Today in Eindhoven Ranomi Kromowidjojo vaulted herself back to the top of the list of favourites in the women's 100m Freestyle. Having seen Sarah Sjostrom move past the rest of the world at the end of last year, Kromowidjojo broke out with a stunning 52.75 effort.
This time not only breaks Sjostrom's previous textile best mark of 53.05 from November, but also clears Libby Trickett's time of 52.99 set in a mixed relay back in 2007 (in a lane next to Michael Phelps).
To highlight the depth of this event, here is a list of swimmers with a legitimate medal chance (and their best time in textile). I've put them into the tiers I see them currently:
Tier 1
Ranomi Kromowidjojo - 52.75
Sarah Sjostrom - 53.05
Tier 2
Fran Halsall - 53.48
Missy Franklin - 53.63
Aleksandra Herasimenia - 53.45
Jeanette Ottesen - 53.45
Femke Heemskerk - 53.60*
"There's a missile heading to London and it's set to explode in the Olympic pool!"
UPDATE: Here's the extended post race interview from Magnussen.
Here it is. The swim of 2012 so far. A swim that Australian's will watch with joy, and Magnussen's competitor's will look at with dread.
The Missile split 22.68 to his feet and came back in 24.42. His homecoming split virtually matched that of his previous textile best time from Shanghai (24.39). The area where Magnussen has improved is the speed at which he hits the first wall (22.68 compared to 23.10 in Shanghai).
The power that Magnussen generates in his stroke is off the charts. His stroke rate is noticeably slower than his competitors on the first 50m (except James Roberts in lane 3) but he gets to the wall well ahead of them.
Where we stand now is that Magnussen is going out in the same blazing speed that Cesar Cielo did in Shanghai, but is also bringing it home in the same other wordly time that he did at Worlds. There wasn't much doubt before, but the Australian confirmed today that his talent in the 100m Free is unique.
Make no mistake, taking into account the benefit that the techsuits gave this is the greatest 100m Freestyle we've ever seen.
This morning's heats in Adelaide marked the end of the 2012 Olympic dream for Ian Thorpe. He finished 21st in the 100m Free heats with a time of 50.35. Splitting 24.24 and 26.11, his inability to bring his races home strongly enough struck once again.
Thorpe's comeback will now be heavily scrutinised, but the Australian legend should be commended for his bravery in making this competitive comeback. It has also sparked a reinvigorated interest in swimming, both in Australia and the rest of the world, that no other swimmer alive could manage. It's a huge shame that he won't be swimming in London (although I'm sure the BBC will offer him enough incentives to come over as a TV pundit for the competition).
The big question now is 'what's next?'
Thorpe seems to be enjoying his life in Switzerland and mentioned prior to the championships that this comeback was not just for the short term, but that idea may be challenged after not making the Olympic team. It was seeing the Olympic site in London that originally inspired this comeback.
Hopefully this won't be the last time we see Ian Thorpe swim. Watching the first 100m of his 200m Free semi final brought home just how great a middle distance freestyler he was... and hopefully will be again.
I for one want to see these incredible times Milorad Cavic talks about:
@hsuswim @speed_endurance I figured it was just a front,but I heard about some incredible times he was doing in workouts from an insider
— Milorad Cavic (@Milorad_Cavic) March 16, 2012
(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.
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.
This weekend in Zurich will see the return of Ian Thorpe to an event he dominated for the best part of a generation, the 400m Freestyle. In his last competition before the Australian Olympic Trials, Thorpedo will compete in both the 100m and 400m Freestyle.
While this development is being put forward as simply an experiment for racing, it does raise some interesting questions.
Could Thorpe make the Australia team on the 400m Free?
As strange as it sounds given his focus on sprinting, the 400m Free might turn out to offer Thorpe a slimremote surprise chance at making it to London 2012. Australia's top two last year were Ryan Napoleon (3:45.16, 6th in the world last year) and Thomas Fraser-Holmes (3:46.54, 10th in the world last year). To get down to 3:45 will likely prove too much for Thorpe, but it should be remembered that those times are over 5 seconds down on his best time.
It is also worth mentioning that Leigh Nugent didn't 100% rule out the move up to 400m. "The 400m is more about experimenting with his racing, not so much about what he would be intending to do at trials... It's pretty much off the agenda (for the trials). But he's been going pretty well. He has been pretty happy with his progress."
'Pretty much off the agenda' does not equal 'Off the agenda'.
Would Thorpe have a chance to win the 400m Free in London?
No.
Sun Yang, Park Tae-Hwan, Yannick Agnel and Paul Biedermann are too good for that to happen.
What will the 400 Free tell us about his 200 Free?
So far Thorpe has been struggling at the end of his races, whether they be over 100m or 200m. Seeing him race a 400m Free should give us some clues to his conditioning in his last competition before Olympic Trials.
Unless the entire comeback has been a smoke and mirror show, Thorpe needs to show increased endurance at the end of his races. Chances are if he struggles in the 400m Free in Zurich, he is going to struggle in the 200m Free at Trials, his best chance at making the Olympic team.
What should we make of Leigh Nugent's optimism?
The last time we saw a story about Thorpe and Nugent, it focused on Thorpedo's lack of fitness, motivation and confidence. Now, less than four weeks on, everything is smelling of roses?
Thorpe's been going 'pretty well, he has been pretty happy with his progress'.
Well, I will still be pretty surprised if he makes the Aussie Olympic team. I hope I'm wrong there though.
Why hasn't there been a vote on this blog for such a long time?
Good point. New vote launched. Will Ian Thorpe make the Australian Olympic Team. Yes/No? You decide.
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.
This weekend Ian Thorpe competed at the Euro Meet in Luxembourg. His efforts of 50.82 (heats) and 50.79 (7th in the final) were both post-comeback bests in the 100m Free.
His 200m Free time (1:51.51) was down on his swim from Melbourne two weeks ago, although showed some positives by recording a faster 100m split of 53.5. The second 100m, unfortunately, was a battle (splits below).
The real news regarding Thorpe's comeback came not so much from his times in Luxembourg, but the last minute change to his training regime in the lead up to trials, less than 7 weeks away.
According to Nicole Jeffrey in The Australian, Thorpe together with Gennadi Touretski, Leigh Nugent and performance scientist Bernard Savage have come up with the following late changes to try and save his attempt to make London 2012:
Fitness - Thorpe is lacking cardiovascular fitness and needs to get leaner. For the first time during his comeback, Thorpe will turn to dry land training. This means a lot of skipping, cycling and treadmill work as there is not enough time to get this fitness back simply from pool work.
Ian Thorpe's first attempt back in the world of competitive swimming is in the books. As the dust settles, let's evaluate how it went.
Positives
- Thorpe was considerably faster in the Tokyo World Cup leg than he was in Singapore and Beijing.
- In Tokyo he was able to hold on much better in the second half of races showing that his 'race fitness' was improving. In theory, the more competitions he does, the better this will become.
- Thorpe, his coach Gennadi Touretski and Australian head coach Leigh Nugent were making all the right noises at each world cup stop, stating that the comeback was still on course.
- His freestyle stroke still looks more suited to the 200m Free, which we are yet to see. At this stage his best bet at Olympic qualification looks to be the 4 x 200m Free relay.
- We've just seen Thorpe at his rustiest and he was still only half a second down on established guys like Alain Bernard in heats. For all we know, Thorpe could have dropped another second in the 100m Free final had he qualified.
- Thorpe still has 4 long months of training ahead of him before Australian Trials.
Negatives
- Thorpe only has 4 short months of training ahead of him before Australian Trials.
- Thorpe still has A LONG way to go. He failed to final in his two best swims, Tokyo's 100m Free and 100m Fly. In the 100m Free he was a full 2 seconds behind the eventual winner Kyle Richardson's time.
- Richardson sums up his problem. There might not be a more difficult relay team to make than the reigning world champion Aussie 4 x 100m Free team.
- He's going to need to work even harder on his starts and turns. 4 months might will not be long enough to catch up on these technical aspects. All he can do now is mitigate his losses in these areas. Nugent believes that he is trying to stay under water too long on his turns.
- One comment that Thorpe made stuck out like a sore thumb - "This week has been challenging, I wish I could have done it with no-one watching - but that's unfortunately not the case." This is the same guy that retired from the sport because of the intense media scrutiny he was under. Hopefully the same demons that haunted him in previous years aren't resurfacing before the comeback has really taken shape.
Thorpedo's Times (best times and splits in bold)
Singapore
100m IM (Heat) - 56.74 (26.14 / 30.60)
100m IM (Final) - 56.33 (25.14 / 31.19)
100m Fly (Heat) - 54.09 (25.27 / 28.82)
Beijing
100m Free (Heat) - 50.21 (24.00 / 26.21)
100m IM (Heat) - 56.70 (26.22 / 30.48)
100m Fly (Heat) -54.35 (25.29 / 29.06)
Tokyo
100m Free (Heat) - 49.45 (24.08 / 25.37)
100m Fly (Heats) - 53.59 (25.11 / 28.48)
Australian legend Ian Thorpe will return to the competition pool on Friday for the first time since 2006. Choosing to swim the 100m Fly and 100m IM, Thorpe will give us just 25 tantalising metres to judge his Freestyle in Singapore.
5 Things to Watch Out For
1) New Freestyle technique - Watch out for a new technique with higher elbows and increased hip rotation.
2) Butterfly speed - Geoff Huegill is nervous about racing Thorpe in the 100 Fly, highlighting Gennadi Touretski's love of training his swimmers with an emphasis on butterfly. For more, read David Rieder's article.
3) Physique - Thorpe has never had a typical swimmers physique and always had a big frame, not that you could ever see it in his black suit. In Singapore we will see what kind of physical shape Thorpe is in.
4) Technical aspects - Potentially the X Factor that will determine if his comeback will be a success. The world has moved on since 2006 on starts, turns and underwaters. Thorpe will need to catch up quickly to be competitive on the biggest stage.
5) Mentality - Thorpe fell out of love with swimming but has recently spoke of his love for the sport returning. Touretski wants him swimming with freedom in Singapore, so look for Thorpe to be enjoying racing again.
Predictions
100m Fly - 51.95
100m IM - 53.50
Heats starts at 9am Singapore time (1am London time). Finals begin at 5:30pm Singapore time (9:30am London time).
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?
It's been a relatively quiet time since the World Championships finished back in late July, but the year still has a lot of offer. Here is a rundown of what swimming fans have to look forward to for the rest of the year.
October
Oct 7 - Nov 13 - World Cup Series (Dubai, Stockholm, Moscow, Berlin, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo) (SCM) Oct 15 - Oct 22 - Pan American Games (LCM) Oct 18 - Oct 19 - Michael Phelps swimming at the Moscow World Cup meet (SCM) Oct 31 - Nov 1 - Trofeo Internazionale di Nuoto "Nico Sapio", Genoa, Italy. Feat: Laure Manaudou & Natalie Coughlin (SCM)
November
Nov 4 - Nov 5 - Ian Thorpe's return to competitive swimming at the Singapore World Cup meet (SCM) Nov 11- Nov 13 - Minneapolis Grand Prix (LCM)
December
Dec 1 - Dec 3 - US Winter Nationals (LCM) Dec 8 - Dec 12 - European Short Course Championships (SCM) Dec 8 - Dec 10 - US Short Course Junior Nationals (SCY) Dec 16 - Dec 17 - Duel in the Pool (SCM)
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.
The things I do for this blog. Last Saturday I should have been chilling out, recovering creatively ahead of another hard week of swim blogging... instead I braved London transport on a weekend and headed down to Hyde Park for the London 2012 Marathon Swimming Test Event. Here is what I learnt, heard and saw (in picture form)
What I learnt
- Melissa Gorman (AUS) is kind of tall...
- Eva Fabian (USA) is kind of short...
- If a swimmer was ever to replace Chuck Norris as the world's toughest guy, Thomas Lurz (GER) is probably your guy on looks alone...
- The setting for this race is incredible. It doesn't get much better than Hyde Park on a normal summer's day, but with the added Olympic buzz thrown in it will be electric...
- You can walk alongside the swimmers for most of the course... or there is seating/standing with commentary and a big video screen. I kind of preferred walking...
- You can't rent a pedalo while the race is happening...
What I heard
I didn't make it into the post-race press conference, so I went in gonzo-style. This was overheard on the walk to the drug testing room with men's winner Richard Weinberger, his coach, two drug testers and a swim blogger walking just a little too close to them to be considered normal:
- Water temperature was great...
- He tries to swim 80k every week...
- The best way to put on weight is to drink McDonald's milkshakes, which are full of protein and calcium...
