(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.
