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PanPacifics : Ruck plaque Ledecky et Kalisz se paie la peau d’Hagino 

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By Eric Lahmy on SwimSwam

Championnats PanPacifics 2018

Samedi 10 août 2018

Jeudi, les PanPacifics 2018 ont commencé au centre international de natation Tatsumi, à Tokyo, immense cathédrale futuriste (où se tiendront les épreuves aquatiques des Jeux de 2020.

A ces joutes « panpacifiques », les natations qui bordent le grand océan se rencontrent dans le même principe, finalement, que celui des Jeux méditerranéens. Mais pas à la même échelle, certes, et pas seulement parce que le Pacifique est soixante-cinq fois plus étendu que la modeste Mare Nostrum.

Invinciblement, on se surprendra à comparer ces PanPacifics avec les championnats d’Europe qui viennent de s’achever à Glasgow. La tentation est forte. L’Europe est une entité renaissante dans la natation d’élite. Elle a pris une part active, parfois prépondérante, aux débuts de la natation de compétition, à la frontière du 19e et du 20e siècle. Puis elle a été balayée par les forces de l’Est (essentiellement le Japon) et de l’Ouest (Etats-Unis), puis du Sud (Australie).

La reconquête européenne n’a pas été chose facile. D’ailleurs, il n’y a pas dans le sport de suprématie qui ne soit pas contestée ardemment. C’est le principe même de la compétition. Et le fait est que les PanPacifics réunissent les trois natations dominatrices du siècle passé. Les USA qui furent presque tout le temps dans le coup. Les Australiens qui connurent des apogées sublimes et quelques descentes aux enfers. Les Japonais qui ont cessé de dominer dès après 1950, mais qui disposent d’une natation très vivace.

Mais je crois surtout que ces pays jouent un rôle fondateur dans ce qui pourrait être l’attitude natation. Les Japonais ont été les inventeurs de la technique la plus élaborée, il suffit pour s’en convaincre de se repasser les vieux films des nageurs des années 1930 ou encore de l’époque où Hironoshin FURUASHI pouvait distancer les champions occidentaux d’une ou deux longueurs de bassin sur 1500 mètres.

Mais ils étaient trop fermés, traditionnellement, dans leur île, et avec leur langue et leur écriture, pour essaimer. Ce sont les Américains, ce me semble, qui ont donné au sport son dynamisme et sa puissance, grâce, largement à l’ouverture au sport de l’université de ce pays et la prodigalité qu’ont démontré les cinquante Etats dans le désir de partager le savoir. La natation US n’a-t-elle pas été la plus pillée du monde, par ceux mêmes qui les disaient obsolètes ?

Mais ce sont les Australiens qui ont sans doute le mieux fixé et aidé à disséminer les principes fondateurs de la natation moderne.

Plus récemment les Européens ont joué une part considérable dans le renouvellement du « paradigme ». Certes, c’est malheureusement dans le vieux continent que le dopage a été le plus virulent, avec des porte-drapeaux méphitiques, en Allemagne et en Russie, en Roumanie. Ces méthodes contestables ont été exportées en Chine, avec le « succès » qu’on sait.

A côté de ça, il y a eu de jolies percées, moins discutables moralement, en Grande-Bretagne, en Allemagne, en Hongrie, aux Pays-Bas, parfois en Italie, et les natations féminines du nord de l’Europe n’ont pas attendu Inge DE BRUIJN, Sarah SJÖSTRÖM ou Pernille BLUME pour briller ; la natation féminine des Pays-Bas donna parfois la leçon dans les années 1930. La France a connu deux « pinacles », un en 1952, l’autre en 2012, qui se sont terminés par des redescentes moins remarquables !

Ce trop long préambule achevé, entrons dans le vif du sujet. Disons que les Etats-Unis, à Tokyo, n’ont pas joué une partie facile au cours de la première journée. Ils ont cependant dominé, et remporté trois courses, le 200 mètres libre (Townley HAAS) et le 400 quatre nages (Chase KALISZ) messieurs ainsi que le 100 brasse (Lilly KING).

Le Japon s’en est sorti avec deux succès, celui de Yasuhiro KOSEKI sur 100 brasse messieurs, et celui de Yui OHASHI, nouvelle reine des quatre nages, sur 400 mètres. L’Australie n’a enlevé que le 4 fois 100 quatre nages mixte.

Le 200 a vu la défaite de Katie LEDECKY. Historique ? Peut-être. Mais le 200 n’est qu’un ajout fragile au « royaume » de LEDECKY, qui va du 400 au 1500 mètres. La championne olympique et du monde avait pourtant frappé fort en séries, dominant très largement, en 1’55s16.

Le soir, en finale, elle progressait… d’un centième de seconde, mais elle trouva deux adversaires suffisamment motivées et douées pour la faire plier. La Canadienne Taylor RUCK (que je me permets de présenter ici comme une des candidates les plus sérieuses à la place de meilleure nageuse mondiale de l’année) ne laissa à aucun moment LEDECKY dicter sa loi. La filiforme (1,83m, 60 kg) Ontarienne devançait la néo-professionnelle US (contrat maillot de 11 millions de dollars, croit-on savoir) aux virages des 50 (26s82 contre 27s03, 55s73 contre 55s85). LEDECKY baissa de rythme des cent aux cent cinquante (1’25s76) et c’est là que Ruck, sans accélérer le moins du monde, lui prit un mètre (1’25s13).

Ce n’est pas tout car aux 150, la Japonaise Rikako IKEE, qui était encore troisième (27s09, 56s15), venait asticoter LEDECKY, avant de la passer dans une dernière longueur où elle remonta même RUCK et ne fut pas loin de la menacer. Les deux premières « cassaient » les 1’55s, RUCK améliorait la tripotée de records – du Canada, du Commonwealth (qui lui appartenaient avec 1’54s81 depuis mars dernier) et des PanPacifics – en 1’54s44 et IKEE le record du Japon en 1’54s85.

Reprenons :

Taylor RUCK, 26s82, 55s73 (28s91), 1’25s13 (29s40), 1’54s44 (29s31).

Rikako IKEE, 27s09, 56s15 (29s06), 1’25s80 (29s65), 1’54s85 (29s05).

Katie LEDECKY, 27s03, 55s85 (28s82), 1’25s76 (29s91), 1’55s15 (29s39).

Chase KALISZ, sur 400 quatre nages, en se jouant des ténors japonais de ces dernières années, a confirmé que le patron, c’était lui. HAGINO a fini deux longueurs, SETO trois longueurs derrière !

Les Américains ayant voté, et décidé qu’Andrew SELISKAR avait été le champion des USA le plus étonnant le mois dernier à Irvine, SELISKAR a rectifié la donne et s’est laissé battre ici de 0s18 sur 200 mètres par Townley HAAS, qui avait été le favori battu de cette course. Kyle CHALMERS, 9e des séries, n’a pas existé.

MESSIEURS.- 200 mètres: 1. Townley HAAS, USA, 1’45s56; 2. Andrew SELISKAR, USA, 1’45s74; 3. Katsuhiro MATSUMOTO, Japon, 1’45s92; 4. Fernando SCHEFFER, Brésil, 1’46s12; 5.  Alexander GRAHAM, Australie, 1’46s50 (en série, 1’46s35). Finale B : 1. Blake PIERONI, USA, 1’46s68. En série, Zacchary APPLE, USA, 1’46s56.

100 m brasse: 1. Yasuhiro KOSEKI, Japon, 59s08 ; 2. Jake PACKARD, Australie, 59s20; 3. Joao GOMEZ Jr, Brésil, 59s60; 4. Andrew WILSON, USA, 59s70 ( en série, 59s42); 5. Lizhuo WANG, Chine, 59s76 (en série, 59s50); En série, Michael ANDREW, USA, 59s55.

400 4 nages: 1. Chase KALISZ, USA, 4’7s95; 2. Kosuke HAGINO, Japon, 4’11s13 ; 3. Daya SETO, Japon, 4’12s60 (en série, 4’12s49); 4. Jay LITHERLAND, USA, 4’12s87; 5. Lewis CLAREBURT, Nouvelle-Zélande, 4’14s27; 5. Brandonn ALMEIDA, Brésil, 4’14s53. En série: Sean GRIESHOP, USA, 4’14s27.

DAMES.- 200 mètres: 1. Taylor RUCK, Canada, 1’54s44; 2. Rikako IKEE, 1’54s85 (record du Japon); 3. Katie LEDECKY, USA, 1’55s15 ; 4. Allison SCHMITT, USA, 1’56s71 (en série, 1’56s36) ; 5. Kayla SANCHEZ, Canada, 1’57s23; 6. Mikkayla SHERIDAN, Australie, 1’57s48; 7. Chihiro IGARASHI, Japon, 1’57s83. Finale B: 1. Kathryn MCLAUGHLIN, USA, 1’57s34 (en série, 1’56s88). En série, Leah SMITH, USA, 1’56s81 ; Mallory COMERFORD, USA, 1’57s48; Gabrielle DELOOF, USA, 1’57s86; Kathryn DRABOT, USA, 1’58s09.

100 mètres brasse: 1. Lillia KING, USA, 1’5s44 ; 2. Jessica HANSEN, Australie, 1’6s20; 3. Reona AOKI, Japon, 1’6s34; 4. Satomi SUZUKI, Japon, 1’6s51; 5. Micah SUMRALL, USA, 1’6s56 (en série, 1’6s44). Finale B : 1. Bethany GALAT, USA, 1’6s41. En série, Katie MEILI, USA, 1’6s64.

400 m 4 nages : 1. Yui OHASHI, Japon, 4’33s77 ; 2. Melanie MARGALIS, USA, 4’35s60 ; 3. Sakiko SHIMIZU, Japon, 4’36s27.

MIXTE : 4×100 4 nages : 1. AUSTRALIE, 3’38s91. A noter les 100 dos de Ryosuke IRIE, en 52s83, et de Kathleen BAKER, en 59s29, et Cate CAMPBELL, 50s93 lancée en crawl.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: PanPacifics : Ruck plaque Ledecky et Kalisz se paie la peau d’Hagino 


Pan sur le Pacifique. Coup de 100 Australiens : Chalmers et Campbell domptent Dressel et Manuel

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By Eric Lahmy on SwimSwam

Championnats PanPacifics 2018

Samedi 11 Août 2018

Ce n’est peut-être pas nouveau, mais cela me semble récent. Cette manière d’équilibrer parfaitement sa course, illustrée dans le 100 mètres de Kyle CHALMERS. Le champion olympique australien a gagné sa course, au cours de cette seconde journée de PanPacifics, à Tokyo, en 48 secondes juste. Or il est passé huitième et dernier à mi-course, en 23s35. Pas très loin derrière, mais dernier. En tête, le Brésilien Marcelo CHIERIGHINI, 22s91, puis, qui se présentent, en rafale les deux Américains APPLE et DRESSEL, 22s93 et 22s96 et le 2e Brésilien, Pedro SPAGIARI, 22s97.

CHALMERS finit plus vite que tout le monde, en 24s65, devant CARTWRIGHT, son compatriote, 24s96. Le retour de DRESSEL, en revanche, en 25s28, lui vaut d’être surpassé par le vainqueur des Jeux de Rio, et de concéder l’ex-aequo au deuxième Dolphin (nom-totem que se sont attribués les nageurs Australiens).

La limitation à deux nageurs par nation en finale a superbement fonctionné pour éviter un torrent américain. Rien d’étonnant, c’est à cela que cette limitation a dû d’être érigée. Cela a permis d’assister à une finale « B » presqu’aussi rapide que la « A », Blake PIERONI, le champion des Etats-Unis, devançant d’une main Nathan ADRIAN, 48s21 à 48s32.

Ryan MURPHY a dominé le 100 mètres dos. Ses meilleurs adversaires, dans le monde, semblent être aujourd’hui le Russe KOLESNIKOV et le Chinois qui l’a devancé aux mondiaux de Budapest, XU JIAYU. Mais le Murphy du jour est en meilleure forme que celui de Budapest, qui avait plafonné à 52s59. Le champion olympique s’est joué en 51s94 (pratiquement sa valeur des Jeux olympiques de Rio, où il gagna en 51s97) du vieil IRIE, du champion du monde 2015 australien LARKIN et du champion olympique 2012 GREVERS : que du beau monde !

Le 100 mètres féminin nous a rendu une Cate CAMPBELL rugissante. La grande Australienne a infligé une rare défaite à Simone MANUEL. La brune Américaine, qui a tout gagné depuis deux ans, virait en troisième position, attendant peut-être le scénario catastrophe bien rodé d’une CAMPBELL partie en boulet de canon et se ramassant dans un retour à la petite cuiller. Mais cette fois, CAMPBELL, non seulement ne se défit pas, mais augmenta constamment son avance. Peut-être mise à l’école de l’égalité d’allure qui a joué si bien en faveur de CHALMERS, elle équilibrait assez bien son effort, 25s09 et 26s94 pour un total de 52s03. MANUEL eut le plus grand mal à se dépêtrer de Taylor RUCK , l’araignée canadienne qui passait en 25s29 pour finir en 52s72 (27s43). L’Américaine, elle, ayant viré en 25s34, toucha finalement en 52s66 (27s32). Mallory COMERFORD, elle, signait le meilleur retour hors CAMPBELL, en 27s02.

Une course très attendue était le 100 mètres dos dames, parce qu’on y retrouvait une tripotée de talents très proches et d’ambitions concurrentes et à peu près tous les sommets de podiums de ces cinq ou six dernières années. Le dos féminin US avait démontré une densité et une qualité au plus haut niveau lors des championnats nationaux, le mois dernier. Kathleen BAKER avait effacé le record du monde qui appartenait à la championne du monde canadienne Kylie MASSE. Derrière elle, l’immense Olivia SMOLIGA et la toute neuve recordwoman du monde junior Regan SMITH la serraient d’assez près. Et d’Australie, Emily SEEBOHM, la championne du monde 2015, après de gros ennuis de santé qui l’avaient privé de ses chances olympiques, fourbissait ses armes avec un appétit féroce.

Dès les séries, les principales concurrentes se disposèrent : première série à SEEBOHM, qui en 58s79, criait qu’elle était là en battant le record de la compétition. La réponse ne se fit pas attendre, qui prit la forme d’un coup de MASSE infligé par la Canadienne, 58s29, une demi-seconde de mieux. Baker, 3e série, frôla son meilleur en 58s41.

On se demandait, après ce déluge, ce que serait la finale. D’une certaine façon (la façon chronométrique), elle fut décevante. Sans doute trop de stress, trop d’attentes. Mais son verdict fut clair, et ce fut MASSE qui l’emporta.

MESSIEURS.- 100 mètres.- 1 KYLE CHALMERS, Australie, 48s00; 2 JACK CARTWRIGHT, Australie, et CAELEB DRESSEL, USA, 48s22 (en série, 48s13); 4. MARCELO CHIERIGHINI, Brésil, 48s36 ; 5. ZACHARY APPLE, USA, 48s47 (en séries, 48s03) ; KATSUMI NAKAMURA, Japon, 48s49; 7. PEDRO SPAJARI, Brésil, 48s51 (en série, 48s38) ; 8. SHINRI SHIOURA, Japon, 48s68. Finale B : 1. Blake PIERONI, USA, 48s21 ; 2. Nathan ADRIAN, USA, 48s32 ; 3. Yuri KISIL, Canada, 49s. En séries, Townley HAAS, USA, 48s69 ; Gabriel SANTOS, Brésil, 48s72 ; Alexander GRAHAM, Australie, 48s75 ; James ROBERTS, Australie, 48s83 ; Andrew SELISKAAR, USA, et Katsuhiro MATSUMOTO, Japon, 48s99.

100 dos : 1. RYAN MURPHY, USA, 51s94 ; 2. RYOSUKE IRIE, Japon, 52s78 ; 3. MITCHELL LARKIN, Australie, 52s88 ; 4. MATTHEW GREVERS, USA, 52s99 ; 5. JAVIER ACEVEDO, Canada, 53s90; 6. MARKUS THORMEYER, Canada, 54s02 (en série, 53s88). Finale B: 1. MICHAEL ANDREW, USA, 53s55; 2. JUSTIN RESS, USA, 53s59; 3. GABRIELFANTONI, Brésil, 53s92; JACOB PEBLEY, USA, 53s96; AUSTIN KATZ, USA, 54s17.

200 papillon : 1. DAYA SETO, Japon, 1’54s34 ; 2. LEONARDO DE DEUS, Brésil, 1’54s98 ; 3. ZACHARY HARTING, USA, 1’55s05 ; 4. DAVID MORGAN, Australie, 1’55s82; 5. MACK DARRAGH, Canada, 1’56s27; 6. YUYA YAJIMA, Japon, 1’56s33 (en série, 1’56s16). Finale B: 1. LUIZ ALTAMIR MELO, Brésil, 1’56s23. En séries: JOHN CONGER, USA, 1’55s18; JUSTIN WRIGHT, USA, 1’56s37.

Quatre fois 200 mètres: 1. USA, 7’4s36 (Andrew Seliskar, 1’46s75, Blake Pieroni, 1’47s63, Zachary Apple, 1’46s20, Townley Haas, 1’43s78); 2. AUSTRALIE, 7’4s70 (Clyde Lexis, 1’46s54, Kyle Chalmers, 1’46s73, Alexander Graham, 1’45s91; 3. JAPON, 7’8s07; 4. BRESIL, 7’11s65 (Fernando Scheffer, lance, 1’44s87); 5. CANADA, 7’18s25.

DAMES.- 100 mètres : 1. CATE CAMPBELL, Australie, 52s03 ; 2. SIMONE MANUEL, USA, 52s66 ; 3. RUCK TAYLOR, Canada, 52s72 ; 4. MALLORY COMERFORD, USA, 52s94 ; 5. RIKAKO IKEE, Japon, 53s14 ; 6. KAYLA SANCHEZ, Canada, 53s68 ; 7. SHAYNA JACK, Australie, 53s74 (en série, 53s61). Finale B : 1. EMMA MCKEON, Australie, 53s37. En série, MARGO GEER, USA, 54s02.

100 dos : 1. KYLIE MASSE, Canada, 58s61 (en série, 58s29, record des PanPacifics) ; 2. EMILY SEEBOHM, Australie, 58s72 ; 3. KATHLEEN BAKER, 58s83 (en série, 58s41); 4. REGAN SMITH, USA, 58s95 ; 5. KAYLEE MCKEOWN, Aus, 59s25; 6. NATSUMI SAKAI, Japon, 59s33. Finale B: 1. OLIVIA SMOLIGA, USA, 59s20. En série: ANNA KONISHI, Japon, 1’0s30.

200 papillon : 1. HALI FLICKINGER, USA, 2’7s35 (en séries, 2’7s05); 2. SACHI MOCHIDA, Japon, 2’7s66.

Quatre fois 200 mètres: 1. AUSTRALIE, 7’44s12 (Ariane Titmus, 1’55s27 ; Emma McKeon, 1’55s66; Mikkayla Sheridan, 1’56s72; Madeline Groves, 1’56s47); 2. USA, 7’44s37 (Allison Schmitt, 1’58s62; Leah Smith, 1’56s44; Kathryn McLaughlin, 1’55s47, Kathleen Ledecky, 1’53s84); 3. Canada, 7’47s28 (Ruck Taylor, 1’54s08 lancée); 4. JAPON, 7’48s96.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Pan sur le Pacifique. Coup de 100 Australiens : Chalmers et Campbell domptent Dressel et Manuel

Caeleb Dressel Crashed Motorcycle In Late June, Nearly Missed Nats

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By Maclin Simpson on SwimSwam

After some head-scratching performances from Olympic gold medalist and 7-time World Champion Caeleb Dressel at the 2018 U.S. National Championships and subsequent Pan Pacific Championships, it now appears as if some degree of explanation has emerged.

During NBC Sports’ tape-delayed broadcast of Pan Pacs Sunday afternoon, Rowdy Gaines‘ longtime on-air partner Dan Hicks announced that Dressel had crashed his motorcycle on a grassy median in late June in his hometown of Gainesville, Florida.

Following the 50 freestyle in Tokyo, where Dressel finished 2nd (21.93) behind American teammate Michael Andrew (21.46), Dressel told NBC Sports’ Ahmed Fareed that “It wasn’t anything too big.” He went on to say, “I had a gentleman pull out in front of me, so I had to avoid him… nothing major [of the injuries]. A few minor things. Other than that, I was fine… I think the accident was as lucky as I could have gotten with it. It maybe, maybe didn’t interfere with my training.”

In regards to riding the motorcycle moving forward, Dressel noted, “A lot of people have put a temporary hold on me… probably a permanent one.”

Individually, Dressel wrapped up Pan Pacs with 1 gold medal (100 fly) and 2 silver medals (50 free, 100 free). However, his times over the last 2 weeks were not at all reflective of his 2017 performances.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Caeleb Dressel Crashed Motorcycle In Late June, Nearly Missed Nats

USA Diving Seeking Bids to Host 2020 Junior Nationals, Diving Zones

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By SwimSwam on SwimSwam

Courtesy: USA Diving

USA Diving is seeking bids to host the 2020 USA Diving Junior National Championships and the 2020-2021 USA Diving Zone Championships.

The USA Diving Junior National Championships serve as the premier domestic junior competition for USA Diving. Top junior divers from around the country will contend for national titles on 1-meter, 3-meter and 10-meter individual events as well as international and team selection opportunities. USA Diving is accepting bids from interested hosts for 2020.

The 2020-2021 USA Diving Zone Championships serve as qualifying competitions for the USA Diving Junior National Championships. Divers will compete for qualifying spots on 1-meter, 3-meter and 10-meter individual events. This event will be awarded to six sites – one within each geographic Zone (click here to see map of geographic breakdown of each Zone). USA Diving is accepting bids from interested hosts for 2020-2021.

USA Diving is seeking hosts with the capability of hosting a large number of athletes, coaches, and officials as well as facilities that meet FINA regulations and standards for the aforementioned events. In addition, facilities with dryland training opportunities will be preferred.

Bids must be submitted to the USA Diving national office by October 1, 2018. For the complete bid packet and additional information for the 2020 USA Diving Junior National Championships, please click here. For the complete bid packet and additional information for the 2020-2021 USA Diving Zone Championships, please click here.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: USA Diving Seeking Bids to Host 2020 Junior Nationals, Diving Zones

Kristen Linehan Omli, Caroline Burckle Tabbed for Florida Hall of Fame

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By Wendy Mayer on SwimSwam

Courtesy: Florida Athletics

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—The 2018 UF Athletic Hall of Fame class was announced Monday by the University of Florida F Club and Gator Boosters, Inc.

During their Gator careers, members of the 2018 Hall of Fame class claimed two national and 14 Southeastern Conference team championships and 14 NCAA individual titles.

The induction ceremony for the nine-member class is Friday, Nov. 2 at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

In addition, Caeleb Dressel and Alex McMurtry will be honored as the 2017 Ben Hill Griffin Award Winners – honoring the top male and female student-athlete for the calendar year.

Each year, the F Club Committee selects members to the Hall of Fame, divided into three different categories: Gator Greats, Distinguished Letterwinners and Honorary Letterwinners.

This year’s class includes eight Gator Greats and one Honorary Letterwinner (Richard Giannini).

A Gator Great is a letterwinners who has brought recognition and prominence to the University and themselves by athletic accomplishments as a student-athlete. An Honorary Letterwinner is a coach or athletic official (after retirement) who were not letterwinners or athletes at the University of Florida, yet have rendered outstanding service to the program through personal time, effort, interest.

Fans interested in attending the ceremony can contact Kyle Rogers in the Gator Boosters, Inc., office at 352-375-4683, option 3.

2018 UF ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Nekita Beasley (Women’s Track/Cross Country 1991-92): 1991 and 1992 NCAA Outdoor 800-meter champion, member of 4×400-meter relay team that swept 1992 indoor and outdoor NCAA titles, eight-time All-American, three-time SEC 800m champion, 1991 SEC Outdoor 4×400-meter relay champion, concluded UF career as 800m run school-record holder for indoor (2:04.45) and outdoor (2:02.00).
Caroline Burckle (Swimming 2005-2008): 2008 Honda Award for swimming, 2008 NCAA Swimmer of Year, 2008 NCAA 200- and 500-yard free champion, five-time SEC individual champion and member of three SEC champion relays, 23-time All-American, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist as member of U.S. 800-meter free relay
Stephanie Freeman Echarte (Soccer 2001-2004): 2003 NSCAA All-American, 2003 and 2004 SEC Player of the Year, 2004 SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player, 2004 NSCAA Scholar Athlete All-America first team
Kristen Linehan Omli (Swimming 1988-91) Claimed NCAA 100- and 200-yard backstroke titles in 1989 and 1990, member of NCAA champion 400-medley (1989) and 200-medley (1990) relay teams, 13-time All-American, three-time SEC 100 back champion (1989, ’90, ’91) and two-time SEC 200 back champion (1990, ’91) – also part of three SEC champion relay teams
Angie McGinnis (Volleyball 2004-2007): Three-time AVCA All-American (2005, ’06, ’07), 2006 and 2007 SEC Player of the Year, still leads Florida career lists for total assists (5,784) and assists per set (12.88)
Reggie Nelson (Football 2005-2006): Consensus first-team All-American in 2006, finalist for 2006 Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski Awards, 2006 All-SEC first team, first-round selection in 2007 NFL Draft and 2018 will be 12th NFL season (currently plays with the Raiders).
Lito Sheppard (Football 1999-2001): Consensus first-team All-American in 2000 and 2001, first round-selection in 2002 NFL Draft, 10-year NFL career included two Pro Bowl selections (2004, 2006) and was part of 2004 NFL All-Pro team.
Josh Walker (Track 2002-2005): 2004 and 2005 NCAA Outdoor 110-meter hurdles champion, six-time All-American, two-time SEC champion, held the 110-meter hurdles school record for 14 years, part of 2004 SEC Indoor Championships-winning team.

Honorary Letterwinner

Richard Giannini– Assistant Sports Information Director (1966-70), Senior Associate Athletics Director-External Affairs (1997-86)

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Kristen Linehan Omli, Caroline Burckle Tabbed for Florida Hall of Fame

Destro Swim Tower, The Most Effective And Affordable Swim Tower

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By SwimSwam Partner Content on SwimSwam

The Destro Swim Tower is the most effective and affordable resistance training tower ever made.

DST: The first step to becoming a champion

The Destro Swim Tower’s adjustable resistance allows coaches to tune their training to an athletes specific needs. Higher resistance training will benefit a swimmers explosiveness, athleticism, power and speed. While, lower resistance will benefit an athlete’s endurance, technique, and feel. Swim towers also create a fun and exciting atmosphere for athletes and allow greater flexibility in a coaches practice strategy.

Coach Approved – Athlete Approved

One of the most powerful benefits for coaches is the ability to handicap athletes relative to each other. For example, a very elite male swimmer may be able to slack off if he is training with a group of less talented swimmers. However, if we make the elite swimmer pull half a bucket, while the less talent swimmers pull a quarter of a bucket, we can even the playing field and increase the competitiveness of the practice environment.

 

The Destro Swim Tower is beneficial for all types of swimmers.

  • Distance Swimmers – Create muscle confusion and additional fatigue on the swimmer to increase endurance.
  • Middle Distance Swimmers – Develop a more efficient kick & stroke for improved endurance and speed in races
  • Sprinters – Develop massive explosive power for dolphin kicks, pulling, flutter kicks, and flip turns

Destro Machines is happy to announce its release of The Destro Swim Tower. To celebrate the public release of our tower, Destro Machines is offering a one month long Preorder discount. August 1st through August 31st you can Preorder your own Tower for $995 (MSRP $1195). We will begin building orders Sept 1st.

The Tower Features:

Performance

Smooth Resistance: Our design fixed the ‘jerkiness’ issue seen in the past.
Consistent Resistance: This tower provides consistent resistance over many hours of use
Engineered Frame: As professional engineers, we used only the latest technology and materials
No More Rope Kicking: By changing the rope height, your feet are free to kick water- not rope
No Rust: We used only ultra corrosion resistant hardware and aircraft aluminum to build our tower
Resistance: 0 – 20 Lbs of resistance, adjustable via water level in the bucket

Portability

Dimensions: Collapsed (29 L x 24 W x 45 H) Inches Extended (29 L x 24 W x 69 H) Inches
Weight: Just 35 Lbs
Storage: The tower is super easy to transport in your SUV or truck

Value

Our shipping can be as low as $50 a tower. With further discounts for multiple orders!
We can ship internationally for reasonable rates. Justcontact usdirectly on our website
The Destro Swim Tower provides teams with an affordable option; gone are the days where you need over $3000 to get your athletes the resistance training that they need.

“I graduated from Purdue University in 2014 as a mechanical engineer and swimmer. I was lucky enough compete against and practice with some of the best athletes in the world at the 2012 & 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, and NCAA Div I Championships. Afterwards, I spent several years as a machine designer in automotive and manufacturing facilities. What I learned is that making an athlete is a lot like making a machine. When we build a machine, we use exact measurements, designs, plans, schedules, and conduct trials. After each revision, we quantify performance and make the appropriate changes until we have the perfect performance. This is how swimmers should be training, but we don’t yet have the technology available to train this effectively. I founded Destro Machines so that I could develop the tools our sport needs to escape the dark ages of training. It is my promise to develop the best training technology that the swimming world has ever seen. Machines aren’t just what we make, Machines are who we make.”

― Chuck Destro, Co-Founder

About Destro Machines

Destro Machines is a family and swimmer owned company. We were founded in 2015 when we realized that swimmers and coaches were lacking the effective and affordable training technology required for them to reach their goals. Our team of engineers, has spent months working with Division I College and top tier highschool programs to develop a tower that’s not only less expensive, but also more effective than any other resistance training system available.

www.destromachines.com

Swim training courtesy of Destro Machines, a SwimSwam partner. 

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Destro Swim Tower, The Most Effective And Affordable Swim Tower

SwimMom Musings: A College Dream Team

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By SwimSwam Contributors on SwimSwam

Courtesy of Donna Hale

This one is for all the amazing college swimmers headed back to the NCAA or NAIA for a new season. Some of you are starting out with your freshman season, others transferred to new schools, and others are returning to their college teams for what might be their final season of competition.  There is also a group of high school seniors making their choices for next fall.

What constitutes a college dream team?  While it is nice to win NCAA titles, sweep championships and demolish records, these are the outcomes of college swimming.  The things that matter in the day to day experience of the athlete run deeper and can you change you forever. From my 15 years in this sport, here are the components of a Dream Team. The good news athletes is you can control much if this. It starts with you.

1. Dream teams are loaded with amazing teammates who value the team above their own achievements. They are there with an extra towel and water bottle when you swim awful. And they are there with a hug when you break a record -even if it is theirs.

2.  Dream teams have amazing coaches who get it. They understand that this sport is full of amazing moments and bittersweet races. They know the outcome does not define the swimmer. Instead they know that the leaders are the athletes who return and give it their all. They never quit.

3. These teams are filled with spirit.  Teammates cheer each other on. Yes, they make the noise. Because these athletes know that spirit and cheering can count in races defined by milliseconds. There is nothing better than seeing and hearing your teammates cheer you on.  If you are part of your team it is your obligation. If you are a coach you should foster an environment that makes this spirit natural.

4. The Dream Teams give back. Every team my daughter has swam for made service a part of team experience. It was Kennedy who said “to whom much is given, much is required.”  Service builds character. And character builds leaders and they become champions in life.

5. Lastly the best teams minimize the drama.  Teammates talk to each other and not about them. Each swimmer makes being a true teammate the top priority.  And it’s not always easy.  But the rewards of being part of something cannot be measured in wins or losses, but in how you play the game. It’s what you’ll remember forever.

The good news is there is no limit to who can have a Dream Team. But it starts with you.

About Donna Hale:  Donna Hale has been swim mom for 16 years. Her daughter swims for Davis & Elkins College.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: SwimMom Musings: A College Dream Team

Dutch Win Relay, Rasovszky, Bridi Win 25k To Close Euros Open Water

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By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

2018 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Kristof Rasovszky, Sharon van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman all won their second gold medal of the European Championships over the final two days of the Open Water competition in Glasgow.

Rasovszky, who won the men’s 5k and had an incredibly close photo finish loss to Weertman in the 10k finished off his incredible competition with a win in the men’s 25k on Sunday, clocking a time of 4:57:53.5 to edge out Russian Kirill Belyaev (4:57:54.6) and Italian Matteo Furlan (4:57:55.8).

In the women’s race, Arianna Bridi of Italy denied van Rouwendaal of the four gold medal sweep, beating her out by one-tenth of a second. Bridi recorded a time of 5:19:34.6 to van Rouwnedaal’s 5:19:34.7. France’s Lara Grangeon won bronze in 5:19:42.9, with the rest of the field a minute and a half behind her.

After winning both the 5 and 10k events, van Rouwendaal teamed up with Esmee VermeulenPepijn Smits and Weertman to win the 5k Mixed Team Relay the day prior to the 25k (Saturday) in a time of 52:35.0.

They narrowly beat out the Germans, who were 52:35.6 (including legs from pool swimmers Sarah Kohler and Florian Wellbrock), and France was just eleven seconds back for bronze in 52:46.7.

Russian Denis Adeev had the quickest male lead-off split in 12:34.1, and Spain’s Paula Ruiz Bravo had the fastest female split in 13:14.5 (most teams had a woman go first). The quickest non-lead-offs came from van Rouwendaal (13:23.7) and France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier (12:36.8).

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Dutch Win Relay, Rasovszky, Bridi Win 25k To Close Euros Open Water


2018 European Championships: Official SwimSwam Awards

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By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

2018 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2018 European Championships were a fun, high-paced seven-day affair that saw some of the world’s greatest swimmers continue their dominance, a few past champions battle some adversity, and many young future stars proving that their time may be coming sooner rather than later.

Below, check out our official SwimSwam awards for the meet:

Women’s Swimmer of the Meet – Sarah Sjostrom

Sarah-Sjostrom-2018 European Championship Glasgow – courtesy of Giusy Cisale

While it was clear Swedish superstar Sarah Sjostrom wasn’t in peak form for the meet, she went 4-for-4 individually for the biggest gold medal haul of any swimmer. Easily winning the 50 and 100 butterfly, she really stepped up when the pressure was on, beating Pernille Blume by .01 in the 50 freestyle. Despite being well off best times in her other events, she came within seven-one-hundredths of her world record there in 23.74 to pull out the win. She became the 4th woman ever to win the sprint freestyle double, and the first ever to win the 50/100 free and fly double-double.

 

Her four golds gave her 14 total at the European Championships, tying her with Katinka Hosszu (who won one in Glasgow) for 2nd all-time to German Franziska van Almsick (18). Her four medals also gave her 23 medals total at the Championships, the most in history.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Yuliya Efimova -Tied Sjostrom with four gold medals, including a sweep of the breaststroke events. That was the first time a woman had done the breaststroke treble since Hungarian Agnes Kovacs in 1999. Her fourth gold in the 400 medley relay saw her post the fastest breaststroke split in history (1:03.95), and she added a silver in the mixed 400 medley.
  • Simona Quadarella – Was just one of many Italians who had a standout meet in Glasgow, sweeping the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyles at just 19 years of age.

Men’s Swimmer of the Meet – Kliment Kolesnikov

Kliment Kolesnikov, 2018 European Championships Photo Andrea Masini/ Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Three different men won two individual gold medals at the meet, but it was Russian Kliment Kolesnikov who really stood out with five medals, the largest tally of anyone, along with his stunning world record performance in the 50 back. The 18-year-old took out Liam Tancock‘s mark of 24.04 in 24.00, erasing one of the vaunted 2009 records.

He also won the 100m event in a new Junior World Record of 52.53, becoming the third man in history to win the 50/100 back double, and added a gold in the men’s 400 free relay, two silvers in the men’s and mixed medley relays, and one bronze in the mixed freestyle.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Adam Peaty – Did Adam Peaty things the entire meet, rebounding from a sub-par Commonwealth Games performance (by his standards) to lower his world record in the 100 breast and swim his third-fastest time ever in the 50. He became the first swimmer to achieve the 50/100 double in any stroke at three consecutive Championships, also winning the sprint breaststrokes in Berlin and London. He added gold medals in the men’s and the mixed medley relay, breaking the meet record in the former and the European Record in the latter.
  • Mykhailo Romanchuk – Broke all three of his Ukrainian National Records in the distance freestyle events, becoming the first man to win the 400/800 double at the same competition. He won silver to German Florian Wellbrock in the 1500.

Women’s Performance of the Meet – Sarah Sjostrom, 50 Freestyle

Sjostrom’s 50 free was undoubtedly the swim of the meet as she came so close to her 23.67 world record in 23.74, narrowly edging out Blume (23.75).

Margherita_Panziera-2018 European Championships, courtesy of Giusy Cisale

Honorable Mentions:

Men’s Performance of the Meet – Kliment Kolesnikov, 50 Backstroke

Kolesnikov’s world record in the 50 back erased one of the five remaining non-freestyle individual world records from the 2008-2009 ‘super-suit era’, and was nearly a full half second under his best time coming into the meet.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Adam Peaty World Record 100 breast – European Championship 2018 Glasgow – courtesy of Giusy Cisale swimswam.com

    Adam Peaty, 100 breast – Both of Peaty’s individual swims could’ve made the list, but his 100 world record swim was a pretty big surprise considering his form just a few months prior. He is now 1.36 seconds faster than anyone else in history in the event.

  • Evgeny Rylov, 200 back – Rylov absolutely crushed the men’s 200 back field, breaking his own European Record in a time of 1:53.36. He is now the 5th-fastest performer in history and is the fastest in the world for 2018.
  • Anton Chupkov, 200 breast – Chupkov decimiated the men’s 200 breast field on the back-half, breaking his own European Record in 2:06.80 to miss the world record by just 13-one-hundredths.
  • Piero Codia, 100 fly – Codia’s upset win from lane 8 in the 100 fly final was one of the most surprising of the meet, as he broke the Championship Record and smashed his own Italian Record in 50.64 to win by a full six-tenths of a second. The swim ranks him 2nd in the world for the year.

Women’s Race of the Meet – 200 IM

Katinka Hosszu-2018 European Championship – Courtesy of Giusy Cisale swimswam.com

Expected to be a head-to-head battle between Olympic gold and silver medalists Katinka Hosszu and Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, the women’s 200 IM final turned out to be an incredibly exciting four-way shootout between those two along with Italian Ilaria Cusinato and Switzerland’s Maria Ugolkova. Fourth at the 150 mark, Hosszu pulled out the victory on the freestyle leg to become the first woman ever to win five straight titles in an event. Cusinato (2:10.25) pushed her all the way to the wall for a new Italian Record, and Ugolkova (2:10.83) held off O’Connor (2:10.85) to lower her Swiss Record.

 

Honorable Mentions:

  • 200 fly– In another crazy battle for the medals, Boglarka Kapas moved up from 5th on the last 50 of the women’s 200 fly to get the win in 2:07.13 over Svetlana Chimrova (2:07.33), Alys Thomas (2:07.42) and Franziska Hentke (2:07.75).
  • 800 free relay– Both of the women’s freestyle relays were great races, but the 4×200 saw rising star Freya Anderson dive in 3rd on Great Britain’s anchor leg and come away with the gold after producing the fastest split in the field (1:56.00). France, who were in the lead at the last exchange, fell to 4th as the Russians and Germans grabbed the minor medals.

Men’s Race of the Meet – 200 Freestyle

Though in the end the difference between first and second wasn’t that close, the 200 freestyle was arguably the most exciting event on the men’s program as Duncan Scott delighted the home crowd with a win from lane 8. Top seed Danas Rapsys had the early speed going out, but Scott closed on him to turn in a dead-heat with the Lithuanian at the 150 before taking over coming home. Behind Scott the race ended up being incredibly close too, as the 2nd through 7th place finishers were separated by less than a second, and 2nd-4th were separated by just 0.13.

Honorable Mentions:

  • 1500 free– Two of the fastest swims ever came out of the men’s 1500, and neither were from reigning Olympic and World Champion Gregorio Paltrinieri. Germany’s Florian Wellbrock and Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk dropped the Italian around the 1100m mark and duelled the rest of the way with Wellbrock (14:36.15) taking the title over Romanchuk (14:36.88).
  • 400 IM– A see-saw battle between David Verraszto and Max Litchfield saw the Hungarian do just enough on the freestyle leg to win gold by just over three-tenths in 4:10.65. Verraszto’s win was his third straight in this event and a record 8th straight for Hungary.

Women’s Breakout Performer – Freya Anderson

17th Annual RCP Tiburon Mile Open Water Swim Sunday, August 19th

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By Gold Medal Mel Stewart on SwimSwam

The 17th Annual RCP Tiburon Mile Open Water Swim is coming up on Sunday, August 19th, 2018 at 9am! Olympic and World Champions, as well as avid open water swimmers of all ages and levels converge in the San Francisco Bay, California to battle it out in what has been named “one of the world’s most competitive open water swims.” This competitive race integrates the best pool and open water world champions in one venue.

Starting at Angel Island and swimming their way through the Raccoon Straight, swimmers will finish the one nautical mile race on the shores of Tiburon at Sam’s Anchor Café.

This annual event has raised over $1.5 million for charity since 1999- this year’s proceeds will be directed to supporting LifeHouse.

Spectators are invited to watch the race unfold at Shoreline Park in Tiburon with a back drop of the beautiful San Francisco Bay and views of the skyline of San Francisco. There will be a live band and a gourmet picnic by top restaurants in Marin including Sol Food Restaurant, Milano Ristorante, Il Davide Cucina Italian, and Guaymas Restaurant.

Among the elite swimmers who will head to the RCP Tiburon Mile are Olympic Swimmers and invitees:

  • Alex Meyer, USA, 2012 USA Olympian, World Champion
  • Ferry Weertman, Netherlands, 2016 Olympics, 10k open water swim Gold medalist
  • Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Olympic Gold medalist, 3-time Olympian from the Netherlands.
  • Zane Grothe, USA 500 & 1650 Freestyle American record holder
  • Ashley Twichell, World Champion, USA, 3-time RCP Tiburon Mile Elite winner, 2018 Pan Pacific Team
  • Italian Open Water National swim team- including Sharon van Rouwendaal, Silver medalist in the Women’s 10k open water Rio Olympics 2016
  • Ricardo Vargus, Mexico. Mexican National distance record holder. 5k Open
  • Dave Heron, USA, Open Water USA, National Champion
  • Becca Mann, USA Olympian Trials Finalist, 2018 Pan Pacific Team, World Championship Team
  • Michael Sheil, Australia, Elite Open Water Swimmer, 2nd overall in 2016 RCP Tiburon Mile, participated in numerous RCP Tiburon Mile Trans Tahoe winning teams

Event Date: Sunday, August 19, 2018 shot gun start @ 9:00 am

Event: 1 nautical mile open water swim and music/food festival

Location: Angel Island to Sam’s Anchor Café in Tiburon

Charity: LifeHouse ~ serving developmentally disabled since 1954

Attendance: 500 Athletes and 1,500 spectators

Divisions: Elite, Age Group and Wetsuit

Cost: $179 till 8/04/18, after 8/04/18 will be $225, and $300 day of, plus $20 lunch tickets

For further information on how to attend and report on this exciting, one of a kind, local event, and for Press Credentials, contact, Kristina Eisenhower at event.director@placak.com Hotline: 415-306-0716 website; www.rcptiburonmile.com

Register for the 17th Annual RCP Tiburon Mile 

Open water swimming news is courtesy of the 17th Annual RCP Tiburon Mile, a SwimSwam partner. 

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 17th Annual RCP Tiburon Mile Open Water Swim Sunday, August 19th

Michael Phelps Quashes Comeback In Baltimore Sun Profile

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By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

In a profile in the Baltimore Sun, Olympic hero Michael Phelps says he’s in better shape now than he was before his 2014 comeback from retirement, but soundly stifled any speculation about a second comeback.

Phelps, now 33 and retired exactly two years as of today, said he’s stayed in much better shape than he did after his first retirement following the 2012 Olympics. The Sun profile says he’s “obsessed with riding his Peloton exercise bike” and that he’s stayed at the same weight he swam at in Rio. Phelps admitted that physically, a comeback would be easier this time around – but insisted that he’s not interested in the grind of returning to pool training at his previous levels.

“It would be a lot easier for me to come back than it was for the last one, just because of me being in so much better shape now,” he said in the Sun piece. “But I have zero goals to make me want to go through that grind again.”

Phelps joked that longtime coach Bob Bowman has tried to coax him out of retirement, but Bowman said he’s supported his famous pupil in retirement.

“He’ll text ‘100 free?’ ” Phelps told the Sun. “And I’m like, ‘Bob, shut up. Leave me alone.’ ”

“Did he say I want him to swim? I don’t think I really do,” Bowman said later in the profile. “There’s a delicious irony in the fact that because he’s been on Peloton and takes care of himself really well, he’s in way better shape than he was when he came back in 2013. And I see him swim, you see the stroke and it’s like, ‘Wow, that’s not really too bad.’ But no, I definitely do not want him to have to go through all that.”

The profile serves to quell what is almost inevitable comeback speculation at the end of every season of American swimming. This time around, it’s perhaps even more inevitable for fans to toss around the idea, given that Phelps has already returned from retirement once along with the fact that the first rumblings of that comeback started with some lackluster relay performances by the Phelps-less American men.

In July 2013, Phelps had been retired for about a year following the London Olympics. NBC pulled in the swimming icon for an on-air interview during the 2013 World Championships, where the U.S. men watched France erase a lead and chase them down for gold in the 4×100 free relay for the second-straight year. It also extended the U.S. men’s gold medal drought in that event at World and Olympic meets to three years (2011 Worlds, 2012 Olympics, 2013 Worlds).

A visibly frustrated Phelps told Rowdy Gaines on-air that he wished he’d been on that relay. Thus started a cycle of speculation over a Phelps comeback, speculation that ultimately paid off when Phelps re-entered the USADA testing pool in November and returned to competition in early 2014. Phelps would come back and win just two individual golds at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but swam key legs on all three relays, leading to an American sweep of the men’s relay golds.

But that was 2013. It’s now 2018, and the Americans aren’t coming off an international performance that was widely disappointing, particularly due to some egregious flubs in the relay events, men’s relays in particular. Er…

The timing, then, of Phelps statements this week are extra important. The 23-time Olympic champ has been particularly adamant that this retirement is for good. The Sun profile does note that Phelps’ occasional swims at Arizona State are anything but casual, reporting that he “often asks Bowman to time him,” and that he ended up competing against Australian Olympian Grant Hackett when Hackett was in town. But that’s perhaps to be expected from a swimmer whose legendary competitive spirit isn’t likely to go completely dormant, even in a for-good retirement.

Phelps remains steadfast that his competitive career is over, that he’s on to new and bigger challenges.

“The medals were a part of changing the sport. It was a steppingstone to changing the sport,” Phelps says at the end of the profile. “I still have that journey, but I’m now trying to conquer a bigger, more powerful, more exciting mountain. Doing something that no one had ever done before in the pool, we’ve done it. So now it’s, ‘What’s next?’ ”

You can read the full Baltimore Sun profile, where Phelps and Bowman share lots of fun details about the iconic moments of Phelps career, here.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Michael Phelps Quashes Comeback In Baltimore Sun Profile

Comparing the Medalists from Euros and Pan Pacs (Full-Meet Breakdown)

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By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

As is tradition when two major meets are lined up against each other in the swimming calendar, after 2 days of the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, we have enough results to start comparing times from one meet to those of the other.

Yes, we know that there’s a lot more countries in Europe than at Pan Pacs, and yes we know it’s not a perfect comparison, but the population of the Pan Pacs nations are way bigger (thanks, China), and are you telling me you DON’T want us to do the comparison? Didn’t think so.

The story from the first two days of Pan Pacs, where we did an interim comparison, carried throughout the meet. The European men would have won 1 more race than their Pan Paquer conterparts, but Pan Pacs overall had more depth in the meet.The women’s meet, on the other hand, was no comparison: with many of the top European women not swimming at their best, the Pan Pac team, led by 3 individual top times from the always-reliable Katie Ledecky, would have dominated them in a dual meet.

MenGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Europe97723
Pan Pacs8101129

 

WomenGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Europe38617
Pan Pacs1491134

A few observations from the tables:

  • Because of the nature of the European Championships, with legitimate semi-finals challenges for spots, and a deeper 1-through-8 pool of competition (Pan Pacs led 1-3 depth, but Europe with so many more countries dominates 1-8 depth), there is a lot more action in early heats on the old continent, if we were comparing ‘meet best’ times. For example, in the men’s 50 free, Italy’s Andrea Vergani and Russia’s Vlad Morozov were both faster in the semi-finals than the fastest American Michael Andrew was in Tokyo.
  • Europe continues to lag well-behind in the men’s IM races, which inexplicably the continent has been comparatively-weak in for most of this millennium. This is something that jumped out at me in 2013, when an 18-year old Semen Makovich broke the Russian record in the 200 IM in just 1:59.50 (a time that he didn’t improve upon for 5 years), and it has continued to nag at me ever since. Aside from the Hungarians, Europe hasn’t done much in the events on the world stage (either in terms of medals or times) since Italy’s Massimiliano Rosolini retired.
  • Pan Pacs nations dominate the relays, taking 17 out of a possible 21 top-3 spots in the comparison. That includes a clean sweep of the women’s races, where besides the European stars having challenges, most of the continent’s superstar swimmers (Katinka Hosszu, Sarah Sjostrom, Mireia Belmonte) swim for countries without a great relay depth of talent. If you put Sarah Sjostrom on the Dutch relays, or Katinka Hosszu on the Danish relays, or even Mireia Belmonte on the Hungarian relays, those relays would probably contend with the Americans and Australians instantly.
  • The European swimmers had many more races to swim, because of 50 meter stroke races, more mixed relays, and semi-finals, than did Pan Pacs swimmers. They also had racing spread over a much longer time period, 8 days as compared to 4 for Pan Pacs. Pan Pacs swimmers, however, had more top athletes travelling further distances to attend the meet. On balance, I’d argue that Pan Pacs has the ‘format advantage,’ especially if we call the jet-lag issues at Pan Pacs self-inflicted. Europe also tends to dominate Pan Pacs nations in the 50 meter stroke races, which aren’t a part of this comparison because they weren’t raced at Pan Pacs (so there’s nothing to compare).

TOP 3 Finals TIMES, EUROS + PAN PACS COMBINED

Men’s 50 free

  1. Ben Proud, GBR – 21.34
  2. Kristian Gkolomeev, Greece – 21.44
  3. Michael Andrew, USA – 21.46

Men’s 100 free

  1. Kyle Chalmers, Australia, 48.00
  2. Alessandro Miressi, Italy, 48.01
  3. (TIE) Jack Cartwright, Australia/Caeleb Dressel, USA, 48.22

Men’s 200 free

  1. Duncan Scott, GBR, 1:45.34
  2. Townley Haas, USA, 1:45.56
  3. Andrew Seliskar, USA, 1:45.74

Men’s 400 free

  1. Jack McLoughlin, Australia – 3:44.20
  2. Mack Horton, Australia – 3:44.31
  3. Mykhailo Romanchuk, Ukraine – 3:45.18

Men’s 800 free

  1. Mykhailo Romanchuk, Ukraine – 7:42.96
  2. Zane Grothe, USA – 7:43.74
  3. Jordan Wilimovsky, USA – 7:45.19

Men’s 1500 free

  1. Florian Wellbrock, Germany, 14:36.15
  2. Mykhailo Romanchuk, Ukraine, 14:36.88
  3. Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy, 14:42.85

Men’s 100 back

  1. Ryan Murphy, USA, 51.94
  2. Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia, 52.53
  3. Evgeny Rylov, Russia, 52.74

Men’s 200 back

  1. Evgeny Rylov, Russia – 1:53.36 (European Record)
  2. Ryan Murphy, USA – 1:53.57
  3. Ryosuke Irie, Japan – 1:55.12

Men’s 100 breast

  1. Adam Peaty, Great Britain, 57.10 (World Record)
  2. James Wilby, Great Britain, 58.64
  3. Anton Chupkov, Russia, 59.06

Men’s 200 breast

  1. Anton Chupkov, Russia – 2:06.80
  2. Ippei Watanabe, Japan – 2:07.75
  3. Zac Stubblety-Cook, Australia – 2:07.89

Men’s 100 fly

  1. Piero Codia, Italy – 50.64
  2. Caeleb Dressel, USA – 50.75
  3. Mehdy Metella, France – 51.24

Men’s 200 fly

  1. Kristof Milak, Hungary, 1:52.79
  2. Daiya Seto, Japan, 1:54.34
  3. Tamas Kenderesi, Hungary, 1:54.36

Men’s 200 IM

  1. Chase Kalisz, USA – 1:55.40
  2. Mitch Larkin, Australia – 1:56.21
  3. Kosuke Hagino, Japan – 1:56.66

Men’s 400 IM

  1. Chase Kalisz, USA, 4:07.95
  2. David Verraszto, Hungary, 4:10.65
  3. Max Litchfield, Great Britain, 4:11.00

Men’s 400 free relay

  1. Brazil – 3:12.02
  2. Russia – 3:12.23
  3. Australia – 3:12.53

* Note – since this is more a comparison of performance than of proper administrative rules, it should be noted that the USA had the fastest time here before their DQ.

Men’s 800 free relay

  1. USA, 7:04.36
  2. Australia, 7:04.70
  3. Great Britain, 7:05.32

Men’s 400 medley relay

  1. USA – 3:30.20
  2. Japan – 3:30.25
  3. Great Britain – 3:30.44

Women’s 50 free

  1. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 23.74
  2. Pernille Blume, Denmark – 23.75
  3. Cate Campbell, Australia – 23.81

Women’s 100 free

  1. Cate Campbell, Australia, 52.03
  2. Simone Manuel, USA, 52.66
  3. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 52.93

Women’s 200 free

  1. Taylor Ruck, Canada, 1:54.44
  2. Rikako Ikee, Japan, 1:54.85
  3. Charlotte Bonnet, France, 1:54.95

Women’s 400 free

  1. Katie Ledecky, USA – 3:58.50
  2. Ariarne Titmus, Australia – 3:59.66
  3. Simona Quadarella, Italy – 4:03.35

Women’s 800 free

  1. Katie Ledecky, USA, 8:09.13
  2. Simona Quadarella, Italy, 8:16.45
  3. Ariarne Titmus, Australia, 8:17.07

Women’s 1500 free

  1. Katie Ledecky, USA – 15:38.97
  2. Simona Quadarella, Italy – 15:51.61
  3. Sarah Kohler, Germany – 15:57.85

Women’s 100 back

  1. Kylie Masse, Canada, 58.61
  2. Emily Seebohm, Australia, 58.72
  3. Kathleen Baker, USA, 58.83

Women’s 200 back

  1. Kathleen Baker, USA – 2:06.14
  2. Margherita Panziera, Italy – 2:06.18
  3. Taylor Ruck, Canada – 2:06.41

W0men’s 100 breast

  1. Lilly King, USA, 1:05.44
  2. Yulia Efimova, Russia, 1:05.53
  3. Jessica Hansen, Australia, 1:06.20

Women’s 200 breast

  1. Yulia Efimova, Russia – 2:21.32
  2. Micah Sumrall, USA – 2:21.88
  3. Lilly King, USA – 2:22.12

Women’s 100 fly

  1. Rikako Ikee, Japan – 56.08
  2. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 56.23
  3. Kelsi Worrell Dahlia, USA – 56.44

Women’s 200 fly

  1. Boglarka Kapas, Hungary, 2:07.13
  2. Svetlana Chimrova, Russia, 2:07.33
  3. Hali Flickinger, USA, 2:07.35

Women’s 200 IM

  1. Yuhi Ohashi, Japan – 2:08.16
  2. Sydney Pickrem, Canada – 2:09.07
  3. Miho Teramura, Japan – 2:09.86

Women’s 400 IM

  1. Yui Ohashi, Japan, 4:33.77
  2. Fantine Lesaffre, France, 4:34.17
  3. Ilaria Cusinato, Italy, 4:35.05

Women’s 400 free relay

  1. Australia – 3:31.58
  2. USA – 3:33.45
  3. Canada – 3:34.07

Women’s 800 free relay

  1. Australia, 7:44.12
  2. USA, 7:44.37
  3. Canada, 7:47.28

Women’s 400 medley relay

  1. Australia – 3:52.74
  2. USA – 3:53.21
  3. Russia – 3:54.22

Mixed Medley Relay

  1. Australia, 3:38.91
  2. Great Britain, 3:40.18
  3. Japan, 3:40.98

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Comparing the Medalists from Euros and Pan Pacs (Full-Meet Breakdown)

Wilimovsky, Anderson Sweep Pan Pacs 10K Open Water Golds

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By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

2018 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS – OPEN WATER

Jordan Wilimovsky won his third medal of 2018 Pan Pacs with a hard-fought 10K open water victory, while Haley Anderson battled back over the final lap to win the women’s event. Results have not been officially uploaded to the Seiko page, but race video on social media shows the unofficial medalists, barring any unforeseen changes.

In the men’s race, 20-year-old Taylor Abbott of the United States jumped out to an early lead, pacing the field for the first three laps of the five-lap showdown. Canada’s Eric Hedlin led a tight pack behind Abbott. Over the course of the fourth lap, Wilimovsky, the 2015 world champ and 2017 world runner-up, made his move, pushing past Abbott, with Hedlin also going by and remaining in second place by the end of the lap.

Wilimovsky and Hedlin battled side-by-side over the final lap, with Wilimovsky ultimately taking home the gold and Hedlin the silver. For Wilimovsky, that’s the second gold and third overall medal he’s won this meet, after winning the 1500 in the pool and taking silver in the 800. Australia’s Nick Sloman came home third, beating out a few other men in a very tight finish.

USA Swimming tweeted footage of the finish:

Blueseventy Swim the the Week: Campbell Shatters 50-Point Territory

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By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

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Disclaimer: Blueseventy Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The blueSeventy Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

Australia’s Cate Campbell has had her share of historic swims. She’s also faced her share of criticism for disappointing swims. But her 2018 Pan Pacs meet was an exercise in both overcoming demons and adding to her already sterling career accolades.

Campbell won 5 golds in Tokyo last week, bringing her career total to 9 Pan Pacs gold medals, with zero silvers or bronzes. In Ledeckian fashion, Campbell remains pure gold at Pan Pacs.

But for our Swim of the Week, we’re focusing in on one of those golds: the 4×100 mixed medley relay.

Now, before we get the typical flood of comments passionately expressing how little they care about mixed relays and calling them made up events, remember this: the 4×100 mixed medley relay is a real event. It’s an Olympic event that will be swum in Tokyo in two years for an Olympic gold medal that is as real as the one given to the 200 free champ. You can treat it like that, or you can get left behind the times.

It’s clear which of those choices Australia chose. The Australian team put forward their absolute best lineup, and all four swimmers showed up to compete. Mitch Larkin was 53.08, close to his best 100 back of the meet. Jake Packard split 58.68, a good half-second faster than he was individually in the 100 breast. Emma McKeon was 56.22, three tenths faster than her individual 100 fly.

And Campbell became the first female swimmer in history to go 50-point in a 100 free relay split at 50.93.

That’s a blistering time that torched the Pan Pacs field. In fact, Campbell was facing the author of one of her biggest disappointments: American Simone Manuel, who upset Campbell for Olympic gold in 2016, anchored the American relay. Campbell outsplit Manuel by almost two full seconds.

Campbell was good all week, but this swim was clearly her finest, more than a second faster than her world-leading 52.03 from the individual race. She backed up this swim with several other massive performances, too:

  • 100 free (individual): 52.03
  • 50 free (individual): 23.81
  • 100 free (medley relay split): 51.36
  • 100 free (free relay split): 51.19
  • 100 free (mixed medley split): 50.93

WE MAKE SWIMMERS.

There isn’t a second that goes by when the team at blueseventy aren’t thinking about you. How you eat, breathe, train, play, win, lose, suffer and celebrate. How swimming is every part of what makes you tick. Aptly named because 70% of the earth is covered in water, blueseventy is a world leader in the pool and open water. Since 1993, we design, test, refine and craft products using superior materials and revolutionary details that equate to comfort, freedom from restriction and ultimately a competitive advantage in the water. This is where we thrive. There is no substitute and no way around it. We’re all for the swim.

2016 blueseventy banner for Swim of the Week b70_300x300-aftsVisit blueseventy.com/pages/swim to learn more.

Instagram: @blueseventy

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blueseventy is a SwimSwam partner.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Blueseventy Swim the the Week: Campbell Shatters 50-Point Territory

Kids Ke Liye Travel Trips Kyu Jaruri Hai

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By Sanuj Srivastava on SwimSwam

Sari Teams Travel Trips Offer Nahi Karti Hai Lekin Agar Apki Team Karti Hai To Isse Apni Team Ke Kids Ko Benefit Milega. Team Travel Ka Matlab Ki Meet Par Jana Ya Aisi Activity Par Jana Jo Team Ne Supervised Kari Ho, Jisme Mom And Dad Sath Na Chale, Team Travel Trips Par Kyu Nahi Jati Hai Iske Kuch Reasons Ho Skate Hai Jaise, Enough Swimmers Team Me Na Hona Ya Responsibility Ke Karan Ya Fir Cost Ke Karan.

Niche Kuch Chize Btayi Gayi Hai Ki Kyu Kids Ko Travel Trips Par Jana Chahiye:

Article Ki Kuch Chize Elizabeth Wickham Ke Article Ko Translate Karke Likhi Gayi Hai.

ONE

Aane Wale Years Ke Liye Preparation

Jab Swimmers Trip Par Jate Hai Jaise Junior National, School Game National To Wo Apni Team Ke Sath Travel Karte Hai, Jaha Wo Khul Kar Apni Team Me Discuss Kar Skte Hai Aur Ek Team Ke Sath Kaise Rhna Hai Usko Samjh Pate Hai.

Two

Independence

Travel Trips Se Kids Confidence, Independence And Sense Of Freedom Jaisi Chizo Ko Smjhne Lagte Hai. Halaki Wo Apne Coaches Ki Nigrani Me Rhte Hai Lekin Coaches Hmesa Unko Apne Samne Nahi Rakhte Aur Hmesa Ye Nahi Btate Ki Kids Ko Kya Khana Hai Aur Kab Sone Jana Hai, Independence Jaruri Hai Taki Wo Khud Ko Mature Bna Sake.

Three

Learning Experience

Meet Travel Par Kids Ko Kafi Chize Sikhne Ko Milti Hai Jaise Agar Wo Koi Event Miss Karte Hai Kyuki Waha Unko Remind Karane Wala Nahi Hota Hai To Wo Usse Sikhte Hai. Sayad Wo Theek Tarah Se Water Na Le Paye Ya Right Foods Na Select Kar Paye, Lekin Isse Unko Ek Learning Experience Milega.

Four

Team Bonding

Travel Trips Se Teammates Ke Beech Kafi Achi Bonding Banne Lagti Hai, Kyuki Aage Chal Kar Kids Ko Unhi Teammates Ke Sath Chize Sikhni Hai Isliye Ye Jaruri Hai Ki Kids Ki Team Bonding Acchi Hai.

Apko Kya Lagta Hai Ki Kyu Travel Trips Kids Ke Liye Ek Accha Option Hai?

Comment Krke Jarur Btaye.

Indian Swimming or International Swimming Ke News Janne Ke Liye Facebook Par Swimswam Hindi Ko Like Karna Na Bhule:- SwimSwamhindi

Join Us:-

 

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Kids Ke Liye Travel Trips Kyu Jaruri Hai


Colin Murphy Set to Transfer from Virginia Tech to Northwestern

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By Anne Lepesant on SwimSwam

Colin Murphy will transfer to Northwestern University for his last two years of eligibility after having spent the first two years of his collegiate career at Virginia Tech.

“I’m beyond excited for the opportunity to be a part of the Northwestern swimming and diving program and the Wildcat community. After seeing the state-of-the-art facilities, meeting the coaching staff and members of the team, and connecting with the support system in academic services, I couldn’t resist. I knew that there would be a future here for me as a Wildcat and I am thrilled.”

Murphy swam the 200 free, 500 free, and 1650 free at the 2018 ACC Championship last season, notching a PB in the 200. Before joining the H2Okies he swam for The Woodlands Swim Team and Woodlands Christian Academy in The Woodlands, Texas. A four-time state champion in the 500 free, he competed at 2016 Olympic Trials in the 1500 free.

Northwestern Director of Swimming and Diving Jeremy Kipp, who is about to begin his first season at the Wildcats’ helm, said, “The Northwestern swimming and diving program is excited to have Colin join the Wildcat Family and we expect him to make an immediate impact. Colin’s passion for swimming and his commitment to the pursuit of improvement are qualities that we value at Northwestern. We are happy to add his blend of talent, enthusiasm and character to our program.”

Top SCY times:

  • 1650 free – 15:21.32
  • 1000 free – 9:06.86
  • 500 free – 4:24.99
  • 200 free – 1:38.07

SwimSwam Pulse: 47% Most Impressed By Italy’s Euro Showing

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By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.

Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which nation was most impressive at the 2018 European Championships:

RESULTS

Question: What nation impressed you most at Euros?

  • Italy – 47.1%
  • Great Britain – 29.9%
  • Russia – 19.3%
  • Other – 3.8%

Nearly half of voters said Italy was the most impressive nation at the 2018 European Championships.

Italy won 6 swimming golds, which bettered their 5 apiece from the 2016 and 2014 editions, but their total pool swimming medal count jumped from 15 in 2014 to 17 in 2016 to a whopping 22 in 2018. That accounted for more medals than any nation other than Russia and the host Great Britain.

It also included an incredibly high number of breakout performances. Even without a gold medal from their dynamic distance pair Gregorio Paltrinieri and Gabrielle Detti (who have won a combined 14 long course European Champs medals), Italy still won a half-dozen events, most of them by fast-rising breakout performers. Their gold medalists:

Italy should get back Detti and fast-rising breaststroker Nicolo Martinenghi from injury next year, and if exciting young talents like Miressi (age 19), Federico Burdisso (age 16), Quadarella (age 19), Arianna Castiglioni (age 20), Ilaria Cusinato (age 18) keep rising, the Italian delegation for the 2019 Worlds and 2020 Olympics could be one of the best swim teams on the planet.

Great Britain got almost 30% of the votes after leading all nations with 4 relay golds. Their 24 total and 9 gold medals were second overall to Russia, which got nearly 20% of the votes after bagging 10 gold and 26 overall medals. Great Britain (Adam Peaty100 breast) and Russia (Kliment Kolesnikov50 back) had the only two world records of the meet, as well.

 

Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Pollwhich asks voters to pick the most impressive relay split over the past week:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE

A3 Performance is an independently-owned, performance swimwear company built on a passion for swimming, athletes, and athletic performance. We encourage swimmers to swim better and faster at all ages and levels, from beginners to Olympians.  Driven by a genuine leader and devoted staff that are passionate about swimming and service, A3 Performance strives to inspire and enrich the sport of swimming with innovative and impactful products that motivate swimmers to be their very best – an A3 Performer.

The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner

Read the full story on SwimSwam: SwimSwam Pulse: 47% Most Impressed By Italy’s Euro Showing

FINA Testing Experimental Water Polo Rules at Youth World Championship

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By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

As an ongoing part of the debate in the world of water polo over whether the sport needs new rules or better marketing, FINA will experiment with the former at a number of major global tournaments in 2018.

In April, at the FINA World Water Polo Conference, the global organization for aquatic sports produced a series of interviews discussing the topic. American women’s National Team coach Adam Krikorian didn’t think that the rules were the issue.

“Many people look at the USA for an example of success of sports like basketball and American football. People would be surprised to see that most people are not going to a basketball game to watch the match itself, they also come to enjoy the atmosphere, the dancing, the music. It is a cool place to be and to be seen. That is what we need to create for our sport,” Krikorian said. “It really has to do with the branding and the marketing of the event. The culture is something we need to create.”

FINA’s new experimental rules are mostly built around speeding up the pace of play.

They will be applied to 4 tournaments in 2018:

  1. FINA World Men’s Youth Water Polo Championships in Szombathely, Hungary (Ongoing)
  2. FINA World Women’s Youth Water Polo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia (August 27th-22nd, 2018)
  3. The FINA Women’s World Cup in Surgut, Russia (September 4th-9th, 2018)
  4. FINA Men’s World Cup in Berlin, Germany (September 11th-16th, 2018)

The results of the tests will be presented at the FINA congress in December.

Some of the rules will be more controversial than others, including those allowing players to put the ball in play and take shot fakes on foul-shots; reduction of shot clock time on certain resets; and the reduction of the break between periods. Others should be more widely accepted, especially at the World level where they are technically possible without great costs, including automated video systems for indicating the end of exclusion fouls, and giving coaches electronic signals to request a timeout rather than awaiting the attention of the referee.

Experimental Rules Amendments:

  1. After a corner throw, after a rebound where possession does not change, and after an exclusion, the shot clock will reset to 20 seconds, rather than the traditional 30 seconds. This mirrors rules changes made by the NBA in basketball where the clock doesn’t reset to a full 24 seconds in all situations.
  2. A free throw shall be taken from the location of the ball, except a) if the foul is committed by a defending player within the defender’s 2 metre area, the free throw shall be taken on the 2 metre line opposite to where the foul was committed and b) where otherwise  provided for in the Rules. FINA hopes that this will speed up the game by not returning the ball to the place of the foul in all cases.
  3. A player taking a corner throw may a) shoot directly, b) swim and shoot without passing or c) pass to another player. This might be the biggest change yet, as it allows players taking corner throws to become direct attackers immediately.
  4. An ADDITIONAL Substitution Re-entry area will be at any place in between the goal line and the center field line on the teams half of field of play (for flying substitutions). [Note: an excluded player or the substitute must always re-enter via the re-entry box in the corner]. This would allow for mid-play substitutions to be made more quickly.
  5. A time-out button will be given to each bench, and that button will be pressed to request a time-out, simultaneously with a coach’s verbal request. This would allow the removal of timeout officials from beside the bench, which opens up the lines of sight to the field of play.
  6. Reducing the break between the 2nd and 3rd periods from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.
  7. Shifting duties from certain signals from the responsibility of the secretary to automatic visual effects, i.e. the last 5 seconds of exclusion time. FINA notes that this change is not likely to be implemented in 2018, because of the lack of availability of equipment.
  8. A change to the outside-6-meters shot immediately after a foul that would allow players to take a shot after visibly putting the ball in play (the ball must leave the players hand), including after dribbling or faking a shot. Previously, the shot was required to be immediate, or they were ineligible to shoot the ball.
  9. Allowing the goalie to move or touch the ball beyond the half-distance line, which entitles them to participate in shoot-outs, or take penalty shots. This change could increase the use of late-game tactics by allowing the goalie to play on offense without having to substitute them for another player.
  10. Reducing the number of timeouts from 1-per-period to 2-per-game, and limiting timeouts from being called after the awarding of a penalty throw.
  11. Changing the definition of over-the-back fouls with a player intending to score a goal to eliminate a potential call that the ball was in the player’s hand.
  12. Use of headsets for referees to communicate.
  13. Video monitoring of matches to “identify and sanction incidents of brutality or extreme violence that occurred but were not appropriately punished or identified during a game.” Sanctions will be applied after the match

Read the full story on SwimSwam: FINA Testing Experimental Water Polo Rules at Youth World Championship

Australian Coach Charged With Indecently Touching Minor

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By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

A 55-year-old swimming and triathlon coach in Queensland, Australia has been arrested and accused of touching a girl under the age of 16.

News.com.au reports that the coach, based out of north Brisbane, allegedly touched a girl “known to him in the 1990s.” The coach is not named in that story, nor similar ones by MyGC.com.au and 9News.com.au.

All three stories report that Queensland police arrested the man last Thursday and charged him with three counts of indecent dealing with a child under the age of 16. The coach reportedly worked at “Clayfield, Virginia and Nudgee in Brisbane’s northern suburbs.”

He’ll face a court appearance on September 4.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Australian Coach Charged With Indecently Touching Minor

Larkin Blasts Verhaeren’s Low 200 IM Expectations Out Of Tokyo Water

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By Loretta Race on SwimSwam

Since becoming double World Champion in 2015 by winning the men’s 100m and 200m backstroke events in Kazan, Australian Mitch Larkin has primarily been thought of as strictly a backstroking ace. His recent success in the men’s IM events, including capturing gold at this year’s Commonwealth Games ahead of Scottish multi-medalist Duncan Scott and his own Aussie teammate Clyde Lewis, has come as a surprise to some, including Aussie Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren.

Per The Daily Mail, when asked ahead of the men’s 200m IM event if his national team swimmer Larkin would be a threat in the race at the just-concluded Pan Pacific Championships, Verhaeren reportedly stated, “No. Not on the podium level, not at the world standard”.

But Larkin in fact did put up a podium-level performance, clinching silver behind America’s Chase Kalisz and ahead of the Olympic silver medalist in the event, Kosuke Hagino of Japan. Larkin produced a huge personal best of 1:56.21, laying waste to his previous career fastest effort of 1:57.67 he earned just weeks before to nab Commonwealth Games gold.

With his 1:56.21 silver medal swim at Pan Pacs, Larkin registered new Australian, Oceanic and Commonwealth records, while also checking in as the 12th fastest performer ever in the event.

Larkin’s result in the pool prompted his St. Peters Western coach Dean Boxall to comment post-race,  “It is quite funny Jacco said to the media he was not world-class.

“It’s about confidence for Mitch and he found it.” (The Daily Mail)

It’s worth noting that the IM events, both the 200 and 400, have been in and out of Larkin’s racing repertoire for some time. Back at the 2010 Junior Pan Pacs, a then-17-year-old Larkin took gold over Japan’s Daiya Seto in a new Jr. Pan Pacs Record of 4:16.07. He also snagged silver in the sprint IM behind America’s David Nolan.

Larkin’s most recent progression in the 200m IM event specifically includes his clocking a 1:59.31 at the 2016 Queensland Championships, then crushing that with a much-improved 1:58.89 at the 2017 edition of the same meet. He was even faster at his nation’s Pan Pac Trials, sealing the win in 1:58.42, only to drop it down to the aforementioned 1:57.67 and 1:56.21 earned at the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs, respectively, to become the #2 swimmer in the world in the event.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Larkin Blasts Verhaeren’s Low 200 IM Expectations Out Of Tokyo Water

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