On day 2 of the Phill Hansel Invitational, the swim that almost became inevitable happened, as mid-season Texas A&M’s Breeja Larson put up a 57.53 in the 100 yard breaststroke to break her own NCAA, American, and U.S. Open Records. In other words, she swam the fastest 100 yard breaststroke in history, and this was just at her mid-season rest meet.
One could imagine that there might be rest for this meet, but given that she had already qualified for NCAA’s, it would be silly to think that the Aggies put in so much rest that she won’t get faster at year’s end. Now, a 56-second 100 breaststroke is no longer out of the realm of possibility, it would seem.
Larson’s powerful pullouts showed in this race, as she only had to take 4 strokes on her first length to get to the turn. She actually swam this race very differently from her record-breaking swim last year, actually holding back more for her back-half.
Split comparison:
Larson ’12 NCAA’s (old record): 27.12 + 30.59 = 57.71
Larson ’12 Phill Hansel Invite: 27.29 + 30.24 = 57.53
The second-fastest swimmer in history in this race is still Tara Kirk with a 57.77. Larson will now take a turn at the 200 breaststroke tomorrow, where the record is 2:04.75. She’s not expected to go after that one, but it’s time to expect the unexpected with this girl.
More crazy fast Aggie swimming! What will they have in store for the remainder of the meet? I hope someone got a video of this one. Thanks for the update!
Oh…. almost missed that video link! Thanks!