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!'
Showing posts with label femke heemskerk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label femke heemskerk. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Saturday, 31 December 2011
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.
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.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Amsterdam Swim Cup - 11- 13 March
Highly coveted World Championship spots are up for grabs at the Amsterdam Swim Cup this weekend. Expect some fast swimming from Holland's finest.
Results & Startlists - HERE
UPDATE - Femke Heemskerk has broken the Dutch 100m Back record in this morning's heats with her time of 1:00.03. Inge Dekker has also qualified for Shanghai with a 57.62 100m Fly.
Monday, 1 November 2010
FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup - Berlin Recap
As expected, there were a number of fast times from the Berlin leg of the World Cup series. In a notoriously fast pool, the large number of international swimming stars did not disappoint.
Speed EnduranceTop Performers
Femke Heemskerk - 100m Free - 51.96, 200m Free - 1:52.42, 100m Back - 57.72
The star of the meet. Heemskerk destroyed a quality field in both the 100 and 200m Freestyle. She became the 3rd fastest woman ever over 200m Free and moved up to 8th all-time in the 100m Free. Heemskerk also smoked a 57.72 to win the 100m Back in the 6th fastest time of the year (notably ahead of Natalie Coughlin's best effort of 2010 so far).
Now, if only Heemskerk had some other lightning quick Dutch female sprinters to swim a relay with...
Dana Vollmer - 100m Fly - 55.72, 100m Free - 52.50, 200m Free - 1:53.67, 50m Fly 25.74
If Heemskerk takes the prize for swimmer of the meet, Vollmer just about takes performance of the meet for her 100m Fly effort of 55.72. Just 0.54 away from Diane Bui Duyet's World Record, Vollmer became the 3rd fastest ever in the event. She let Therese Alshammar take the race out (25.9 to her 27.3) but came back in an incredible 28.29. Bear in mind that most swimmers get faster as the World Cup series progresses, there might be more still to come from Vollmer.
Thiago Pereira - 200m IM - 1:52.81, 400m IM - 4:02.83, 100m IM - 52.59
No surprise that Thiago Pereira swam fast, he's been lights out throughout the entire SC season so far. Once again his best performance came in the 200m IM where he was under World Record pace by 0.37 at the 150m mark. Unfortunately he couldn't match the suited speed of Darian Townsend, an excellent Freestyler, on the final 50m, however he did come back faster than in Rio where he swam 1:52.72. (In Rio he was even faster at 150m - 0.83 seconds under WR pace).
As mentioned before... Pereira is getting close to Townsend's WR and could break it... Ryan Lochte could smash it.
A full set of results can be found here.
(Moscow World Cup starts tomorrow. Results will be here)
Speed EnduranceTop Performers
Femke Heemskerk - 100m Free - 51.96, 200m Free - 1:52.42, 100m Back - 57.72
The star of the meet. Heemskerk destroyed a quality field in both the 100 and 200m Freestyle. She became the 3rd fastest woman ever over 200m Free and moved up to 8th all-time in the 100m Free. Heemskerk also smoked a 57.72 to win the 100m Back in the 6th fastest time of the year (notably ahead of Natalie Coughlin's best effort of 2010 so far).
Now, if only Heemskerk had some other lightning quick Dutch female sprinters to swim a relay with...
Dana Vollmer - 100m Fly - 55.72, 100m Free - 52.50, 200m Free - 1:53.67, 50m Fly 25.74
If Heemskerk takes the prize for swimmer of the meet, Vollmer just about takes performance of the meet for her 100m Fly effort of 55.72. Just 0.54 away from Diane Bui Duyet's World Record, Vollmer became the 3rd fastest ever in the event. She let Therese Alshammar take the race out (25.9 to her 27.3) but came back in an incredible 28.29. Bear in mind that most swimmers get faster as the World Cup series progresses, there might be more still to come from Vollmer.
Thiago Pereira - 200m IM - 1:52.81, 400m IM - 4:02.83, 100m IM - 52.59
No surprise that Thiago Pereira swam fast, he's been lights out throughout the entire SC season so far. Once again his best performance came in the 200m IM where he was under World Record pace by 0.37 at the 150m mark. Unfortunately he couldn't match the suited speed of Darian Townsend, an excellent Freestyler, on the final 50m, however he did come back faster than in Rio where he swam 1:52.72. (In Rio he was even faster at 150m - 0.83 seconds under WR pace).
As mentioned before... Pereira is getting close to Townsend's WR and could break it... Ryan Lochte could smash it.
A full set of results can be found here.
(Moscow World Cup starts tomorrow. Results will be here)
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