Fran Halsall Equals Inge de Bruijn's Textile Best Time in the 50m Freestyle

(I may be in the minority here, but the footage from the side of the pool between 2:55 and 3:03 is a work of art)

Fran Halsall saved her best swimming for the last day of the British Olympic Trials with a stunning 24.13 50m Free effort. The time equals Inge de Bruijn's textile best time set all the way back at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. 

Halsall was just 0.02 away from her British record set in a techsuit in 2009. Getting that close to her suited best is a good sign for her 100m Free where she will likely need to get close to her techsuit best of 52.87 if she is going to be in contention for gold in London.

Sidenote 1 - Halsall's swim got me thinking, is Inge de Bruijn's 24.13 a better swim than Britta Steffen's 23.73?

- Britta Steffen - 23.73, world record, in a techsuit, to win the 2009 World Championship.

- Inge de Bruijn - 24.13, in the first version of Speedo's fastskin, in the semi final of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

De Bruijn's swim was a decade ahead of the rest of the world, but was done in the less pressured environment of a semi final. Steffen had the benefit of a techsuit, but is a full 0.15 seconds faster than any other swimmer in history, and was set in a world championship final. Tough one.

Sidenote 2  - Definitely advantage Arena Powerskin Carbon Pro vs Speedo Fastskin 3. Hannah Miley, Fran Halsall and Sarah Sjostrom all wore the new Arena suit and threw down the most impressive swims of the competition.

British Olympic Trials - Race Videos

For international readers who haven't been able to watch the racing live, here are the finals so far. Courtesy of Swimming.org

Women's 400 IM Final

Taking A Closer Look at Hannah Miley's 4:32.67 400m IM

Day One of the British Olympic trials saw Hannah Miley set a new textile lifetime best in the 400m IM and moved herself to the top of this year's world rankings.

Her time of 4:32.67 was 1.55 seconds faster than her silver medal winning performance at the World Championships and brings her to within a second of Elizabeth Beisel's textile best time from Shanghai.

As one of the comments on this site pointed out, Miley's 300m split was actually faster than Beisel's. So where has Miley made improvements since Shanghai?

Miley Shanghai - Fly - 30.3/1:03.97 - Back - 35.6/1:10.64 - Breast - 38.3/1:16.98 - Free - 32.2/1:02.63
Miley London - Fly - 29.8/1:03.10 - Back - 34.7/1:09.36 - Breast - 37.9/1:16.77 - Free - 32.2/1:03.44

Miley's improved her splits on every stroke up until 300m with the biggest improvements on her Backstroke and Butterfly. A notoriously slow starter, being closer to the field over the first 200m should serve Miley well.

Elizabeth Beisel established herself as the clear world number one in this event, here is how her Shanghai splits match up to those of the Scot (with overall lead in brackets). In a virtual head-to-head the lead changes with every stroke:

Beisel Shanghai - Fly - 29.6/1:03.32 (+0.22 behind Miley) - Back - 34.7/1:08.64 (-0.50 in front) - Breast - 38.5/1:17.84 (+0.57) - Free - 31.2/1:01.98 (-0.89)

Miley's greatest weapon in the Medley continues to be her Breaststroke. Among the world's top IMers only Caitlin Leverenz has a better Breaststroke leg and until now the American hasn't been able to match Miley's Backstroke or Freestyle. The biggest step forward that Miley made yesterday was on her Backstroke, getting within 0.7 seconds of Beisel's world class Backstroke.

The challenge now for Miley (and her coach who happens to be her father) is to make sure that she can drop even more time at the Olympics. It was something she had failed to do in 2008 and 2009, but has dropped time in both of the last two major championships, boding well for London.

The only negative from yesterday's swim was the freestyle leg. It was a full 0.8 seconds slower than Miley's closing 100 at Worlds and nearly 1.5 seconds slower than Beisel's Shanghai closing speed. Given that Miley is a more than competent freestyler, this comes as a slight surprise. Both women's freestyle times are similar, in 2011 Beisel swam 1:59.17 and 4:08.57 in the 200m and 400m Free, compared to Miley's 1:59.34 and 4:09.59.

At the Olympics with the home crowd cheering on Miley and potentially being at the head of the field, it may be enough to get Great Britain off to a golden start.

Ellen Gandy Will Not Wear The New Speedo Suit At Trials

Ellen Gandy will be competing in the closest race at trials, the women's 100m Fly, and she will be doing it a supposedly inferior suit. The below is taken from Gandy's column in The Guardian.

All the talk on the circuit right now is about the new Speedo suits, which launched last December. Speedo say it is their fastest ever. People were trying them out in NSW and will be again at the trials. I've decided I'm not going to wear one in the trials. I've been thinking about it a lot and there is no way I would change any other aspect of my swimming, like my start or my turn, a week before an important competition. I just don't need that kind of distraction. Everyone expects me to wear the latest thing, but I love my old Speedo suit and I reckon that if you're comfortable in what you are wearing it doesn't really matter. I believe I can achieve whatever I'm in.

Choosing which suit to wear depends so much on the individual, on body shape and what you feel comfortable in. So some people absolutely love Speedo's new suit, and some people don't. I know one girl who wore it for one race, took it off and it ripped. If I win selection for the Olympics then I will definitely try it out, but right now I'm sticking with what works for me.

Looks like we are back talking about suits again.

British Olympic Trials - Predictions

The BBC's Karen Pickering and Steve Parry have made their picks ahead of the British Olympic Trials, which start tomorrow.

I've added my picks to the list. Use the comment section to make your picks, agree, disagree, troll... all comments are welcome!

British Olympic Trials Draft Programme Released

This is the moment that the adrenaline will really start to kick in for the British swimmers. Nothing brings home the fact that a big competition is approaching like scanning through the draft programme.


2012 Olympic Trials Draft Programme

British Olympic Trials Ticketing Update

From British Swimming:

British Swimming has appointed leading ticket agency Ticketmaster as its new ticket vendor for the British Gas Swimming Championships 2012 (Selection Trials) and arranged new dates for people to buy tickets.

Preregistered customers can now buy tickets for the event from 10am on Tuesday 1 November. This is the start of an exclusive three day purchasing period for the 3-10 March competition that closes 10am on Friday 4 November. Tickets will then go on general release.

Following issues experienced with online and phone ticketing systems last week, British Swimming concluded that its original vendor was unable to provide the level of service required for this event.

Customers who have already purchased tickets for the event can be assured these tickets remain valid and will be delivered on time.

There are still tickets available for all sessions, no sessions have sold out and pre-registered customers will still have the first opportunity to purchase tickets.

Preregistered customers will be sent a unique passcode and link to the Ticketmaster website to purchase tickets and will also have the chance to buy over the phone, again quoting their passcode.

Olympic Trials Ticket Website Crashes

The demand for British Swimming Olympic Trials tickets has caused TheTicketSellers website to go down.

Frustratingly you could select your seats, but when it came to going to the Checkout page the website timed out. The site should be back up later on today to try all over again. As always there are winners and losers:

Winners - Nobody

Losers - British Swimming, British Gas, The Ticket Sellers, Everybody else

Janet Evans Comeback Update Part II

Janet Evans Comeback Update: Presented by Dodge Speed Endurance Swimming Blog

Here are 3 new Janet Evans videos for those keeping track of her return to the sport. They kind of get you thinking.. What will constitute a successful return for Evans? Qualifying for the US Olympic trials? Making the 800 Free final at trials? Making the US Olympic Team?

The Comeback

Qualifying Times Announced for British Olympic Trials

Next year's British Olympic Trials represent the best chance for 99% of the British public to see inside the London Aquatics Centre in 2012. With Olympic Swimming tickets being worth more than their weight in gold, the trials offer a great chance to get a taste of the Olympic experience either as a swimmer or spectator. If you intend on swimming at the trials though, it will not be an easy task. The Open qualifying times for most events require you to be in the top 30 in last year's British rankings.

As an Olympic test event, the trials will also be open to foreign swimmers. They will not be able to compete in the main finals, but instead will have their own finals at the end of each evening session.

Qualifying Times
Event Schedule
Ticket Information