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
Monday, 20 February 2012
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
Saturday, 18 February 2012
Elbow Gate - Who Targeted Alicia Coutts in the Shanghai Call Room?
In one of the strangest stories to come out in recent years, Alicia Coutts has claimed that she was elbowed in the head multiple times by a competitor in the call room before going out for the 100m Freestyle final at the World Championships. The unnamed European assailant then allegedly turned round and spat at Coutts while they were walking up a flight of stairs to the pool.
Why would an unnamed European target Coutts?
She was certainly a threat in the final, but was by no means the favourite. Fran Halsall was the fastest qualifier, Femke Heemskerk was in sparkling form, Coutts had an outside chance.
What constitutes an elbow?
The call room is a busy area, swimmers are stretching and swinging limbs at a tremendous rate. Could this have been accidental? Or could the assailant have deliberately warmed up near Coutts, knowing that she would hit Coutts?
The suspects
The European finalists were Ranomi Kromowidjojo (lane 2), Fran Halsall (lane 4), Femke Heemskerk (lane 5), Jeanette Ottesen (lane 6), Aleksandra Herasimenia (lane 8). Coutts swam in lane 5.
In Shanghai the finalists came out in reverse spearhead formation, so lane 8 first, then lane 1, lane 7, lane 2, lane 6, lane 3 (Coutts), lane 5 and finally lane 4. The finalists might have walked up the stairs in question in the order that they came out out of the race, or in lane order... or none of the above. Coutts emerges at 36 seconds in the video below, she doesn't look too happy.
Why would an unnamed European target Coutts?
She was certainly a threat in the final, but was by no means the favourite. Fran Halsall was the fastest qualifier, Femke Heemskerk was in sparkling form, Coutts had an outside chance.
What constitutes an elbow?
The call room is a busy area, swimmers are stretching and swinging limbs at a tremendous rate. Could this have been accidental? Or could the assailant have deliberately warmed up near Coutts, knowing that she would hit Coutts?
The suspects
The European finalists were Ranomi Kromowidjojo (lane 2), Fran Halsall (lane 4), Femke Heemskerk (lane 5), Jeanette Ottesen (lane 6), Aleksandra Herasimenia (lane 8). Coutts swam in lane 5.
In Shanghai the finalists came out in reverse spearhead formation, so lane 8 first, then lane 1, lane 7, lane 2, lane 6, lane 3 (Coutts), lane 5 and finally lane 4. The finalists might have walked up the stairs in question in the order that they came out out of the race, or in lane order... or none of the above. Coutts emerges at 36 seconds in the video below, she doesn't look too happy.
Friday, 10 February 2012
This Weekend's Racing
British University Championships(Feat. Rebecca Adlington, Fran Halsall, Joanne Jackson, Lizzie Simmonds, Amy Smith, Liam Tancock, David Davies, Ross Davenport, Ieuan Lloyd)
Looks like Becky Adlington (white hat in the middle) might be wearing the new Speedo suit/goggle/hat combo.
Results
UPDATE: Becky Adlington just swam 8:22.96 (last year she swam 8:23.85 at the same meet). She was just a shade off her Shanghai splits up until 600m, where she just 1.3 seconds slower. Without having Lotte Friis to chase down she closed in 2:06.40, instead of the 2:02.28 at Worlds. Great start to 2012!
UPDATE 2: Loughborough's 4 x 100m Free relay (consisting of Amy Smith 55.0, Fran Halsall 53.36!, Emma Wilkins 55.0 and Caitlin McClatchey 55.0) swam 3:38.49. Halsall's time matched her split from Shanghai heats, where GB finished 9th in 3:39.74.
1er Meeting de la Mediterranée Open - Marseille, Feb 10-12
(Feat. Camille Lacourt, Femke Heemskerk, Inge Dekker, Fabien Gilot, William Meynard, Florent Manaudou, Gregory Mallet, Steffen Diebler)
Start Lists
Results
NSW State Championships, Feb 10-12
(Feat. James Magnussen, Libby Trickett, Park Tae-Hwan, Steph Rice, Michael Klim, Marieke Guehrer, Yolane Kukla, Ellen Gandy, Nick D'Arcy, Leisel Jones, Emily Seebohm, Belinda Hocking, Meagen Nay, Therese Alshammar)
Results
Missourah Missouri Grand Prix, Feb 10-12
(Feat. Laure Manaudou, Fred Bousquet, Chloe Sutton, Cesar Cielo, Kosuke Kitajima, Eric Shanteau, Christine Magnuson, Tyler McGill, Matt Grevers, Thiago Pereira, Markus Rogan, Sinead Russell)
Watch out for Bousquet vs Cielo in the 50 Free.
Live Video
Psych Sheet
Results
Looks like Becky Adlington (white hat in the middle) might be wearing the new Speedo suit/goggle/hat combo.
Results
UPDATE: Becky Adlington just swam 8:22.96 (last year she swam 8:23.85 at the same meet). She was just a shade off her Shanghai splits up until 600m, where she just 1.3 seconds slower. Without having Lotte Friis to chase down she closed in 2:06.40, instead of the 2:02.28 at Worlds. Great start to 2012!
UPDATE 2: Loughborough's 4 x 100m Free relay (consisting of Amy Smith 55.0, Fran Halsall 53.36!, Emma Wilkins 55.0 and Caitlin McClatchey 55.0) swam 3:38.49. Halsall's time matched her split from Shanghai heats, where GB finished 9th in 3:39.74.
1er Meeting de la Mediterranée Open - Marseille, Feb 10-12
(Feat. Camille Lacourt, Femke Heemskerk, Inge Dekker, Fabien Gilot, William Meynard, Florent Manaudou, Gregory Mallet, Steffen Diebler)
Start Lists
Results
NSW State Championships, Feb 10-12
(Feat. James Magnussen, Libby Trickett, Park Tae-Hwan, Steph Rice, Michael Klim, Marieke Guehrer, Yolane Kukla, Ellen Gandy, Nick D'Arcy, Leisel Jones, Emily Seebohm, Belinda Hocking, Meagen Nay, Therese Alshammar)
Results
(Feat. Laure Manaudou, Fred Bousquet, Chloe Sutton, Cesar Cielo, Kosuke Kitajima, Eric Shanteau, Christine Magnuson, Tyler McGill, Matt Grevers, Thiago Pereira, Markus Rogan, Sinead Russell)
Watch out for Bousquet vs Cielo in the 50 Free.
Live Video
Psych Sheet
Results
Typical Divers
While swimmers are busy training hard, the divers are dancing about on a beach. Typical.
(Good effort on the video though)
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Ian Thorpe's Comeback Continues In Luxembourg, Makes Late Change to Training Regime
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).
Melbourne 1:50.79 - 25.6 / 28.1 / 28.3 / 28.5
Luxembourg 1:51.51 - 25.7 / 27.7 / 28.8 / 29.1
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.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Sun Yang 3:42.89 in Torrential Rain
Sun Yang isn't showing any early season rust, swimming in torrential rain he raced to 3:42.89 in the 400m Free at the Miami Super Challenge. According to Britain's Michael Jamieson on Twitter the swim came off even splits.
Coming in behind Sun Yang were compatriots Li Yunqi, 19, 3:45.49 and Hao Yun, 16, 3:45.69. In case you missed that, 3:45.69 from a 16 year old! An Ian Thorpe-esque performance.
The women's 400m Free didn't disappoint either with impressive performances from Yiwen Shao 4:06.98, Katie Goldman 4:07.52 and 200m Fly World Champion Jiao Liuyang 4:10.77.
RESULTS
Coming in behind Sun Yang were compatriots Li Yunqi, 19, 3:45.49 and Hao Yun, 16, 3:45.69. In case you missed that, 3:45.69 from a 16 year old! An Ian Thorpe-esque performance.
The women's 400m Free didn't disappoint either with impressive performances from Yiwen Shao 4:06.98, Katie Goldman 4:07.52 and 200m Fly World Champion Jiao Liuyang 4:10.77.
RESULTS
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Top 51 Swimmers of 2011 - 10 to 1
Top 51 Swimmer of 2011 - 51 to 42
Top 51 Swimmer of 2011 - 41 to 32
Top 51 Swimmer of 2011 - 31 to 22
Top 51 Swimmer of 2011 - 21 to 11
The wait is over, here are the Top 10 Swimmers of 2011
10. Rebecca Adlington – 2011 Highlight – Victory in the 800m Free in Shanghai in a time of 8:17.51.
Winning another global title in the 800m Free was a great way for Adlington to regain her self-belief going into 2012, and she did it in style. After tracking Lotte Friis for the entire race, she put on the burners in the last 50m with a split of 28.91. She also made a step forward in the 400m with a time of 4:02.84 at British Nationals. While she wasn’t able to reproduce that time in the 400 final, she still swam well enough to win the silver medal. Adlington still needs to find a second to get down to Pellegrini’s winning time from Shanghai in the 400 Free, but all signs are pointing in the right direction ahead of a home Olympics.
9. Dana Vollmer – 2011 Highlight – New textile best time in the 100m Fly semi in Shanghai (56.47)
Vollmer's 56.47 was one of swimming's most unexpected performances of 2011. It was not that she was unfancied to win the 100m Fly, but to swim the 5th fastest time ever and give a seemingly untouchable world record a scare certainly did come as a shock. Vollmer dropped a clue back in April when she swam 57.5 untapered. The American also had a great year as part of a dominant USA 4 x 100 Medley team that shook the LC world record and broke the record SC. She also had a strong anchor leg in the 4 x 100 Free relay and would have won gold for the USA, had she not come up against Femke Heemskerk on top form.
8. Federica Pellegrini – 2011 Highlight – Utter dominance in the second half of the women’s 400m Free final (4:01.97)
In the Shanghai 400m Free final, Pellegrini swam a tactically perfect race. By keeping pace with the field until 200m (turned 5th in 2:02.30) and then unleashing an incredible 1:59.67 last 200m split she nullified all her opponents weapons and played to all of her strengths. The performance was so good, that if she swims the exact same race this summer you couldn't see anyone getting past her. She then backed up her 400 win with a victory in the 200m Free with another tactical masterclass. This time she didn't panic when Femke Heemskerk went out in world record pace, instead she put in her burst between 100m and 150m. The Italian is going to have company in the form of Missy Franklin in the 200m Free and may struggle to win the double in London, but 2011 was a masterclass in middle distance Freestyle from Pellegrini.
Top 51 Swimmer of 2011 - 41 to 32
Top 51 Swimmer of 2011 - 31 to 22
Top 51 Swimmer of 2011 - 21 to 11
The wait is over, here are the Top 10 Swimmers of 2011
10. Rebecca Adlington – 2011 Highlight – Victory in the 800m Free in Shanghai in a time of 8:17.51.
Winning another global title in the 800m Free was a great way for Adlington to regain her self-belief going into 2012, and she did it in style. After tracking Lotte Friis for the entire race, she put on the burners in the last 50m with a split of 28.91. She also made a step forward in the 400m with a time of 4:02.84 at British Nationals. While she wasn’t able to reproduce that time in the 400 final, she still swam well enough to win the silver medal. Adlington still needs to find a second to get down to Pellegrini’s winning time from Shanghai in the 400 Free, but all signs are pointing in the right direction ahead of a home Olympics.
9. Dana Vollmer – 2011 Highlight – New textile best time in the 100m Fly semi in Shanghai (56.47)
Vollmer's 56.47 was one of swimming's most unexpected performances of 2011. It was not that she was unfancied to win the 100m Fly, but to swim the 5th fastest time ever and give a seemingly untouchable world record a scare certainly did come as a shock. Vollmer dropped a clue back in April when she swam 57.5 untapered. The American also had a great year as part of a dominant USA 4 x 100 Medley team that shook the LC world record and broke the record SC. She also had a strong anchor leg in the 4 x 100 Free relay and would have won gold for the USA, had she not come up against Femke Heemskerk on top form.
8. Federica Pellegrini – 2011 Highlight – Utter dominance in the second half of the women’s 400m Free final (4:01.97)
In the Shanghai 400m Free final, Pellegrini swam a tactically perfect race. By keeping pace with the field until 200m (turned 5th in 2:02.30) and then unleashing an incredible 1:59.67 last 200m split she nullified all her opponents weapons and played to all of her strengths. The performance was so good, that if she swims the exact same race this summer you couldn't see anyone getting past her. She then backed up her 400 win with a victory in the 200m Free with another tactical masterclass. This time she didn't panic when Femke Heemskerk went out in world record pace, instead she put in her burst between 100m and 150m. The Italian is going to have company in the form of Missy Franklin in the 200m Free and may struggle to win the double in London, but 2011 was a masterclass in middle distance Freestyle from Pellegrini.
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