Showing posts with label helge meeuw. Show all posts
Showing posts with label helge meeuw. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
German Olympic Trials
(Interesting finishing technique from Marco di Carli, video courtesy of DMS - Deutsche Mannschaftsmeisterschaften im Schwimmen)
May 10 -14. This week sees the best Germany has to offer in the swimming pool step up to try and claim a spot at London 2012. Most attention will fall on Paul Biedermann, Britta Steffen and Christian vom Lehn, but don't snooze on the following swimmers:
Marco di Carli - Di Carli led the world rankings in the 100m Free heading into Shanghai last year with his 48.24 from German Nationals. Look for another fast swim on home soil in the 100m Free and improvement on the global stage. He's a potential Olympic finalist, with an outside medal chance if he can impove on his 2011 form.
Ben Starke - Like di Carli, last year Starke underperformed at Worlds after a strong showing at German Nationals. If he repeats his time of 51.65 from last year, he would move him to number 1 in this year's world rankings. Watch out also for Philip Heintz, European Junior Bronze medalist in 2009, who has taken a big step forward this year with his 52.38 in March, as well as 50m specialist Steffen Deibler.
Helge Meeuw - World silver medalist back in 2009, Meeuw marked his return to the international stage with a 7th placed finish in the 100m Back in Shanghai. He swam 53.28 in the final and 53.22 in the heats of the 4 x 100 Medley relay. The medal spots look wide open in the 100m Back this year and Meeuw has the talent to be in that mix.
Men's 4 x 100 Medley Team - Bronze medalists in Shanghai, but often overlooked in discussions for the medley relay. The German team lost out to the eventual winners USA by just 0.54 seconds, while seeing Helge Meeuw swim 0.3 seconds slower than his relay heat swim and Ben Starke split 51.83, down on his 51.65 flat start from German Nationals. The US team should be stronger with the addition of Brendan Hansen and Matt Grevers this year, but Germany are contenders and have potential Olympic finalists in all 4 disciplines.
Daniela Schreiber - Schreiber finished last year down in 33rd in the 100m Free world rankings with 54.74, but that did not tell the whole story. Schreiber played a huge part in the German team's 4 x 100 Free bronze medal with her impressive 53.12 anchor leg. That relay split was the 3rd fastest in the entire race behind Femke Heemskerk, Missy Franklin and tied with Yi Tang. Her split was faster than the likes of Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Dana Vollmer, Jeanette Ottesen and Alicia Coutts. In March she swam 54.45 and she should give Britta Steffen a solid challenge.
Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay - Steffen and Schreiber make a punchy 1-2 combo, and the German team also have decent strength in depth from the likes of Silke Lippok, Lisa Vitting and Dorothea Brandt. If Lippok, who at 18 years old is at a good age for a further breakthrough, can take a step forward then the German quartet will have a good chance of repeating their bronze medal from Shanghai.
Start List
Results
Live Timing
Heats start at 9:30 CEST (8:30 BST). Finals start at 19:00 CEST (18:00 BST).
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Thoughts from the Germany - Great Britain Duel
This article originally appeared on The Swimmers Circle
- It’s great that the dual meet concept, so successful in US collegiate swimming, is being furthered in Europe. Our sport continually searches for new ideas to stay relevant and popular in non-Olympic years. To have two nations, with such a great sporting rivalry*, go head-to-head is exactly the type of meet that could do wonders for the sport of swimming.
Last weekend saw two of European Swimming’s powerhouse nations go head to head against each other in the second edition of their ‘Duel In The Pool’. Big news, right? Well…. not really. Most swimming fans probably weren’t even aware it happened. For an indication of how much coverage it received, here is the four sentence recap from the British Swimming website.
Here are my slightly longer thoughts from the Germany vs Great Britain Duel. Results Here. For what it’s worth, Germany defeated the UK 240-195.
Positives
Here are my slightly longer thoughts from the Germany vs Great Britain Duel. Results Here. For what it’s worth, Germany defeated the UK 240-195.
Positives
- It’s great that the dual meet concept, so successful in US collegiate swimming, is being furthered in Europe. Our sport continually searches for new ideas to stay relevant and popular in non-Olympic years. To have two nations, with such a great sporting rivalry*, go head-to-head is exactly the type of meet that could do wonders for the sport of swimming.
The concept should be an easy sell for TV too. Get two top nations and their star swimmers, boil the action down to a single day and let battle commence.
(* The rivalry is certainly intense in Britain, although the Germans tend to savour beating their neighbours the Dutch a little more.)
- Germany, who picked the strongest team it had available and was only weakened with the late withdrawals of Britta Steffen and Paul Biedermann (romantic weekend away, perhaps), were boosted by the return of World Silver medalist Helge Meeuw: their leading male backstroker.
Meeuw had a solid, if not spectacular return. He won the 50m Back in 25.80 and swam 55.13 on the lead-off of the men’s 4 x 100m Medley relay, although he could only muster 56.84 in the individual 100m Back. Assuming Meeuw can get back to his best, the German Medley team, silver medalists in Rome with Meeuw on Back, Hendrik Feldwehr on Breast, Benjamin Starke on Fly and Paul Biedermann on Free, will have an outside chance at getting back on the medal podium at Worlds this year.
- Britain’s women showed their impressive strength in depth. Despite missing leading figures such as Rebecca Adlington, Gemma Spofforth, Lizzie Simmonds, Fran Halsall and Joanne Jackson, the British women were still able to win 13 of the 17 individual events. Jaz Carlin, star of the same meet last year, swept the middle distance freestyle events and will once again battle with Rebecca Adlington and Joanne Jackson for the two individual spots for Worlds this year.
- The Europe vs USA Duel In The Pool in Manchester 2009 was one of the best swimming events ever witnessed on these shores. Not only was it televised on the BBC, it was also made into great entertainment. That is the level all future Duel’s should aim for, however the idea can only be sold if the countries top swimmers compete and its held at a time when the teams are not in heavy training.
The obvious time to hold such a meet is soon after major competitions, long course or short course, where swimmers are rested and tapered. Some good news: the next installment of Europe vs USA is set to take place in Atlanta on December 18-19, shortly after US Short Course Nationals (Dec 1-3) and the European Short Course Champs (Dec 8-11).
Negatives
- This meet was held in Essen, Germany in a pool that didn’t have a stand for spectators. The teams were also not released until a few days before the competition began for ‘tactical reasons’, stifling any potential buzz about the contest.
- British Swimming sent a young, talented team, but ultimately one that lacked the majority of its major stars. There was no Rebecca Adlington, Gemma Spofforth, Lizzie Simmonds, Fran Halsall, Joanne Jackson, Liam Tancock or James Goddard. It was, for all intents and purposes, a B team.
Whilst I have no problem with sending a young team to gain international experience, call a spade a spade. Why withhold the team list for tactical reasons when you are sending an inexperienced team going up against a full strength German team in the first place? Why not send this team to a competition such as the Luxembourg Euro Meet to gain experience and have the Duel with Germany at a time when both nations are willing to select their strongest teams?
- There will be a Great Britain vs Russia meet held March 18-20 (a week after British Nationals) in Moscow. Unfortunately the selection policy states, ‘Swimmers who are world ranked top 10 (2 per nation) in an individual Olympic event will not be eligible to represent Great Britain at the GB v Russia Duel Meet 2011.’ This means that once again the British team will not include many of its stars and the meet will quite possibly receive a similar level of hype that the German Duel did.
- Great Britain vs Germany had been scheduled for another encounter in 2012, but this has now been cancelled. I hope that this doesn’t signal the beginning of the end of a great concept that has never really been fully explored to its full potential through a combination of poor planning and execution.
(* The rivalry is certainly intense in Britain, although the Germans tend to savour beating their neighbours the Dutch a little more.)
- Germany, who picked the strongest team it had available and was only weakened with the late withdrawals of Britta Steffen and Paul Biedermann (romantic weekend away, perhaps), were boosted by the return of World Silver medalist Helge Meeuw: their leading male backstroker.
Meeuw had a solid, if not spectacular return. He won the 50m Back in 25.80 and swam 55.13 on the lead-off of the men’s 4 x 100m Medley relay, although he could only muster 56.84 in the individual 100m Back. Assuming Meeuw can get back to his best, the German Medley team, silver medalists in Rome with Meeuw on Back, Hendrik Feldwehr on Breast, Benjamin Starke on Fly and Paul Biedermann on Free, will have an outside chance at getting back on the medal podium at Worlds this year.
- Britain’s women showed their impressive strength in depth. Despite missing leading figures such as Rebecca Adlington, Gemma Spofforth, Lizzie Simmonds, Fran Halsall and Joanne Jackson, the British women were still able to win 13 of the 17 individual events. Jaz Carlin, star of the same meet last year, swept the middle distance freestyle events and will once again battle with Rebecca Adlington and Joanne Jackson for the two individual spots for Worlds this year.
- The Europe vs USA Duel In The Pool in Manchester 2009 was one of the best swimming events ever witnessed on these shores. Not only was it televised on the BBC, it was also made into great entertainment. That is the level all future Duel’s should aim for, however the idea can only be sold if the countries top swimmers compete and its held at a time when the teams are not in heavy training.
The obvious time to hold such a meet is soon after major competitions, long course or short course, where swimmers are rested and tapered. Some good news: the next installment of Europe vs USA is set to take place in Atlanta on December 18-19, shortly after US Short Course Nationals (Dec 1-3) and the European Short Course Champs (Dec 8-11).
Negatives
- This meet was held in Essen, Germany in a pool that didn’t have a stand for spectators. The teams were also not released until a few days before the competition began for ‘tactical reasons’, stifling any potential buzz about the contest.
- British Swimming sent a young, talented team, but ultimately one that lacked the majority of its major stars. There was no Rebecca Adlington, Gemma Spofforth, Lizzie Simmonds, Fran Halsall, Joanne Jackson, Liam Tancock or James Goddard. It was, for all intents and purposes, a B team.
Whilst I have no problem with sending a young team to gain international experience, call a spade a spade. Why withhold the team list for tactical reasons when you are sending an inexperienced team going up against a full strength German team in the first place? Why not send this team to a competition such as the Luxembourg Euro Meet to gain experience and have the Duel with Germany at a time when both nations are willing to select their strongest teams?
- There will be a Great Britain vs Russia meet held March 18-20 (a week after British Nationals) in Moscow. Unfortunately the selection policy states, ‘Swimmers who are world ranked top 10 (2 per nation) in an individual Olympic event will not be eligible to represent Great Britain at the GB v Russia Duel Meet 2011.’ This means that once again the British team will not include many of its stars and the meet will quite possibly receive a similar level of hype that the German Duel did.
- Great Britain vs Germany had been scheduled for another encounter in 2012, but this has now been cancelled. I hope that this doesn’t signal the beginning of the end of a great concept that has never really been fully explored to its full potential through a combination of poor planning and execution.
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