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

British Stars Get Their Season Underway

A group of top British swimmers got their Olympic seasons underway in a low-key manner at last weekend's Lincoln Vulcans Open Meet (long course metres). Despite being in heavy training, Elizabeth Simmonds and Fran Halsall managed to put together a world class duel in the 100m Backstroke.

Notable performances

Elizabeth Simmonds - 100m Back - 1:00.70 (split 29.61)
Francesca Halsall - 100m Back - 1:01.15 (split 29.76)
Francesca Halsall - 50m Free - 25.13
Francesca Halsall - 100m Fly - 59.63
Liam Tancock - 100m Breast - 1:04.18 (split 30.25)
Rebecca Adlington - 200m IM - 2:18.70
Rebecca Adlington - 200m Back - 2:15.71
Jo Jackson - 100m Free - 56.51

Full results

European Junior Championships - Day Four

According to the BBC commentators at the end of tonight's session,

"This must be one of the best sessions Britain's ever had."

Perhaps I got too caught up in the competition and hyped the British team a little too much earlier today but I was left feeling a little flat. Possibly unfair given the fact that we're not fully rested and tapered for this meet, let me explain why...

Positives

- Hannah Miley - For me the best swim of the evening for the British team came from Hannah Miley in the 200m IM. Miley was by no means a lock for a medal here and to get down to 2:10.89 is fantastic.Steph Rice (AUS) will certainly not have it easy in both the 200 and 400m IM in Delhi.

- Liam Tancock - Despite nearly losing his 50m Back world record to Camille Lacourt, Tancock did a great job securing silver in a great non-tapered time of 24.70. Must be a little daunting to see just how fast Lacourt (24.07) is swimming, however Tancock is the type of guy that will use it for motivation.

- Number of medals - 5 medals in a session is an excellent result against top class, rested European swimmers. Certainly a sign of a British team cementing its position as a major force in European senior swimming.

- Reaction of the relay team after securing a bronze medal - I loved to see this. Whilst Adrian Moorhouse and Andy Jameson (BBC Commentators) were praising the women's relay team for a 'great' bronze medal, the girls themselves were disappointed and wanted more. The reactions after the race summed it up,

Becky Adlington - "It was a good, solid swim but we all expected a little bit more. If I was at my best we would have won that if I was on form, it's a bit gutting."

Hannah Miley - "I think when we sit down and look at this result we'll see the positives, it's not the end of the world and hopefully we can stick it to them next time."

Jaz Carlin - "I've been waiting around, this is my first swim so I was a bit anxious going in. I'm happy to come away with a bronze, we wanted a bit more but hopefully we'll be on the podium in London 2012."

Jo Jackson - "We're definitely a team effort, there were four of us in there. We want to do our best, we know we're better than the time we did but we're all in heavy training and to come away with a medal, we should be really proud of ourselves."

For me this is a great example of the old British Swimming mentality vs the new. In previous years we would have been happy just to get a medal but nowadays, particularly on some women's events, anything other than gold is disappointing. We're starting to adopt the same mentality of the USA and Australia where its no longer enough just to 'try your best'.

Negatives


- Times in the 100m Backstroke Final - Let me explain why Britain finishing first and second again in the women's backstroke is a negative. Doing the double is a fantastic acheivement and both Gemma Spofforth and Lizzie Simmonds should be delighted with their medals. The disappointing aspect of the race were the times the British girls did. Spofforth's 59.80 and Simmonds' 1:00.19 were both down on British Nationals. Fortunately they both get a chance to improve in Delhi where Emily Seebohm (59.21 this year) will be waiting for them.

- 800m Freestyle final - Becky Adlington seemed out of sorts tonight on the 800m Freestyle. Right from the start she didn't look her usual self in the water. Whether it was physical or mental, I'm certain that Adlington will get it right for Commonwealths. Three things I am taking away from this race  - Rebecca Adlington is still 2 seconds clear at the top of the world rankings this year. She is still the best female 800m Freestyle swimmer in the world. She will be ready for the Commonwealths.

- 800m Freestyle relay - This is an event we should have won and its great to see the four girls react the way they did. The Chinese, Australians and Americans will always produce great teams in this event and by London 2012 we need to get into the habit of winning relays. The quality we have is plain to see, we just need to learn to lift ourselves an extra percent or two like the Americans seem to be able to do on relays.  Unfortunately in Delhi, from a British perspective, the teams will be split up into England, Scotland and Wales.

Thoughts from US Nationals Day Three

Normality returned to US Nationals on Day Three. Michael Phelps swam a rapid 100m Fly (second fastest time in a textile suit), Rebecca Soni blasted her 100m Breast and Nathan Adrian confirmed his status as one of the very best sprinters in world swimming. There were also a number of other stories of note from last night.

Let's get through this together...

- Josh Schneider's DQ was ridiculous. Simply ridiculous. I hope he gets off on his equally ridiculous technicality and gets to swim at Pan Pacs. He deserves to as he did nothing wrong during the 50m Freestyle. After all the controversies of suits and the new rules being introduced, why does the sport need to employ such drastic and unnecessary measures for simply skipping an event without informing the meet organisers? To DQ someone in swimming it needs to be for a valid reason... false start, more than 15m under water, illegal suit, doped up to the eyeballs etc. Schneider did none of these (hopefully).

Make Schneider pay $20 for missing the race, make him run round the pool in a Borat Mankini, but don't disqualify the guy when he did nothing wrong during the event.

- Hat tip to Nathan Adrian for becoming the fourth fastest man ever in a textile suit behind Cesar Cielo (21.55 this year), Alexander Popov (21.64 in 2000) and Roland Schoeman (21.69 in 2005). I would say its safe to now say that he is firmly established in the top tier of world sprinting alongside Mr. Cielo, Mr. Bernard and Mr. Bousquet. His 100m Freestyle today could be something special.

- Some swimmers who win nationals benefit from being in the right place at the right time. They may have had an incredible taper which allows them to be in the perfect condition to race. The competition may have had an off day, bad taper or let pressure get to them. Caitlin Leverenz winning the 400m IM was the exact opposite of that.

Watching that 400m IM it was clear to me that Leverenz must be considered USA's new No.1 in the event (and yes there is a difference between winning nationals and being the No.1 swimmer in an event in my eyes). The lead she gained after the Breaststroke leg was enormous. Leverenz split 1:15.56, the next fastest Breaststroke leg was Katie Hoff's 1:18.74. Whilst Leverenz' freestyle leg leaves a lot to be desired (she will need to shave some time off her 1:05.12 split at Pan Pacs), her breaststroke is a weapon that the rest of the world should be fearful of.

Breastroke splits of the women ranked ahead of Leverenz on the 400m IM this year
Katinka Hosszu - 1:19.80
Steph Rice - 1:19.83
Hannah Miley - 1:17.39
Xuanxu Li - No idea (no access to the results/splits from Chinese Nationals)

(Socaladvracer, who commented on David Rieder's blog, has been spot on with his singling out of not only Leverenz but also Morgan Scroggy to do well.)

- Rebecca Soni has a lot more to come on the 100m Breaststroke. Soni's time of 1:05.73 moves her to No. 1 in the world this year but it masked the fact that she had a poor start and poor finish. The second 50m of her race though was one of the most impressive 50 meters I have seen all year. She completely destroyed the rest of the field.

Spare a thought for Jessica Hardy. It has been a rough few years for Hardy and she is making her first appearance at Nationals for 2 years. She led both the 100m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle finals last night before slipping away towards the end of both races.

(Weird fact from the 100m Breaststroke final last night. Rebecca Soni was the only swimmer to improve upon her heat time. Everyone else was slower in the evening's final.)

- Finally... You think Ryan Lochte is the only swimmer to have his own personalised shoes? Think again. This is the final proof that Britain is catching up with America in swimming.