Commonwealth Games Swimming Preview - Men's Freestyle

50m Free
1. Brent Hayden - Been in great form all year. If he can improve from Pan Pacs the 50m and 100m Free should be his.
2. Roland Schoeman - Defending champion getting back to his best? Has been training in France, swam 22.04 back in April.
3. Ashley Callus - Showed tremendous speed earlier in the year. Will be hoping for sub-22 with a full taper.

Wildcards
Adam Brown & Gideon Louw - The Auburn team mates showed they were on the same level as the likes of Nathan Adrian and Josh Schneider in SCY. Louw was in good form at Pan Pacs (22.08) whilst Adam Brown, at his first fully tapered LC meet this year, could be on the verge of a breakout competition.


100m Free
1. Brent Hayden - 3rd in the world this year. Has been superb over 100m and has a chance to be the only man sub-48 seconds this year.
2. Eamon Sullivan - Will need to have improved from Pan Pacs (48.84) to challenge Hayden. No shortage of talent though.
3. Kyle Richardson - Swam 48.69 in the heats at Pan Pacs. Just 178cm tall. Must be hoping it doesn't come down to the touch against 193cm Brent Hayden.

Wildcard
Graeme Moore - Louw and Brown apply here once again, however it was Moore who was the top ranked Commonwealth athlete at the final of Pan Pacs (5th in 48.76).

200m Free
1. Kenrick Monk - 5th at Worlds last year after a dismal Olympics. Multiple relay medal winner. Time for him to step up and win an individual LC medal.
2. Jean Basson - 4th in Beijing, 6th in Rome. Should be in contention at the finish.
3. Robbie Renwick - 5th at Europeans untapered. A swimmer who seems to be benefiting from the new suit rules.

Wildcards
Shaune Fraser & Thomas Fraser-Holmes - Watch out for the Frasers. Fraser-Holmes is the top ranked Commonwealth swimmer in the world this year after getting the better of Monk and Basson at Pan Pacs. Shaune Fraser has had a great collegiate career representing the University of Florida. He is 1.3 seconds faster than Basson in SCY this year.

400m Free
1. Ryan Cochrane - Class of the Commonwealth over 400m. Top form after his 2nd placed 3:46.78 at Pan Pacs.
2. Robert Hurley - Was in great early season form after 3:47.67 at Aussie Nationals in March. Well off Cochrane's pace at Pan Pacs but likely to be the Canadian's biggest challenge.
3. Robbie Renwick -3:49.13 at Europeans. Will be looking to drop another chunk of time with a full taper.

Wildcards
David Carry & Jean Basson - Carry is defending champion and seems to raise his game for Commonwealths. Over 500 yards in US college swimming, Basson was in top form. Still waiting to see him replicate it in LC metres.



1500m Free
1. Ryan Cochrane - As close to a sure thing at these Commonwealths. 14:49 this year is head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Sun Yang has apparently swum faster than Cochrane this year, but I would bet on Cochrane against any other 1500m swimmer in the world.
2. Robert Hurley - 15:00.96 this year. Looks the choice for silver in Delhi.
3. Heerden Herman - Impressive 15:06 at SA Nationals back in April

Wildcard
David Davies - A difficult year for defending champion Davies, however at his best he can challenge Cochrane. This competition may be the deciding time for Davies' schedule for London 2012.

Vote Update - Lochte leads Phelps

The Speed Endurance vote is heating up. Just 12 days left to weigh in with your opinion.

In a two horse race, Ryan Lochte, 3 time Olympic Gold medallist - 6 time medallist, leads for the first time since the vote went live. Michael Phelps (14 Golds, 16 total medals) has dropped back three votes.

Perhaps the shift in voter opinion is down to how the pair of superstars spent this year training...

Lochte

 

Phelps

Commonwealth Games 2010 - Come Out and Play

Commonwealth Games update

Bit of drama, nothing too serious:-

Ongoing security fears - Gun attack on a tourist bus in Delhi last Sunday & outbreak of dengue fever in the city
State of the athlete's village UPDATE - BBC Photos Here- Reports of stray dogs, faeces, stagnant water, unhygienic bathrooms, employees urinating openly in public areas.
Footbridge to get to the main stadium has collapsed - 23 workers injured

From BBC News

1. Athletes' village - Indian media reports only 18 of 34 towers are completed
2. Yamuna River - flooded in worst monsoon rain for 30 years, leaving pools attracting mosquitoes
3. Nehru Stadium - part of false ceiling collapsed in weightlifting area
4. Bridge leading to the Nehru Stadium - collapsed on Tuesday
5. Jama Masjid Mosque - Two tourists injured in shooting near mosque, Indian Mujahideen threatens more attacks
6. Shivaji Stadium - no longer to be used as a venue because it was not going to be ready in time
7. Yamuna Sports Complex - roof damaged by heavy rain in July

It's best to think positive... like 2010's comeback swimmer of the year.

Geoff Huegill's reaction to Delhi's problems:

 “As long as there’s water in my lane, I’m set to go”

US Themed Swimming Fix

- Over at Swimnetwork, Mike Gustafson has written an impressive premise for a new swimming movie. Not gritty enough for my taste, but should be a box office hit.

Here's my idea for a swimming movie...



All Done. Actually... make the US team be a bunch of dangerous, yet sensitive, vampires/werewolves and we have ourselves a hit.

- Josh Schneider has won his appeal to overturn his DQ at US Nationals. To refresh the memory, Schneider was unknowingly entered into the 100m Fly event which he didn't swim. As he failed to inform the meet organisers of his withdrawal they DQ'd him from his next event, the 50m Free. Schneider swam the event under protest and tied Cullen Jones for second in the final with a blazing 21.97, but subsequently had his DQ confirmed.  As a result of this appeal, Schneider will be able to join up with the US National team and will have a swim-off against Jones to decide who takes the second 50m Free spot at next year's World Champs.

Common sense seems to have prevailed. Why we continue to have these pedantic rules in swimming baffles me. If you've taken illegal drugs, false start or attach a jet engine to your back, then you should be DQ'd. If you do nothing wrong in an event apart from no-showing for the heats of another, that to me is not valid grounds.

- I'm not even going to attempt to explain the situation regarding the Athlete Partnership Plan in the US as Garrett McCaffrey and Tyler Clary do a great job in the video below:-



- Saving the best news until last... Swimming at the Commonwealth Games start in just 15 days.

Short Course Swimming Fix

The first leg of the Fina/Arena Swimming World Cup, held in Rio de Janeiro, is in the books.

- Star of the meet goes to Thiago Pereira. Coming off a relatively strong longcourse summer season (world ranked 5th for the 400m IM, 6th for the 200m IM), Pereira was just 1.3 seconds away from Darian Townsend's 200m IM world record set last year. Pereira's time of 1:52.72 was the 11th fastest performance of all time. According to Twitter we're going to see the Brazilian at all of the remaining World Cup meets. He is definitely a contender for top overall points scorer (and the hefty prize money that goes along with that).

- On the women's side Therese Alshammar got off to an ideal start as she leads the points standings after Rio. Points are awarded to the top ranked swims of the meet and Alshammar's 57.04 earned her 899 points, enough for the maximum 25 points on offer.

For those interested in the professional nature and funding of the sport, here's an interesting quote from Alshammar...

“The World Cup Series is very important to me because the awards give me the necessary resources to support my practices in Australia. Another important aspect is that I believe that, to keep strong physically and mentally, it’s essential to compete a lot. This series of events keep me on alert and it’s part of my training. London Olympic Games 2012 are the main goal of my career”.

- Cesar Cielo had a strong, though not spectacular, showing on home soil. Cielo took narrow victories in both the 50m Free and 100m Free, beating Steffen Diebler both times. Cielo's 50m Free time was 21.08 from the heats (he swam 21.16 in the final) and 47.16 in the 100m Free. As has been the case all year, the 50m Free was a stronger event for him than the 100m. The 50m Free was just 0.15 seconds away from Steffen Nystrand's textile suit best time, whereas the 100m Free was 1.33 seconds off the best mark in textile, again held by short course behemoth Nystrand.


- Switching to Long Course briefly, 2010 is proving to be a strong year for Japanese swimming and one of their biggest female stars, Aya Terakawa, turned in a great time of 59.13 in the 100m Back at the 'National Physical Education Long-Course Championships' in Chiba (I've never heard of it either).

Terakawa's swim supplants Emily Seebohm at the top of the world rankings and is a new textile best time. Seebohm will get a chance to regain the top spot at Commonwealths where she will face England's Gemma Spoffort and Lizzie Simmonds.

Interesting note - Terakawa and Seebohm each hold 4 of the top 10 swims so far this year on the 100m Back. Terakawa has been sub-1:00 six times this year, Seebohm five times. Great consistency.


- Looking forward to future short course meets this year we have some interesting returning stars on the women's side.

Britta Steffen hopes to return to competition at the Berlin leg of the World Cup Series (30 and 31 October). For those who struggle with the German language Steffen, has now returned to full-time training and hopes to be back to 100% in the next two or three weeks. She also mentions that if the Olympics go well in 2012 that she will probably just swim the 50m Free and relays at the 2013 Worlds before hanging up the goggles.

Not to be outdone, a trio of returning Dutch women are set to compete at the European Short Course Championship in Eindhoven (25-28 November). Marleen Veldhuis, Inge Dekker and Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who all missed the European LC Champs last month, will battle it out on home soil.

Biedermann..... blogs!

So anyone that follows this blog knows that I can rarely go 3 blogs in a row without a Paul Biedermann mention. Everytime he swims he gets a mention. Everytime someone else swims he gets a mention. He's essentially taken up more space here than anyone else.

Now Europeans are done and dusted I thought I would be treading water for a few weeks with Biedermann news. I could have mentioned that he will be swimming the Stockholm leg of the World Cup Series as well as the Berlin leg alongside Britta Steffen, but it didn't seem 'blog worthy' enough.

True to his race tactics he was just cruising along, lulling me into a false sense of security, before dropping the hammer on Speed Endurance.... that's right, Biedermann blogs.

I may as well retire from blogging because there is no way I can match Biedermann. He's already come out firing with posts including literary quotes, fake facebook accounts and RETIRING FROM WORLD OF WARCRAFT. PB is taking swim blogging into a new era. The rest of the world needs to catch up.

Little known fact -  I once raced Biedermann in a 400m Free in 2004 (page 15 of the results - I hung with him for 200m before being blown away in the last half of the race). He beat me then .. and he'll beat me now.

FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup - Rio de Janeiro *Including Start Lists*

September 10th - 12th, Parque Aquático Maria Lenk, Rio de Janeiro

In all the excitement of August's major competitions, the World Cup series seems to have been overlooked by many in the swimming world. Big mistake. The swimming world cup series always offers some quality racing. It also offers a chance for someone to break a World Record in 2010. Going to be pretty hard though.

Not sure I can mention his name on the blog any longer, but just for fun how about a Cesar Cielo, 50m & 100m Free time prediction... to get the ball rolling I'm saying 20.8 and 46.2.

The first stop on the global tour starts tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro (BRA) 10 – 12 September 2010
Beijing (CHN) 12 – 13 October 2010
Singapore (SIN) 16 – 17 October 2010
Tokyo (JPN) 20 – 21 October 2010
Berlin (GER) 30 – 31 October 2010
Moscow (RUS) 2 – 3 November 2010
Stockholm (SWE) 6 – 7 November 2010


*Speed_Endurance Blog Exclusive* - Start Lists - HERE (credit where credit is due)

Participating Countries: 
Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Singapore, Colombia, China, Ecuador, USA, Holland, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Sweden

Selection of swimmers competing (dominated by Brazilians, but still a good selection of top class international swimmers): 
Cesar Cielo, Kaio Almeida, Thiago Pereira, Nicholas Santos, Felipe Silva, Henrique Rodrigues, Tales Cerdeira, Tatiana Lemos Barbosa, Guilherme Guido, Fabiola Molina, Joanna Maranhao (BRA)
Steffen Deibler, Jenny Mensing, Kerstin Vogel, Marco Koch (GER)
Sakiko Nakamura, Kazuki Otsuka (JAP)
Peter Marshall, Randall Bal (USA)
Therese Alshammer, Joline Hoestman (SWE)
Hinkelein Schreuder (NED)
Arkady Vyatchanin, Nikolay Svortsov (RUS)
Omar Pinzon (COL)
Cecilia Biagioli (ARG)

Results will appear - HERE

The event will be shown on Brazilian TV Station - Canal SporTV (will look for a link to view the competition online).

Schedule of Events

Day 1 – Heats at 18:00h (06:00 pm) - Friday, 10TH September 2010
Finals at 10:00h (10:00 am) - Saturday, 11TH September 2010

800m Freestyle Women
100m Freestyle Men
200m Freestyle Women
50m Breaststroke Men
100m Breaststroke Women
400m IM Men
100m Butterfly Women
100m Backstroke Men
50m Backstroke Women
200m Butterfly Men
200m IM Women
400m Freestyle Men
50m Freestyle Women
200m Breaststroke Men
100m IM Men
200m Backstroke Women
50m Butterfly Men

Day 2 – Heats at 18:00h (06:00 pm) - Saturday, 11TH September 2010
Finals at 10:00h (10:00 am) - Sunday, 12TH September 2010

1500m Freestyle Men
100m Freestyle Women
200m Freestyle Men
50m Breaststroke Women
100m Breaststroke Men
400m IM Women
100m Butterfly Men
100m Backstroke Women
50m Backstroke Men
200m Butterfly Women
200m IM Men
400m Freestyle Women
50m Freestyle Men
200m Breaststroke Women
100m IM Women
200m Backstroke Men
50m Butterfly Women

Swimming Fix

After the excitement of August's major swimming competitions, we find ourselves in a bit of a lull in terms of competitive swimming. Here are some links to keep your swimming fix in order:-

- If you look at the picture at the top of this blog, you'll see I'm a sucker for underwater swimming photos. These photos from the European Championships are some of the best I've seen for a while. Image 22 of 24 of Nikita Lobintsev looking like a torpedo is my personal favourite, closely followed by Image 16 of Sebastien Rouault and Image 4 of Laszlo Cseh's head.

- Chris De Santis, a US collegiate coach and blogger, takes a look at what makes Rebecca Soni so fast, comparing her stroke to Leisel Jones and Amanda Beard. Interesting stuff, particularly the observation 'There is no doubt in my mind- Soni does not pull or kick as hard as either of the other two.'

- Semi retired swim blogger David Rieder announces his August Swimmers of the Month. Agree with most of the picks although I do have one issue:-

Issue.) As good as Nathan Adrian has been this year, I don't believe he has done enough to be anointed 'the best sprinter in the world.' Adrian is not at the top of the world ranks on either the 50m or the 100m Free. Yes he beat Cielo at Pan Pacs, but Cesar did not look on top form on the Freestyles and crucially he has proven himself on the biggest stage of all. Adrian hasn't... yet.

When he came up against the French guys earlier this year he lost to Fabien Gilot and tied with Yannick Agnel at the Paris Open. To be considered the best sprinter in the world I believe you need to be the reigning champion/fastest in the world in either the 50m Free or 100m Free. For my money if I had to pick a 'best sprinter in the world' right now I'd be torn between Bousquet and Cielo with Adrian (as well as Alain Bernard & Fabien Gilot) knocking hard on the door.

- Incase you missed it, ESPN ran an interesting article on Michael Phelps. The reporter stated that 'he is his sport'. This is contentious, but not all together wrong. Certainly opens up an entirely new issue, where would the sport of swimming be if Michael Phelps retired today. Would all the progress and exposure swimming has gained during the Phelps-era subside or would the sport react to Phelps' loss and continue to grow? Interesting one.