not see anything and so I think all this is fiction!'

Elbow Gate - Who Targeted Alicia Coutts in the Shanghai Call Room?

In one of the strangest stories to come out in recent years, Alicia Coutts has claimed that she was elbowed in the head multiple times by a competitor in the call room before going out for the 100m Freestyle final at the World Championships. The unnamed European assailant then allegedly turned round and spat at Coutts while they were walking up a flight of stairs to the pool.

Why would an unnamed European target Coutts? 

She was certainly a threat in the final, but was by no means the favourite. Fran Halsall was the fastest qualifier, Femke Heemskerk was in sparkling form, Coutts had an outside chance.

What constitutes an elbow?

The call room is a busy area, swimmers are stretching and swinging limbs at a tremendous rate. Could this have been accidental? Or could the assailant have deliberately warmed up near Coutts, knowing that she would hit Coutts?

The suspects

The European finalists were Ranomi Kromowidjojo (lane 2), Fran Halsall (lane 4), Femke Heemskerk (lane 5), Jeanette Ottesen (lane 6), Aleksandra Herasimenia (lane 8). Coutts swam in lane 5.

In Shanghai the finalists came out in reverse spearhead formation, so lane 8 first, then lane 1, lane 7, lane 2, lane 6, lane 3 (Coutts), lane 5 and finally lane 4. The finalists might have walked up the stairs in question in the order that they came out out of the race, or in lane order... or none of the above. Coutts emerges at 36 seconds in the video below, she doesn't look too happy.

Top 51 Swimmers of 2011 - 31 to 22

As another year of great swimming comes to a close, here is a rundown of the Top 50 Swimmers of 2011. There is no set criteria, but clearly the World Championships in Shanghai carried a big weight in the decision making process. That being said, outstanding achievements away from Shanghai were still acknowledged.


Here is the rundown from 31 to 22.

31. Natalie Coughlin – 2011 Highlight – Leading off the US 4 x 100 Medley relay at Duel in the Pool in an American record 55.97, setting up the US team to break the world record.

Coughlin’s year was highlighted more by her contribution to a historically good US women’s medley relay (both long course and short course) than her individual exploits. Things were almost different when she came close to winning the 100m Back final finishing 0.10 shy of gold. Having led the entire race, she eventually had to settle for bronze. A solid lead-off for the US silver medal freestyle relay gave Coughlin the role of team player in 2011.

30. Yulia Efimova – 2011 Highlight – Reaching new heights in the 200m Breast, taking silver in 2:22.22.

Efimova emerged in 2011 as possibly the only swimmer that can challenge Rebecca Soni in the 200m Breast. Efimova split 1.2 seconds faster than Soni on the second 100m of the final and continues to learn how to swim the event after focusing for years on the 100m. The speed is still there, as evidenced by her silver in the 50m Breast and 4th place in the 100m Breast (missing a medal by 0.04).

29. Ryosuke Irie – 2011 Highlight – Winning silver in the 200m Back in Shanghai (1:54.08).

There is no more consistent swimmer than Ryosuke Irie. He owns an incredible 6 of the fastest 7 swims this year in the 200m Back. Unfortunately he has to race a certain Ryan Lochte, but swimming his fastest time of the year in the world final was a step forward. He also owns 8 of the top 14 times in the 100m Back and picked up a bronze in Shanghai.

Thoughts from Commonwealth Games Swimming - Day Four

Excellent night of swimming in Delhi tonight. The 'Big Four'(Australia, England, Canada and South Africa) all came away with one gold each. Lets dig a little deeper...

. Brace yourselves, things are about to get controversial... Right now, Brent Hayden is the world's best sprinter.

- I know, I know. What about Nathan Adrian. Cesar Cielo. Fred Bousquet. Alex Popov. Matt Biondi. Johnny Weissmuller. Let me explain why...

David Rieder got the discussion up and running after his claim that Adrian deserved the recognition as the world's best sprinter. His argument was that although Adrian wasn't ranked first in either event in the world rankings, his high ranking in both was unmatched. Not a terrible argument at the time, but it didn't sit well with me. I believe to be classed as the world's best sprinter, you should be a) leading the world in one or both of the 50m and 100m Freestyle and (less importantly) b) have won an individual Gold in a major championship.

Hayden has now done both and should put this issue to bed (until someone goes even faster) after winning gold in the 100m Free final. His 47.98 tonight was superb becoming the first man under 48 seconds this year. He is also the first man to break 48 seconds in a jammer, a fact he is fully aware of after mentioning it in his interview with the BBC... (The fastest time in a textile suit remains Peter VDH's 47.84 set in legs at the 2000 Olympics). 

The 50m Free is still to come, and its fair to expect Hayden to improve upon his 21.89 set at Pan Pacs (Delhi Belly permitting). My prediction 21.59, Gold.

. Staying with the 100m Free, I wonder whether Delhi 2010 will go down as the meet that marked the return of Simon Burnett as a force in international swimming once again. Talent is certainly not a problem for Burnett, the fact that he remains the NCAA record holder for 200m Free (1:31.20), even after the suit era, attests to that.

2010 has been a good year so far for the Tuscon Ford swimmer with a strong showing at Europeans and now an excellent silver in Delhi (taking the notable scalp of Eamon Sullivan). However, there is still a way to go to fully catch up with the guys eating at the top table in the 50m and 100m Free (Hayden, Cielo, Adrian, Phelps, Bousquet).

Mark Foster gave his opinion on why Burnett has been slightly off form for the last few years. Foster believes that Burnett's problem lay in the fact that after leaving university and swimming full time, as an intelligent guy, he didn't have enough to occupy his mind. Interesting theory. (If you missed the charity Burnett mentioned during his BBC interview you can find out about it Here).

. The only choice for breakout (and star) performer of the meet so far is Alicia Coutts. She continued her incredible competition by picking up the 100m Fly in 57.53 to add to her victories in the 100m Free and 200m IM. The time moves Coutts up to 5th in the world this year, one spot behind Fran Halsall's 57.40, untapered, at Europeans.

Such a shame we didn't get to see a fit Halsall go up against Coutts.

. Nice swim from Rebecca Adlington. She got herself into a dominant position early on and kept the distance to the chasing pack at a comfortable(ish) margin. After the race she spoke about the importance of winning, with the time being less important. She also mentioned that she was conserving some energy for the 400m Free.

From a British perspective it is great to see Becky win her first major 800m Free victory since Beijing, which should lift a weight from her shoulders. The 800m Free remains her best event and on form she remains the world's best.

For Adlington, 2009 was a challenging year, 2010 has been a rebuilding year, 2011 looks like being a stronger, 2012 will  be a .......... year. (Fill in the gap)

Thoughts from Commonwealth Games Swimming - Day Three

The home nations couldn't build upon yesterday's success as Australia dominated. Six Golds for the Aussies tonight, one for England, one for South Africa and one for Kenya. In short, the rest of the Commonwealth got pumped. On a day like today you need to tip your hat (preferably whilst listening to Men At Work). Results Here (Tip - To get the results in easy to read spreadsheet form, go to the Reports column on the right hand side and select Event Related -> Results).

. Both Aussie 4 x 200m relays dominated as expected. However, for all those who wondered what would have happened if Britain swam as a team... here's your answer:-


Women

Australia
Kylie Palmer - 1:58.51
Blair Evans - 1:57.47
Bronte Barratt - 1:58.33
Meagen Nay - 1:59.40
Final time - 7:53.71

Britain's fastest 4
Jo Jackson - 1:59.06
Rebecca Adlington - 1:59.68
Jazmin Carlin - 1:59.39
Sasha Matthews - 1:59.08
Final time - 7:57.21

On paper, a British team would have just pipped New Zealand for silver, but would have still been a long back of Australia.

Men

Australia
Thomas Fraser Holmes - 1:47.04 (Great swim. Would have won the individual 200m Free by an astonishing 0.84 seconds... also the fastest leg of the entire event despite going first)
Nick Ffrost - 1:48.68
Ryan Napoleon - 1:47.05
Kenrick Monk - 1:47.52
Total Time - 7:10.29

Britain
Andrew Hunter - 1:48.32
David Carry - 1:48.00
Robbie Renwick - 1:47.38
Robert Bale - 1:48.12 (led off the relay in 1:48.72, I've taken off 0.6 for the takeover)
Total Time - 7:11.82

This would have been a closer race with Bale's inclusion, but a second and a half is still a comfortable margin of victory. This is all virtual and doesn't take into account race conditions, but whichever way you look at it, the Aussies were dominant.

. Top swim from James Goddard tonight. 1:55.58 is a great time and puts Goddard ahead of Aaron Peirsol and Michael Phelps this year. However, it also puts Ryan Lochte's 1:54.12 into perspective. Delving back into the virtual world, Goddard would have been several metres behind Lochte had they been in the same race.

. Congratulations to Jason Dunford for winning Kenya's first ever swimming Gold medal. Yes he is a product of English and American training, but it a fantastic acheivement all the same. You hope its received well back in Kenya and inspires a generation of youngsters to have a go at swimming.

I'm pleased for Dunford but would have loved to see Geoff Huegill win gold to cap what is already an incredible comeback. I don't think the sport of swimming has ever seen a comeback like this one. The guy lost 45-50kg. Now that is a movie, waiting to be made...

. We've had three days of competition and I think its fair to say that the swimming has been slower than expected. This is the main meet of the year, but many swimmers are failing to beat their seasons bests from untapered meets. It will be very interesting to see what filters through once the meet is finished but at this point I'm putting it down to one, or a combination, of these factors:-

Delhi Belly - A lot of cases of stomach upsets emerging. At a major meet any type of sickness can be disastrous. The physical effects are clear enough, but mentally too it puts you 'off your game'. Such a shame to train all year for a competition, with funding levels riding on it in the case of the British swimmers, and not be able to perform at your best because of sickness.

4am wake ups and 40 minute bus rides to and from the pool - If there is ever a sub-species of human that are used to waking up early, it is Homo Aquaticus (swimmers), however, not when they are competing. Its a tough ask to wake up that early, swim heats and then get back up for finals.

Slow Pool - Whether you believe it or not, swimmers believe in slow and fast pools. Sometimes there is a science behind it (depth of water, deck level pools etc.), other times a pool just won't feel right. If any swimmers have it in their heads that the Delhi pool is slow, performance will drop.

. If the pool is slow... how can you explain Alicia Coutt's 2:09.70 200m IM and Goddards 1:55.58 200m Back?

. Final point. Aussie turns. Better than all other nations competing in Delhi.

Maybe I will start a new feature....

SpeedEndurance World Rankings for Starts & Turns

1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan
4. France
5. Rest of the world

Thoughts from Commonwealth Games Swimming - Day One

The first day of Commonwealth Games is done. Great day if you're Australian. Good day if you're Canadian, South African or Welsh. Decent day if you're English or Scotltish. Here are the main talking points...

- Alicia Coutts, where did that come from?

The surprise doesn't just come from the fact that she took down the pre-race favourite Emily Seebohm, it was her manner of victory that was so shocking stunning.

2:09.70 is an incredible swim. It moves Coutts up to the 9th fastest swimmer of all-time and more importantly set a new textile best time. This textile best time is one of the more emotive as it betters Wanyan Yu's drug tainted 2:09.72 set in 1997.

Seebohm went out for the race, she was 0.3 seconds quicker in Delhi at the 100m turn than she was at Pan Pacs. Where she had problems was the breaststroke leg. Coutts had an incredible Breaststroke splitting 37.66 to Seebohm's 39.44 (compared to 38.52 at Pan Pacs).

Just incase you're counting, this is how the depth of women's IM swimming looks in Australia. Stephanie Rice - Olympic Champion - 2:10.0 this year, Emily Seebohm - Pan Pacs Champion - 2:09.9 this year, Alicia Coutts - Commonwealth Champion 2:09.7. Coutts, Seebohm and Rice also make up the top 3 in the world this year.


- If you get a chance, check out Leiston Pickett's technique. Does she take a breathe on the 50m Breast? Seriously, has she perfected the first ever non-breathing Breaststroke?

I've watched it over and over again. I can kind of figure out how she gets oxygen, but I haven't figured out how she doesn't take a shot of H2O at the same time.

Either way, she looks the one to beat in the 50m Breast final. Leisel Jones will have her work cut out.

- The Men's 4 x 100m Free relay threw up plenty of talking points.
- Which is the better swim heading into the individual 100m Free - Brent Hayden's lead off leg of 48.18 or Eamon Sullivan's 47.49 with a flying start? I'm going with Hayden.
- Who saw England taking down South Africa? Not me. Not a great sign for the South African relay team's hope of winning in 2012.
- What was the white stuff floating in the pool before the start of the race? Did they really need the extra long pole for it? Did they get it all? If they didn't, where is the rest of it? Did the English team have the right to pause the competition for so long or should golf rules have applied, 'play it as it lies' and all that.

- Is it the new fashion to wear your goggles round your neck? Chad LeClos rocked the goggles look immediately after his race and then even more dramatically, on the medal podium. Once can be put down as a mistake, twice is deliberate. All the kids in South Africa will be doing the same soon.

Goggles round the neck look a lot better when there is a gold medal alongside them