Four different countries have swum under relay World Records in prelims on the final day of the 2013 European Short Course Championships in Herning, Denmark, though none of them have come even close to the European Records yet.
In the men’s 200 free relay, it was the Italians in heat 1 who swam a 1:25.89 over short course meters, with the team of Marco Orsi, Luca Leonardi, Federico Bocchia, and Federico Turrini combining for the new record. Orsi had an impressive lead-off split of 21.2, followed by Leonardi in 21.4, Bocchia in 21.2, and Turrini in 22.0. That record would only last for a few minutes, however.
A heat later, the upstart Belgians knocked another three-tenths of a second off, with a 1:25.52. The swimmers and splits included a 21.82 from Francois Heersbrandt, a 21.16 from Yoris Grandjean, a 21.49 from Pieter Timmers, and a 21.06 from Jasper Aerents.
Both of those relays were faster than a 1:36.81 done by a United States relay, based out of Indiana University, at a relay-only meet a few days after FINA started approving this World Record. FINA at first, it seemed, would decline these records, but then later accepted two of them.
The swims are still far, far short of the 1:20.77 that France did at this meet in 2008 (that’s averaging sub-21’s, which we didn’t see even for a single split in prelims). The depth of Belgium’s relay, however, was a real shocking swim, and will turn a lot of heads if they can ratchet their swims up again in finals.
Every one of the 16 relays was under the old World Record, but only the heat winners will get credit for breaking it.
In the last women’s relay of the day, once again the winners of each heat were under the official World Record.
A similar thing happened in the prelims of the women’s 200 medley relay, where all of the entered relays, save for the three DQ’ed (Norway, Italy, and the Netherlands) were under Indiana’s (USA) old official World Record of 2:04.34, though the winners got a bit closer to the true world-best.
First, the Czech Republic relay of Simona Baumrtova, Petra Chocova; Lucie Svecena; and Anela Pechancova won heat 1 in 1:47.48, just beating out an impressive lineup of nationals including Great Britain, Russia, and Germany to briefly hold the record. The Czech’s haven’t made a lot of noise in long course yet, but they’ve mastered short course competitions with their electric front-half and a very young back-half (their butterflier is only 16).
Once again, the second-heat winner took that record away, with the Danish relay of Mie Nielsen, Rikke Moeller Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen, and Pernille Blume winning in 1:45.92. They will be the heavy favorites in finals as they chase the Netherlands’ European Record of 1:42.69 in this relay. The Czechs will be the second seed.
So as to ensure recognition of all of the countries who cleared the old, official World Record, we’ve listed those nations below, even though only four of them will have the distinction of calling themselves “current or former World Record holders.” Many of these nations already have recognized National Records in the relay as well.
Men’s 200 SCM Free Relay
- Belgium 1:25.52 (WR)
- Italy 1:25.89 (WR)
- Russia 1:26.21
- Finland 1:27.33
- France 1:27.50
- Sweden 1:27.54
- Croatia 1:27.80
- Israel – 1:27.97
- Lithuania – 1:28.01
- Turkey – 1:28.02
- Czech Republic – 1:28.22
- Serbia – 1:28.37
- Estonia – 1:28.47
- Denmark – 1:28.95
- Switzerland – 1:30.45
- Iceland – 1:33.82
Women’s 200 SCM Medley Relay
- Denmark – 1:45.92 (WR)
- Czech Republic – 1:47.48 (WR)
- Poland – 1:47.61
- Great Britain – 1:47.87
- Russia – 1:47.87
- Sweden – 1:48.70
- Germany – 1:49.07
- Finland – 1:49.40
- France – 1:49.75
- Slovakia – 1:51.05
- Ukraine – 1:52.22
- Croatia – 1:52.38
- Hungary – 1:53.12
- Switzerland – 1:53.32
- Serbia – 1:57.09
Jean-Michel Blue, the Belgian representative on swimswam, must be very proud of his swimmers. The Belgian guys will not win the final but who, 10 years ago, would have said that a Belgian relay would have the fastest time of the prelims at the European championships? 🙂