Textile Best Times

. Men . 50m Free 21.19 Florent Manaudou FRA 8/2015 World Champs . 100m Free 47.04 Cameron McEvoy AUS 4/2016 Aus Trials . 200m Free 1:43.14 Yannick Agnel FRA 7/2012 Olympics . 400m Free 3:40.08 Ian Thorpe AUS 7/2002 Commonwealths . 800m Free 7:38.57 Sun Yang CHN 7/2011 World Champs . 1500m Free 14:31.02 Sun Yang CHN 8/2012 Olympics . 50m Back 24.07 Camille Lacourt FRA 8/2010 Euro Champs . 100m Back 52.08 Matt Grevers USA 6/2012 US Trials . 200m Back 1:52.96 Ryan Lochte USA 7/2011 World Champs . 50m Brst 26.42 Adam Peaty GBR 8/2015 World Champs . 100m Brst 57.92 Adam Peaty GBR 4/2015 British Champs . 200m Brst 2:07.01 Akihiro Yamaguchi  JAP 9/2012 Japan Nationals . 50m Fly 22.76 Cesar Cielo BRA 4/2012 Maria Lenk . 100m Fly 50.40 Ian Crocker USA 7/2005 World Champs . 200m Fly 1:52.09 Michael Phelps USA 3/2007 World Champs . 200m IM 1:54.00 Ryan Lochte USA 7/2011 World Champs . 400m IM 4:05.18 Ryan Lochte USA 7/2012 Olympics . . Women

. 50m Free 23.84 Cate Campbell AUS 4/2016 Aus Trials . 100m Free 52.33 Cate Campbell  AUS 7/2013 World Champs . 200m Free 1:53.61 Allison Schmitt USA 7/2012 Olympics . 400m Free 3:58.37 Katie Ledecky USA 8/2014 Pan Pacs . 800m Free 8:06.68 Katie Ledecky USA 1/2016 USA Pro Series . 1500m Free 15:25.48 Katie Ledecky USA 8/2015 World Champs . 50m Back 27.11 Fu Yuanhui CHN 8/2015 World Champs . 100m Back 58.23 Emily Seebohm AUS 8/2012 Olympics . 200m Back 2:04.06 Missy Franklin USA 8/2012 Olympics . 50m Brst 29.48 Ruta Meilutyte LTU 7/2013 World Champs . 100m Brst 1:04.35 Ruta Meilutyte LTU 7/2013 World Champs . 200m Brst 2:19.11 Rikke M Pedersen DEN 7/2013 World Champs . 50m Fly 24.43 Sarah Sjostrom SWE 7/2014 Swedish Nats . 100m Fly 55.74 Sarah Sjostrom SWE 8/2015 World Champs . 200m Fly 2:04.06 Jiao Liuyang CHN 8//2012 Olympics . 200m IM 2:06.12 Katinka Hosszu HUN 8/2015 World Champs . 400m IM 4:28.43 Ye Shiwen CHN 7/2012 Olympics

Bold denotes current World Record

Updated 14 April 2016

Charlotte UltraSwim

May 10 - 13

Results
Psych Sheet
Live Video

The US prove once again that when it comes to domestic meets, nobody comes close. Just a few of the star names competing... Phelps, Lochte, Manaudou, Bousquet, Coughlin, Hoff, Vollmer, Mellouli, Sutton, Rogan, Berens, Wu Peng, Soni, Hardy, Hansen, Shanteau, Spofforth, Vyatchanin, Cavic, Targett, Beisel, Leverenz, Weber-Gale, Ervin, Bovell, Kukors, Schoeman... and breathe.

Heats start at 9am EDT (2pm BST). Finals start at 6pm EDT (11pm BST). Thursday finals start at 4pm EDT (9pm BST)

Quick, Watch This Before USA Swimming Take It Down

 I don't know what just happened. I was going about my Sunday evening when I happened upon a link that pretty much changed the way I watch swimming forever. No joke. Like Neo in The Matrix, next time I watch a 400m IM, I won't see water and swimmers, I will see streaming green computer code.

The link below is a guide to using various race stats to help swimmers. Brilliantly, it uses Katie Hoff's 400 IM and Rebecca Soni's 200 Breast as case studies. It is stat-heavy, but well worth sticking with if you are swim-geek-inclined. Distance Per Cycle, Turn Time, Tempo Trainer, Cadence, Cycle Count.... there is no going back.

QUICK: There is no way USA Swimming should be handing this stuff out for free. If you are a coach/swimmer/fan... watch this.

This is how the best do it. As anyone who sat in the back of class knows, if you can see what the smartest kid is doing.... COPY IT!


PS. Anyone even thinking of getting into the anti-clockwise Freestyle Fast Lane lane when I go to my next public session... watch out. I am going to be distance-per-cycle-tempo-dougieing-streamline-lengthing all over the place.

New Vote: Who Will Win The 400m Freestyle at this Year's World Championships?

If the 200m Freestyle is the most stacked event with storylines on the men's side, for the women it is surely the 400m Freestyle.

The event includes the most popular swimmers, male or female, of two major European nations, Rebecca Adlington and Federica Pellegrini. Two high-profile American women with two contrasting backgrounds. A young Chinese contingent with no apparent ceiling to their talent. France's major medal hopes on the women's side and a couple of Australian's putting together some impressive major competition results.

The Main Contenders

Rebecca Adlington - Double Olympic Champion from Beijing. European and Commonwealth Champion last year. Has just swam the event's fastest time since the suit laws were changed.

Federica Pellegrini - Only woman ever to swim under 4:00 long course and reigning World Champion. Had consistency issues last year and is now training with Laure Manaudou's former coach.

Chloe Sutton - The former open water swimmer has transitioned seamlessly to the pool. Has improved many technical aspects. Can keep pace with anyone else in the world between the flags.

Katie Hoff - Last year's World Short-Course Champion has returned to her best form after a post-Beijing dip. The best start and turns of anyone in the event.

Camille Muffat - Multi-talented 21-year old, has been improving steadily over the last few years. Looks set for a break-out in 2011.

Coralie Balmy - 8th on the all-time list. Underperformed at European's last year and has subsequently changed coaches. No shortage of talent.

Li Xuanxu - Just 17 years old. 6th at the World SC Championships which was also her LC world ranking last year. Watch out for the Chinese at a home World Championships.

Yiwen Shao - 16 year-old dominated last year's Asian Games winning by over 3 seconds in her first international competition. Watch out for the Chinese at a home World Championships.

Bronte Barratt - 8th in the world last year, but just 0.1 seconds shy of 4th. Has been on the international scene for some time, but is still just 22 years old.

Kylie Palmer - Strong performances in the major competition's last year. Silver medalist behind Hoff in Dubai. Beat the likes of Pellegrini, Sutton, Balmy and Li Xuanxu. Also won silver at the Commonwealth Games behind Adlington.

Other - Plenty of other hopefuls in this event, including the likes of Jaz Carlin, Ophelie-Cyrielle Etiene, Blair Evans, Lotte Friis, Mireia Belmonte (although the event clashes with 200m IM), Erika Villaecija plus any unknown talents poised for a breakthrough (looking at you China).

Cast your vote now. If clicking vote isn't enough, make the case for your pick in the comment section below.

Thoughts from US Nationals

Not only are the US Nationals the fastest nationals in the world, they are also the best covered. I could do a standard play-by-play recap of all events but that has already been done here, here, and here. As usual you also have the pleasure of reading all about the effects the evil suits had on swimming here.

Its Bullet-Time

Chloe Sutton won that 400m Free. Fact. I know if you watch the race and look at the results it will show her coming third behind Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt, but in my eyes she's the new US Champion.

In terms of the 'swimming' done during the race Sutton was clearly faster than both Hoff and Schmitt. If that race was held in a 400m pool or even a 100m pool she would have won by a distance. Sutton gave Hoff half a meter at every single turn. Despite this Sutton finished in 4:06.33, 0.83 down on Hoff and good for 8th in the world this year.

This is what makes Sutton such an exciting swimmer. There is so much improvement that can be made on her races technically. Turns are amongst the easiest improvements that can be made. Even if she never gets them to the level of Hoff, if she can lessen the damage done on each turn she could dominate the women's freestyle from 400m-10k for many years.

The most exciting part of the men's 400m Freestyle was the B final. Sure, the A final saw Peter VDK do his thing as well as Michael Klueh and Charles Houchin make the step up to world class level...

...but the A final didn't showcase a 15 year old boy racing to a 3:53.04. Evan Pinion, who last year broke two of Michael Phelps' 13-14 yr old age group records, is now ranked 54th in the world this year. Just incase you were skim reading, Pinion is 15! He wouldn't have been eligible (too young and too non-European) for the recent European Junior Championships 400m Final and still would have finished second.

The women's 200m IM was an interesting race. Ariana Kukors winning it came as no surprise. If anything I expected her to be faster (sub 2:10). Her time from the final (2:10.54) was slower than her time from Austin back in March (2:10.34). When she faces Steph Rice at Pan Pacs we should see that sub 2:10 swim and a serious crack at Yanyan Wu's tainted textile best mark of 2:09.72.

Caitlin Leverenz (6th in the world) and Morgan Scroggy (8th in the world) really stepped up taking second and third respectively. For the rest of the field we were able to get some clues about where they are at:-

Watch out for Missy Franklin. Franklin had the fastest freestyle split of the entire race and looks on top form in Irvine.

Elizabeth Beizel and Pelton had solid if not spectacular swims. Worringly for Pelton her backstroke split of 33.32 ranked only sixth in the final last night, a strange fact given her strong showings on 100m and 200m Back so far this year.

What happened to Julia Smit? She went from setting NCAA and American records back in February over 200yd and 400yd IM to finishing eigth in the final with 2:14.01. Last year she missed the final at LC World's but broke the SC World Record. Until she proves otherwise, I'm seeing Smit as a short course specialist.

Ryan Lochte is pretty tidy swimmer over 400m IM. He also designs shoes.

I wonder whether Lochte will get close to Phelps' textile mark of 4:06.22 at Pan Pacs. He was 3.76 secs off that in the final, with the majority of that time lost on the freestyle leg.

Phelps - 25.56/55.05/1:26.70/1:58.18/2:33.30/3:09.33/3:38.43/4:06.22
Lochte - 26.02/55.95/1:27.02/1:58.06/2:34.54/3:10.75/3:41.35/4:09.98

Finally... Didn't we get rid of the suits so that we can now talk about the racing and the swimmers. Looks like they didn't receive the memo over at SwimNews. Its August now and the first 8 paragraphs of their preview for US Nationals are about suits... Yawn.

NOVAQUATICS - SPEEDO Grand Challenge

The NOVAQUATICS - SPEEDO Grand Challenge takes place from May 28th to May 30th. The field is stacked with quality swimmers and we should see a number of top times as world swimming starts to enter its summer season.

Swimmers to Watch

Vladimir Morozov

Morozov is coming off his recent National High School records in the 50y and 100y Freestyle. This meet will give the swimming world a chance to see what he can do over LC metres. One thing is for sure, Morozov is in top form. He has the added incentive of being able to show some of his future USC teammates what they can expect next year. Morozov has a tough 6-event schedule (200 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Back, 100 Free). The good news for US Swimming... Although born and raised in Russia, he wants to represent the USA in international competition.

(Check out highlights of his recent swims in the video below - Hat tip to OC Varsity for the video)



Cindy Tran

Morozov isn't the only recent National High School record breaker. Cindy Tran also set a new mark in the 100y Back. Like Morozov, Tran has a busy schedule and is down to compete in the 50m Free, 100m Fly, 200m Back, 100m Back and 100m Free. Tran, who will head to California-Berkeley next year, looks to have a real chance in the 100m Back at this meet.

Rebecca Soni & Jessica Hardy

Training partners Rebecca Soni and Jessica Hardy will continue their friendly rivalry. Soni has been one of world swimming's top performers in 2010 with stunning (untapered) times in the 100m (1:05.90) and 200m Breast (2:22.21).

Hardy on the other hand has just been given the excellent news that she successfully fended off the appeal from WADA to increase her anti-doping ban to 2 years. Whilst her participation in the 2012 Olympics is still in the balance this news should give Hardy a huge psychological lift going into this weekend. For those wanting a much better insight into what Hardy has been going through, I suggest reading Dominik Meichtry's blog.

Kosuke Kitajima

For as long as Kitajima continues to swim he will appear as a 'swimmer to watch' in every meet he competes in. The Japanese Breaststroke star has a few questions to answer after some mixed results at the Japanese Nationals. After setting a new Japanese record in the 50m Breast semis (27.30) and a strong showing in the 100m Breast (59.91) there is no problem with his speed. However, the wheel's came off in the 200m Breast final and it was not his first loss of the year in that event. Competition will come from NCAA Champ Damir Dugonjic. Irish fans should keep an eye on what kind of form Andrew Bree is in.

Thiago Perreira/Markus Rogan/Tyler Clary

World Class swimmers Pereira, Rogan and Clary will face each other in a variety of events. 200 IM (Rogan & Pereira), 200 Back (Rogan & Clary), 400 IM (Clary & Pereira). Rogan and Pereira have been in fine form so far in 2010. Clary took silver in the 400 IM at the World Champs in Rome last year.

Nathan Adrian & Jason Lezak

Adrian and Lezak will lock horns in the 50m and 100m Free. It will be fascinating to see where Adrian and Lezak will end up in the 2010 world rankings. Setting the pace this year are Fred Bousquet with 21.71 in the 50m Free and Alain Bernard with 48.32 in the 100m Free.

Chloe Sutton vs Katie Hoff

Sutton and Hoff will resume their battle in the 400m Free. Sutton has prevailed in the 400 Free meetings so far in 2010. The 400m Free is an event with a logjam in the world rankings with a number of swimmers between 4:05 and 4:10. Sutton's best time of 2010 is 4:07.41 (9th) whilst Hoff has posted 4:10.57 (23rd), both women can move up several places with slight improvements on those times.

UPDATE - From Twitter - @csutswim - Speedo Grand Challenge tomorrow! Getting there at 630 to do a workout for 2 hours then swimming the 400. I'll be scratching finals.

British Interest

British distance freestyler Richard Charlesworth goes into the 1500m ranked second behind the tough American Chad La Tourette. Michael Klueh will also pose a threat having been in good form this year on the US Grand Prix circuit.


Psych Sheet - Here

Live Results - Here