Women's 100m Freestyle Living Up To It's Blue Riband Billing

Photo courtesy of @aadvangroningen

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*

Tier 3

Britta Steffen - 53.30
Natalie Coughlin - 53.40
Yi Tang - 53.71
Mel Schlanger - 53.74
Cate Campbell - 53.84
Dana Vollmer - 53.94

There will not be many (if any) events at the Olympics with a deeper final field than the women's 100m Freestyle.

* Heemskerk didn't compete in Eindhoven today, with Marleen Veldhuis swimming 53.95 today she may not have qualified for the individual 100m Free.

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.

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.

Breaking News: Aleksandra Herasimenia Denies Elbowing Alicia Coutts

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding 'Elbow Gate', the allegations from Alicia Coutts that she was elbowed in the head and spat at before the 100m Freestyle final at the World Championships in Shanghai. 

Coutts still has not revealed the name of the alleged culprit, but did say that it was one of the European finalists in the race. Since the story broke last week we have seen Ranomi Kromowidjojo cleared by Coutts herself on Twitter as well as a denial from Femke Heemskerk. Fran Halsall saw the incident, heard the apology and forgot who was involved describing the incident as 'a non entity'.

In a Speed Endurance exclusive we can now add another denial to that list. Joint gold medal winner Aleksandra Herasimenia.

I caught up with Herasimenia and in a strongly worded denial she told me that the allegations were 'stupid' and questioned the authenticity of the claims. 'I know that I did not do it, and Jeanette (Ottesen) too, I spoke to her. Nor could she do that!', she said. 'I did not see anything and so I think all this is fiction!'

British Stars Get Their Season Underway

A group of top British swimmers got their Olympic seasons underway in a low-key manner at last weekend's Lincoln Vulcans Open Meet (long course metres). Despite being in heavy training, Elizabeth Simmonds and Fran Halsall managed to put together a world class duel in the 100m Backstroke.

Notable performances

Elizabeth Simmonds - 100m Back - 1:00.70 (split 29.61)
Francesca Halsall - 100m Back - 1:01.15 (split 29.76)
Francesca Halsall - 50m Free - 25.13
Francesca Halsall - 100m Fly - 59.63
Liam Tancock - 100m Breast - 1:04.18 (split 30.25)
Rebecca Adlington - 200m IM - 2:18.70
Rebecca Adlington - 200m Back - 2:15.71
Jo Jackson - 100m Free - 56.51

Full results

This Weekend's Racing

Another good weekend of racing coming up as many swimmers compete in their final competition before their national championships.

British University Championships - Feb 11-13 - (LC) - Psych Sheet - Results

British Swimming are sending the big guns to compete alongside the students.

UPDATE - Rebecca Adlington just swam 8:23.85. Moves to the top of the world rankings and just 2.6 seconds down on last year's best effort. Splits of 2:04.48 / 4:12.63 /  6:18.66 / 8:23.85 (negative split). In a mixed race Adlington beat 6 men and just finished shy of Stirling's Josh Walsh (8:23.36). Shows what a racer she is.

(Feat. Rebecca Adlington, Fran Halsall, Joanne Jackson, Elizabeth Simmonds, Gemma Spofforth, Amelia Maughan, Steph Proud, Stacey Tadd, Liam Tancock, Ross Davenport, Robert Bale, Laurent Carnol, Antony James, Joe Roebuck, Michael Jamieson, Kris Gilchrist, Chris Walker-Hebborn, Roberto Pavoni)

New South Wales State Championships - Feb 11-13 - (LC) - Result 

Britain's Ellen Gandy was hugely impressive beating both Steph Rice and Therese Alshammar comfortably in the 100m Fly. Gandy's time of 58.23 vaults her to the top of the early world rankings.

(Feat. Stephanie Rice, Leisel Jones, Therese Alshammar, Marieke Guehrer, Ellen Gandy, Belinda Hocking, Megan Nay, Katie Goldman, Ryan Cochrane, Andrew Lauterstein, Ryan Napoleon, Kyle Richardson, Matt Targett, Kenneth To, James Magnussen, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Ashley Delaney, Hayden Stoeckel)

Swedish Grand Prix - Feb 12-13 - (LC) - Start List - Results

Marleen Veldhuis (25.13) held off Ranomi Kromowidjojo (25.30) in the 50m Free. Sarah Sjöström won the 100m Fly in an impressive time of 58.47 (just shy of Gandy's time from the other side of the world).

(Feat. Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Sarah Sjöström, Marleen Veldhuis, Sharon van Rouwendaal, Jennie Johansson, Petra Granlund, Gabriella Fagundez, Stefan Nystrand, Simon Sjödin, Petter Stymne)

Meeting National Nice (LC) - Feb 11-13 - Results (Thanks to Dublincat for the tip)

(Feat. Yannick Agnel, Alain Bernard, Danila Izotov, Stanislav Donets, Boris Steimitz, Camille Muffat, Coralie Balmy, Ophelie-Cyrille Etienne, Alexandra Putra)

Incredible times from Camille Muffat (1:56.63 200m Free, 8:2655 800m Free) and Yannick Agnel (1:46.55 200m Free), strengthening their claims as serious contenders for Shanghai later this year. Also featuring a 1:04.91 100m Breast from none other than Alain Bernard... how about a switch to IM? He can swim 200m Free and 100m Breast... Just saying.

Thoughts from Commonwealth Games Swimming - Day Two

Much better day for the home nations, much needed after a quiet first day... Lets bullet...
. Fran Halsall is going to have a monster meet. The 50m Fly was on paper her toughest individual event, and she took down the best Australia had to offer. Pre-competition I picked Yolane Kukla to win, with Marieke Guehrer picking up silver and Halsall taking Bronze. Pre-race I had bumped Guehrer and Halsall up a spot. In the end Halsall showed once again that she is a tremendous 'racer' (lazy cliche again, apologies) and had a tremendous last 5m and finish.

Finishing a 50m sprint so strongly bodes extremely well for her 100m Free and Fly.

- I was also impressed with Halsall's 100m Free semi. She was clear of the field at 50m and although Alicia Coutts looked strong on the back 50m (and had a tremendous turn), I don't expect anyone to challenge Halsall when she gets up to full speed and effort in the final. It's now a very real possibility that she will win 4 individual Golds (I can't see England winning any relay golds).

. The Aussies will be a little sore after losing the 50m Fly. Kukla, Guehrer and Seebohm have all been faster than Halsall's winning time this year.

Kukla in particular seems to be struggling. She is ranked 8th in the world this year in the 100m Free but ended up missing the final. Her time will come, but from the evidence so far, that won't be in Delhi.

Update -  According to InfostradaLive - "Halsall (ENG) became the first woman from outside Australia in 20 years to win gold in an individual Women's Butterfly event at Commonwealth Games."

. Liam Tancock was dominant in his 50m Backstroke. Winning by 0.46 in a 50m is a real achievement.

However, you know in the back of Tancock's mind will be the memory of the 24.07 from Camille Lacourt at Europeans. The 100m Back is still to come, and I think Tancock can improve upon his 52.85 this year, but its looking like Lacourt will end the year head and shoulders above the rest of the world.

Lacourt, head and shoulders above Tancock... in every sense.

.  Robbie Renwick had a nice swim to win the 200m Freestyle. Ross Davenport went for an outside smoke show but got reeled in on the last 25m. Good result for Renwick, but to put it in some perspective, his winning time of 1:47.88 would have finished 7th at Pan Pacs. On the flipside he did beat the 4th (Fraser-Holmes), 5th (Monk) and 6th (Basson) placed finishers on that day.

Leads me to the question, which was the better swim... Thomas Fraser-Holmes coming 4th at Pan Pacs in 1:47.23, or Robbie Renwick winning Commonwealths in 1:47.88?

. The BBC have nailed it this year with their in-studio team. Clare Balding admits that she doesn't know a great deal about swimming, but has a genuine enthusiasm for the sport and a willingness to learn more (hopefully a sentiment echoed by the viewers). Mark Foster is on good form and is able to give a good insight into the British swimmers thoughts and personalities as he has competed on the same team as most of them.

However, the real star is Ian Thorpe. This guy really knows how to talk about swimming. Not too technical to put off casual fans, whilst not oversimplifying his explanations either. Such a shame that he won't be working for the BBC in 2012 as he'll be busy competing...

... Out of interest what are the views on BBC commentators Adrian Moorhouse and Andy Jameson?

Thoughts from European Swimming Championships - Day Three

Day Three didn't provide quite the same excitement as Day One and Day Two had, however they were hard acts to follow. That's not to say the night was short on action, time to run through the main talking points:-

- From a personal point of view I was looking forward to the men's 200m Free above all the other races at Europeans. Frankly, I was a little underwhelmed by tonight's final.

I really thought Biedermann would swim faster than he did. Not an unreasonable expectation given the fact that he swam 0.2 seconds faster at German Nationals. Biedermann seems to react best when the competition is fierce and he just didn't have that big of a challenge tonight. The man who should have posed the biggest challenge, Danila Izotov, seemed like he was on top form after his relay heroics on Monday but just didn't show up for the final.

There are a lot of people that will jump on this swim (and his 400m Free) and highlight how much slower he is this year without his suit. Unfortunately for Biedermann, because he beat Michael Phelps wearing a techsuit (100% legal remember), he has become the poster boy for the suit era. He must be tired of answering questions on how this year is different to last. To answer his skeptics he really needs to do one or all of these three points:-

1.) Finish the year on top of the world rankings (looking unlikely now)

2.) Get down into 1:44 territory and get close to Phelps and Thorpe's best textile times. Phelps' best textile time (wearing a textile suit that covered his chest and legs) was 1:43.86, whilst Thorpe's was 1:44.06 (wearing his trademark full body suit).

3.) Win the World Championships again in 2011.

- The race that needs to happen in Budapest is a rematch of the 400m Free Final over 200m. Yannick Agnel vs Paul Biedermann. Hopefully the German and French teams give the fans what they want and put both men on the first leg of the 4 x 200m Free relay. (Knowing the French selection policy, Agnel will probably be dropped from the relay as he didn't do his victory lap of honour quickly enough on Monday evening.)


- Fran Halsall showed that she has made a significant step-up in world swimming by winning the 100m Freestyle final tonight despite not being fully tapered. It was the type of performance that showed real racing quality.

53.58 moves her to second in the world this year and is just 0.28 seconds off Britta Steffen's textile best time. Assuming everything goes to plan in Delhi we could certainly see Steffen's mark go and could even see the first woman under 53 seconds in a textile suit.

- Whilst Britain celebrates its third Gold medal, spare a thought for Ranomi Kromowidjojo. The Dutch sprinter had been one of the revelations of 2010 and her 53.44 effort back in March still leads the world rankings. Had Kromowidjojo not been struck down with illness just weeks before the competition started we may have been talking about a historic swim from the talented Dutch freestyler. Kromowidjojo's time will come and she will likely be a formidable force next year at World's and in London in two years time.

- Watch out for Daniel Gyurta tomorrow in the 200m Breaststroke final. There looked to be a lot more in the tank after his semi-final effort of 2:10.11. Brendan Hansen's textile best time of 2:08.50 could well be within Gyurta's reach in front of a home crowd.

- Another day, another stunning swim from Camille Lacourt. This time he raced to the top of the world rankings and took down his second textile best mark in the 50m Back. His semi final time of 24.30 moves him ahead of Liam Tancock's effort of 24.52 from earlier this year. Tancock's WR sits a little uneasily at 24.04. For more insight into Lacourt's progression over the last few years check out David Rieder's profile of the Frenchman.