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.
It was a textbook under-the-radar blueseventy Swim of the Week this week from Rick Colella at U.S. Masters Swimming Spring Nationals.
The men’s 200 IM was overshadowed by Olympian and all-around celebrity Ryan Lochte, who competed in the 30-34 division and won in a blazing 1:44.21 (in short course yards). That was 8 seconds faster than any other age group winner.
But Colella had his own historic swim in the 65-69 age class, going 2:03.63 to smash the Masters national record by a whopping 12.5 seconds. He won his age bracket by almost 20 seconds, and would have placed highly in a number of other age classes in the same meet. Here’s a look at where Colella’s time would have placed in each bracket:
- 18-24: 3rd
- 25-29: 15th
- 30-34: 7th
- 35-39: 6th
- 40-44: 2nd
- 45-49: 2nd
- 50-54: 3rd
- 55-59: 1st
- 60-64: 1st
Colella, a 1972 and 1976 Olympian, is proving that he can still get it done 41 years after winning Olympic bronze in Montreal.
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And he skipped the 400 IM this year. Wanted to give the other guys a chance, I guess 🙂
Also quite remarkable is he swam a 5:05 500 free in April, unshaved and presumably unrested. That broke the old National record for the 65-69 age group by 24 seconds!
What’s amazing is that he went a second and half faster then he did at age 56 when he got 2nd at master’s nationals. Personally, I think his 1:52 200 free was even more impressive, coming at the end of the last day of a brutally hot meet, and after he had swum his full complement of events PLUS relays. I’m younger, swam shorter distances and no relays, and I was completely fried by the end of day 3. He’ll be even more impressive this summer in LCM.
I am a 44yr old masters swimmer and i have a hard time going sub 240 in this event. Maybe there’s still hope I can get a little bit faster. Lol.
Keep working at it Hank!