Category: ISHOF News

28 July 2023

World Championships, Day Six Semifinals: After Leading 50 Butterfly, Sarah Sjostrom Knocking on History’s Door

Sarah Sjostrom is one swim away from history.

The Swedish superstar dominated the semifinals of the 50-meter butterfly at the World Championships on Friday night, popping a time of 24.74, the fourth-fastest in history. If the 29-year-old can follow up with a podium finish in the final, she will tie American legend Michael Phelps for the most individual medals in World Champs history at 20. Sjostrom also has the 50 freestyle ahead, meaning the record could belong to her alone before the weekend is out.

For Sjostrom, equaling Phelps figures to be a formality.

Like Katie Ledecky in the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle and Adam Peaty in the 100 breaststroke, Sjostrom has ruled the 50 butterfly. Including her most-recent performances at the Marine Messe Hall, she owns the 26-fastest times in history. More, she is the only woman to crack the 25-second barrier in the event, having accomplished the feat on 16 occasions. Her world record sits at 24.40.

A future Hall of Famer, Sjostrom is operating in another world when it comes to one lap of butterfly. As she covered her 50 meters, she immediately bolted to the front of the field and continuously separated herself from the opposition. Really, most world-class swimmers would love the times of Sjostrom for their 50 freestyle.

The 50 butterfly is one of just two individual events Sjostrom is contesting at the World Championships, along with the 50 freestyle. She opted to bypass the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Because of her scaled-back program, Sjostrom had to wait until Day Six to race on an individual basis.

“Usually, I do a lot of events,” Sjostrom said. “This is a nutty kind of year. I wanted to try a lighter program, and I feel very good about it, especially now when I finally start racing. I’m just flying in the water.”

China’s Zhang Yufei advanced to the final as the second seed, following a mark of 25.17. Zhang won the 100 butterfly earlier in the week and also helped China claim gold in the mixed medley relay. Zhang was followed by American Gretchen Walsh (25.48) and France’s Melanie Henique (25.70).

In what can only be described as the latest chapter in a feel-good story, Japan’s Rikako Ikee qualified fifth for the final in 25.72. Ikee is a Leukemia survivor who has built herself back to global factor after beating her illness.

World Championships, Day Five Finals: Leon Marchand Pops European Record On Way to Gold In 200 Medley

27 July 2023, 05:23am

World Championships, Day Five Finals: Leon Marchand Pops European Record On Way to Gold In 200 Medley

Call it a performance that was expected. Call it an effort that was desired. Call it an outing that officially sends Leon Marchand into the Olympic year as the most-dominant male athlete in the sport.

On the back of earlier titles in the 400-meter individual medley and 200 butterfly, Marchand established a European record of 1:54.82 in the 200 individual medley at the World Championships on Thursday night. That performance made the French star just the third man in history to break the 1:55 barrier, joining Americans Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps. It also erased the 2009 Euro record of Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who held the mark at 1:55.18.

Marchand executed a well-designed race, moving through the butterfly leg in third place and moving up to second on the backstroke leg. As expected, Marchand turned to his breaststroke to pull away from the field. At the 150-meter mark, Marchand was just .03 behind the world-record pace of Lochte. At least for now, the global standard of 1:54.00 proved out of reach, but it gives Marchand something to target in the days ahead.

It was a British sweep of the silver and bronze medals, thanks to the efforts of Duncan Scott and Tom Dean. Contesting his only individual event of the meet, Scott touched for second place in 1:55.95. En route to the bronze medal in 1:56.07, Dean put together a furious charge on the freestyle leg, as his split of 27.12 moved him up from seventh. The American duo of Shaine Casas (1:56.35) and Carson Foster (1:56.43) were fourth and fifth.

Opting to bypass the 200 breaststroke until a future day, Marchand’s individual program came to an end at the Marine Messe Hall. Relay duty still awaits over the next few days, but the solo work is complete and it could not have gone any better. Three events. Two world records. A third personal best. Really, it was 2,000 meters of excellence, a confidence-building step onto the road to a home Olympiad in Paris.

When Lochte set the world record at the 2011 edition of the World Championships in Shanghai, he had Phelps to push him through all four laps. While Lochte produced a mark of 1:54-flat, Phelps was just behind in a career-best of 1:54.16. While Marchand trailed early, he did not have a rival to challenge him over the back half of the race.

Once Marchand completes his relay responsibilities in Fukuoka, he’ll eventually return to the Arizona State University campus and his junior year in Tempe. The Mona Plummer Aquatic Center will be the laboratory, and coach Bob Bowman will don his white coat and resume his role as an always-tinkering scientist. What can be done to have Marchand in optimal form for his second Olympic Games? It’s a simple question, albeit a query with detailed answers.

Bowman has been down this road on multiple occasions, overseeing the preparation of several athletes for Olympic success. The blueprint for Marchand will be partially gleaned from Bowman’s experiences with Phelps and how to prep an athlete for a multi-event program and the non-athletic demands of the Olympic Games – media requirements, doping control, dietary needs and pressure. Without question, Bowman will not overlook an element of readiness.

“I think (Marchand) has one really good thing in his corner and that’s Bob,” Phelps said in an exclusive interview with Swimming World. “I mean, Bob watched every step of my career, and I think he’s in a better spot now than he was then. He’s more relaxed, more laid back. But Bob is the maestro. He’s probably been planning for this for years. He’s not going to miss a step and he’ll probably do it in a more productive way than we did it. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. We learned so much in the process.”

Scott and Dean provided a major bright spot for Great Britain. While Scott pushed the pace to give himself a chance at a medal, Dean accepted that he would face a deficit heading into the freestyle leg. But he also knew he could track down some foes with his closing speed.

“The last 50, I knew I was just going to have to take off,” Dean said. “The freestyle leg, it’s the same as the (200 free). That’s where all the action happens. It’s where you can get bodies and people die. With the training we were doing, I knew if I exploded down that last length, I could catch guys.”

It’s been an up and down week for Great Britain. On the opening day, a disqualification in the prelims of the 400 freestyle relay denied the Brits from chasing the title they were favored to win. But a gold-silver surge by Matt Richards and Dean in the 200 freestyle produced a positive.

Scott was forced to miss last year’s World Championships after a bout of Covid-19. Consequently, he was eager to return to the international stage.

“I was absolutely gutted to miss out on it last year,” Scott said. “What I love to do is compete on the highest stage, and not getting to do that last year was really upsetting. It’s the first time I’ve raced some of those boys. A lot of them are really young – Carson, Leon, and then the first time on an international stage with Dean-O. I was really happy to be back on the mix.”

Happy Birthday Teresa Anderson!!

Teresa Andersen (USA)

Honor Synchronized / Artistic Swimmer (1986)

FOR THE RECORD: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1973 gold (solo, duet, figures, team); JUNIOR NATIONALS: 1970 (duet, ); 1971 (solo); SENIOR NATIONALS: 12 (Indoor Team: 1969, 1972, 1973; Indoor solo: 1973; Indoor duet: 1973; Outdoor Team: 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973; Outdoor duet: 1972, 1973); CANADIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1972 told (solo, duet, figures, team); INTERNATIONAL MEETS: 1972 gold (duet, team).

Terry Andersen of Kay Vilen’s Santa Clara AquaMaids was the first world champion of synchronized swimming. She says it was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time, but all the others who were in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1973 say she was the right person winning all four Gold Medals (all you can win) in Figures, Solo, Duet and Team. In fact, 1973 belonged to Terry Andersen. She also was only the fourth girl in history to win her U.S. Nationals in every event while setting the highest figures point total ever awarded in synchronized swimming; the others being Hall of Famers Pam Morris, Heidi O’Roarke, and Gail Johnson. It was the culmination of nine years of hard work (four hours a day, six days a week) at the sport she synchronized with her life and her early dancing and music lessons from the delicious moment she dove in the water at age 10. During the nine years that followed, Terry built up gradually through Junior Nationals, Senior Nationals, four Canadian Opens and two International meets. She retired after winning it all at Belgrade and went on to coach the West German National Team in 1974 and later became the state coach in South Africa (1976, 1979). Terry helped to put synchronized swimming on the world map when she traveled abroad to demonstrate with exhibitions at Expo 70 in Japan and the Munich Olympics in 1972.

July 26 Marks One Year to Opening Ceremony of Olympic Games in Paris

July 26 Marks One Year to Opening Ceremony of Olympic Games in Paris

The countdown to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is officially on, as July 26 marks one year to the Opening Ceremony in the French capital. When the Games open, it will only have been three years since the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which were held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the World Championships unfolding this week in Fukuoka, many of the leading names in the sport are getting in their final global championships before preparation begins full throttle for next summer. Some, however, will opt to race in February at the World Champs in Doha. Meanwhile, one of the expected faces of the Paris Games is providing a glimpse of why he’ll be one of the most-watched athletes of the 16-day gathering.

Frenchman Leon Marchand is going to be in the spotlight on the road to Paris, and the 21-year-old is showing why. Earlier this week, he produced one of the finest performances in history, going 4:02.50 for gold in the 400-meter individual medley. That effort sliced more than a second off the nearly 15-year-old record of Michael Phelps, who went 4:03.84 for the title at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

For the first time, the 33-event swimming competition will take place over nine days in Paris, an increase of one day in the program. Action is slated to start one day after the Opening Ceremony, running from July 27-August 4 at La Defense Arena.

In addition to Marchand as a headliner, Katie Ledecky – provided she qualifies – will chase a fourth consecutive gold medal in the 800 freestyle. Ledecky first won that event as a 15-year-old at the 2012 Games in London, and followed with titles in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

Michael Phelps: How Leon Marchand Can Break 4:00 in the 400 Individual Medley

27 July 2023, 02:40am

Michael Phelps: How Leon Marchand Can Break 4:00 in the 400 Individual Medley

It’s been several days since Leon Marchand wowed the sport with an almost unfathomable world record in the 400-meter individual medley. The Frenchman’s time of 4:02.50 required digesting, as it wiped more than a second off the nearly 15-year-old standard of Michael Phelps, who went 4:03.84 in his opening event of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Phelps has been in attendance at Marine Messe Hall throughout the competition and called Marchand’s race as part of NBC Sports’ coverage. The record was the last owned by Phelps, who cheered on Marchand and applauded his performance. But the 28-time Olympic medalist thinks there is more to come from the French 21-year-old, including a run at the four-minute barrier in the event.

“Erik Vendt and I talked a lot about going under four minutes in the 400 IM,” Phelps said in an exclusive interview with Swimming World. “(Marchand) going 4:02, there’s a possibility. He’s got to use his underwaters as much as he can. That’s a big strength. We saw it on the last wall (of the 400 IM).”

In his record-breaking outing, Marchand opened with a butterfly leg of 54.66 and followed with a backstroke split of 1:01.98. He then delivered a game-changing split of 1:07.64 on breaststroke, a time that put Marchand nearly three seconds clear of Phelps’ record pace. A freestyle split of 58.22 capped Marchand’s global mark.

Always a student of the sport, Phelps has already analyzed what it will take for Marchand to go sub-4:00, which would be an iconic showing – not that his swim earlier in the week wasn’t. Phelps, along with coach Bob Bowman, were never satisfied, and always sought improvements wherever they could be attained. With Bowman coaching Marchand, surely the master coach cannot wait to get back to work.

Phelps has ideas of what needs to happen.

“I think his backstroke has to be closer to a minute, but he has to be able to do it with no kick,” Phelps said, noting Marchand’s need to preserve his legs. “He’s got to be able to do it with all tempo and arms. And he has to finish (on the freestyle leg) in 56. Period. We always said you finish in what you go out in. I was out in 54 and I was back in 55. If he can get to that, there’s no doubt in my mind that he can break four minutes.”

World Championships: American Star Ryan Murphy Joins Exclusive Backstroke Club

25 July 2023, 06:35pm

World Championships: American Star Ryan Murphy Joins Exclusive Backstroke Club

Even before he hopped in the water for the final of the 100-meter backstroke at the World Championships on Tuesday night, Ryan Murphy sported Hall of Fame credentials. But the great ones always find a way to do a little more, and that’s what the Cal-Berkeley managed by surging down the stretch to edge Italian Thomas Ceccon for the title.

By claiming his first world crown in the 100 backstroke, Murphy joined an exclusive group of athletes to own Olympic and world titles in the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. Murphy swept the backstroke events at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro before adding bronze and silver in the events at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Meanwhile, Murphy has twice won the world championship in the 200 backstroke, accomplishing that feat in 2017 and 2022.

The three other individuals in the club constitute a Who’s Who in the sport. East Germany’s Roland Matthes and the United States’ Lenny Krayzelburg and Aaron Peirsol have also pulled the double-double in Olympic and World Champs competition. Between them, that triumvirate owns 19 Olympic medals.

“It was an incredible race,” Murphy said of his winning effort. “It’s awesome to go against a great field and to get two Americans on the podium. It’s a nice start to my week by getting up on that podium and seeing the USA off to a great start. Hopefully, we are starting to build some momentum and we keep it rolling from here.”

Murphy is a team captain for the United States, a role he has held previously in international competition. It was not surprising, then, that he selflessly focused on the status of Team USA in his post-race comments. Murphy will be back in action later in the meet in the 200 backstroke, and in relay duty.

Happy Birthday Micki King!!

Micki King (USA)

Honor Diver (1978)

FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1968 4th (springboard); 1972 gold (springboard); NATIONAL AAU Diving Titles: 9; NATIONAL AAU Water Polo Titles: 2; CANADIAN NATIONAL TITLES: 2 (1m springboard), 2 (3m springboard); WOMEN’S NATIONAL COLLEGIATE Title (DGWS): 1First woman to compete in the Military International Sports Council Games (CISM); Diver of the year: 1965, 1969, 1972 (springboard); 1969 (platform); First woman coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

1968, at the Mexico Olympic Games, Micki King led all women divers with two dives to go. Her Olympic gold medal was all but in the bag when on dive number 9, a reverse 1 1/2 somersault, she hit the board and broke her arm. She completed her last dive and finished fourth. There followed months in a cast, a year of recovery, three more years of getting back in top form, and trying again in 1972. This time she won. An Air Force officer and the Air Academy’s first woman coach, Micki missed winning the first woman’s Superstars on the last event when she skimmed and toppled a hurdle for a five second penalty. She won a National Collegiate swimming title at Michigan and was twice the winning goalie for Ann Arbor at the Women’s National AAU Water Polo Nationals. An excellent speaker, Micki was also advance person for the Air Force Football Team.

World Championships, Day One Finals: Ariarne Titmus Turns Race of the Century Into World-Record Romp

23 July 2023, 04:58am

World Championships, Day One Finals: Ariarne Titmus Turns Race of the Century Into World-Record Romp

No more waiting. No more buildup. No more here’s-how-it-might-go scenarios. Just racing, and an answer to the prevailing question in the sport over the past few months – if not the past year. Who will win the Race of the Century: Part II?

Eight days of competition at the World Championships in Fukuoka got underway on Sunday at the Marine Messe Hall, and fans were immediately treated to an epic show from Ariarne Titmus. The Australian superstar turned what was supposed to be a three-woman battle into a virtuoso performance, as she shattered the world record in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3:55.38. The former record was set earlier this year by Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh at 3:56.08.

For months, the swimming world buzzed over the impending matchup between Titmus, McIntosh and American Katie Ledecky. Would all three go under the world record in their Race of the Century? Would Ledecky repeat as world champion? Would McIntosh reaffirm her status as the new kid on the block? In the end, Olympic champion Titmus showed that she’s The One, and she did so in dominant fashion.

Titmus trailed at only one juncture during the race, at the 50-meter turn. From there, she was in command. At the midway point, she held a .53 edge on McIntosh, but the gap expanded over the field during the back half of the race. More than a second over world-record pace at the 300-meter mark, Titmus crushed the closing 100 meters in 58.48 to reclaim her global mark.

Ledecky rallied during the second half of the race to grab the silver medal in 3:58.73 while New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather ran down McIntosh to pick up the bronze medal in 3:59.59. McIntosh placed fourth in 3:59.93, nearly four seconds off her personal best.

“It’s probably my most satisfying win,” Titmus said. “I feel like I didn’t have the most perfect prep coming into this and I think it all came together in the last few months. To swim like that and swim really free and fearless, I feel really over the moon to get that one.”

The event was given its nickname due to the credentials it sported. Ledecky, Titmus and McIntosh are the last three world-record setters in the 400 freestyle, and rare are the chances for such a trio to compete against one another in peak form. While Ledecky set three world records in the event from 2014-2016, it was Titmus who wrested command in 2022. Earlier this year, the 16-year-old McIntosh took possession of the world record while racing at the Canadian Trials.

Of the now 44 sub-4:00 performances in history, 42 belong to this triumvirate – another illustration of the dominance on display. More, Ledecky was the 2016 Olympic champion and Titmus the gold medalist from the 2020 Games. Really, the race had it all…although Titmus was not about to allow a close fight to materialize.

Nicknamed the Terminator, Titmus has long been known for her gutsy approach and deep belief. When Ledecky was swimming in another realm, Titmus – along with coach Dean Boxall – believed she could close the gap on the U.S. legend and establish herself as an all-time great. Indeed, that scenario has come to fruition.

“I think it’s about trusting yourself,” Titmus said. “I’ve got ‘fearless’ tattooed on my foot so I can see it right before I dive. Just trying to swim like that little girl that I was. When I was first up against Katie, I was never afraid to take it to her. And Summer and Katie are world-record holders, so I feel like the only way to beat them was to take it out and see who had the most fight and who had the most left in the tank at the end. I’m happy that it worked.”

Prior to this evening, the last matchup dubbed the Race of the Century unfolded at the home of the Olympics. At the 2004 Athens Games, the men’s 200 freestyle featured a clash between longtime rivals Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband, and the man who would be the sport’s king – Michael Phelps.

Thorpe and van den Hoogenband clashed four years earlier, when the Olympics were held on Thorpe’s home turf in Sydney. In that showdown, the Dutchman prevailed, as he matched his world record from the semifinals with an identical clocking of 1:45.35. That week, a 15-year-old Phelps – still developing into a multi-event monster – just missed out on the podium in the 200 butterfly, finishing fifth.

In Athens, the 200 freestyle offered Thorpe the opportunity to avenge his 2000 defeat to van den Hoogenband. By then, the Aussie had reclaimed the world record, making it more than a second quicker than what won Sydney gold. Meanwhile, Phelps had officially morphed into the sport’s featured act, a man talented enough to contest eight individual events on the biggest stage – five of them individual disciplines.

Ultimately, it was Thorpe who emerged victorious in that version of the Race of the Century, with “Hoogie” earning the silver medal. Via an American record, Phelps picked up the bronze medal and proved he belonged with the big boys in their specialty event.

Nineteen years later, it’s impossible to ignore the parallels between what transpired in Athens and this latest version of the Race of the Century. Like Thorpe and van den Hoogenband, Ledecky and Titmus were the veterans, and had an established rivalry. McIntosh, although the recently minted world-record holder, was the upstart, a la Phelps.

On this night, though, Titmus stood alone.

“I can’t really complain,” Ledecky said. “I think I executed the race the way I wanted to. I thought that Ariarne and Summer would be out fast, so I wanted to stay in contact and build from there. I felt like I did that. Ariarne just took off. I just lost contact.”

By breaking the four-minute mark, Fairweather joined exclusive company as just the fifth woman in history to dip under that barrier. It was an effort that seemed to be within reach, and was deeply satisfying.

“I’m really stoked,” Fairweather said. “This has been the goal for a while. I dropped to that four-minute mark a couple of months ago, so to dip under four minutes is unreal.”

McIntosh didn’t have the swim she would’ve liked. But the Canadian team was sanguine about it afterward.

“Obviously it wasn’t the best night that I’ve had racing so far,” she said. “But I’ll just kind of try and use it as a learning experience heading into the next following days and, of course, Paris as well. Not every race can be a 10 out of 10 so I’m going to try and push forward as much as possible and learn as much as possible from that.”

World Championships, Day Two Semifinals: David Popovici Sharpening His Form In Quest For 200 Freestyle Repeat

24 July 2023, 05:58am

World Championships, Day Two Semifinals: David Popovici Sharpening His Form In Quest For 200 Freestyle Repeat

A year ago, David Popovici used the summer to announce his presence as one of the sport’s premier talents. In addition to earning world titles in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle, the Romanian broke the longstanding world record of Cesar Cielo in the 100 freestyle. This summer, the 18-year-old is trying to build on his growing legacy.

Looking comfortable throughout his four laps, Popovici nailed down the top seed for the final of the 200-meter freestyle at the World Championships in Fukuoka. Popovici booked Lane Four for Tuesday night on the strength of a 1:44.70 marker, one of only two sub-1:45 efforts in the semifinals. The other came from American Luke Hobson, who raced next to Popovici and touched in a personal best of 1:44.87.

One of three men to break the 1:43 barrier in the 200 freestyle, the next target for Popovici is the 14-year-old world record of Paul Biedermann. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, where 43 world records were set, the German clocked a time of 1:42.00. Of course, that effort was fueled by a since-banned polyurethane suit that made the sport – for a period – more about technology than pure skill.

If anyone is capable of tracking down that Biedermann standard, it’s Popovici. He owns a personal best of 1:42.97 in the 200 free, which is the fastest time ever produced in a textile suit. Not only does Popovici possess a potent combination of speed and endurance, he believes he is capable of achieving feats not yet seen. In Fukuoka, the question is how much Popovici has saved up for the final. Certainly, he looked easy in his semifinal.

Hobson’s initial trip inside 1:45 bodes well for the United States, as he is a rising star from the University of Texas and figures to have plenty of international work ahead. Whether Hobson can back up his second seed and earn his first World Championships medal will come down to the American denying a stacked field behind him. In his semifinal, Hobson was aggressive and that approach will be relied on with medals on the line.

Sitting third and fourth are Korea’s Hwang Sunwoo and Great Britain’s Tom Dean. Hwang covered his semifinal in 1:45.07 while Dean, the Olympic champ in Tokyo, went 1:45.29 to place just ahead of the 1:45.40 by British teammate Matt Richards. Lee Hojoon of Korea went 1:45.93 for sixth and Kieran Smith made it two Americans in the final with a time of 1:45.96.

The final spot went to Austria’s Felix Aubock, who won a swimoff over Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto. After tying for eighth at 1:45.97 in the semifinals, Aubock and Matsumoto posted respective times of 1:46.30 and 1:46.37 in the swimoff.