Swimmers located around the world are slowly able to return to pools following measured processes and protocols in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Those that can get wet once again aren’t wasting any time establishing baseline times to gauge where their fitness and form are at as they restart their Olympic journeys in earnest.
Yesterday we got a glimpse of Japanese Olympian Ryosuke Irie getting some unofficial racing done in the pool, with the 30-year-old nailing an in-practice time trial of 53.10 in the 100m back.
Prior to that, several standouts on the Dutch squad took to the pool as well, as Arno Kamminga, Kira Toussaint, and more threw down some time trials at the Dutch National Training Center in Amsterdam to get their new season started at the end of May.
Multi-2019 European Short Course champion Toussaint was back in action this weekend, suited up at the NTC to put another month of training to the test. The former Tennesse Vol posted unofficial time trial marks of 27.50 in the 50m back and 1:00.7 in the 100m back, both solid times.
Of her swims today, 26-year-old Toussaint said, “It felt weird, not necessarily faster, but the times were faster. My 50m back is my 2nd fastest ever.”
Her 100m back today was faster than the previous time trial, which bodes well for the woman who was on a national record-breaking tear last year. In May she posted a time of 1:00.91, so she sliced .2 off of that outing in just a month’s time.
Toussaint owns the 50m back Dutch national record with her lifetime best of 27.49 from last year’s World Cup Series, so today’s performance, though unofficial, was just .01 shy of that standard.
Update since original publishing: Toussaint was wearing a supersuit circa 2009 for today’s time trial.
Here are her top 5 performances ever in the 50m back:
- 27.49, October 2019, Berlin
- 27.50, June 2020, Amsterdam
- 27.68, October 2019, Budapest
- 27.78, July 2020, Gwangju
- 27.80, November 2019, Doha
I wonder if the body just needed a break and a chance to recover and maybe we’ll see more swims like this from others.
This has been my suspicion too after these first few swims. Even those who have still been training, there is probably a general reduction in strain.
Wow that’s amazing! Congratulations!