12-year-old Ethan Dang rewrote both of the long course breaststroking National Age Group records this weekend at the Pacific Northwest Swimming Championships. Watch the video above for his 100, a race some time in the making.
Dang missed the record by just .01 earlier this month, but broke through on Saturday night, going 1:08.96 to take down the old mark of 1:09.48. He’s now the first 12-year-old in USA Swimming history to break 1:09.
Video courtesy of the Dang family on YouTube.
Ethan is an amazing breaststroker. He doesn’t look to be much taller than his competitors. Does anyone know how tall Ethan Dang is?
Ethan is 5’3″
Background story pretty remarkable regarding BOBO. Love to read his commentaries !
Amazing….
Does he have a quick dolphin kick at the end of his kick cycle or is that his thrust from the end of his kick ? Can’t tell from video, whatever it is it’s really propelling him. Great swim !
His stroke reminds me of Alia Atkinson’s…. I would love to see them race lol
Where is Psychodad?
He has probably something to say about his technique.
Not much to say, Bobo… it’s clean and smooth… and FAST.
Bobo Gigi is probably one of the jealous type parents or a swimmer experienced with psycho parenting! Ethan’s parents don’t know much about swimming world. They just support their kids’ interest and leave all the decision making to Ethan’s coach, Keith Ure who is an excellent coach. He is not only coaching Ethan but also influencing the young boy’s well-liked personality.
Stef Babcock – I can see you’re new here, so you probably aren’t familiar with bobo gigi. He is famous, however, for being one of the best commenters swimming has ever seen. He lives in France, never swam, and had no children who swim. He is a swim fan, and is very, very knowledgeable about the sport, and taught himself English through reading and commenting about swimming.
Believe it or not, everyone in our sport is not a jealous parent. There are real fans in the sport, and it’s important to not push them out, because they’re the ones who are growing the sport.
If you want to say something supportive of young Mr. Dang, please feel free to do… Read more »
If my interpretation is wrong, I apologize to Bobo Gigi — sorry Bobo Gigi :). I admire the fact that he self-taught himself learning perfect English. Keep commenting on our young swimmers! I am a supporting parent myself. We just spend hours driving our kids to practice, sit for hours at swim meet and the only yelling and scolding are about the kids not drinking enough water! I think we should leave the coaching and criticizing to the coaches. Swimmers have ups and downs. All the swimmers are awesome because they can survive gruesome 5-day meet with great swims and recording breaking. Parents should be proud of our swimmers! SB
I heart you Braden, and clearly all of us are obsessed with Bobo. Don’t pick on Bobo!
Comparison of the Top Ten Times previous to record
1-1:09.48- Maverick Smalley- 2000- GU- TWST
2- 1:09.49- Ethan Dang- 2014- PN- KING
3- 1:09.95- Michael Andrew- 2012- MV- UN
4 -1:10.05- Matthew Limbacher- 2013- FL- T2
5- 1:10.24- Sean Mahoney- 2001- PC- TERA
6- 1:10.31- Joshua Choi- 2005- SN- SMST
7- 1:10.74- Karson Farrell- 2010- CA- BCH
8- 1:10.97- Zach Stevens- 2008- CA- PUMA
9- 1:11.04- Chandler Bray- 2011- IN- THT
10- 1:11.34- Anthony Robinson- 1992- PC- SCSC