Australian’s Cameron McEvoy breaks Ian Thorpe‘s 15-year old national record in the 200m freestyle on day 3 of the 2015 Hancock Prospecting Australian Short Course Championships. McEvoy touched the pads in the record time of 1:40.80, taking 2 seconds off of his prelims time of 1:42.24. Thorpe’s previous record was a time of 1:41.10, done at the 2000 FINA World Cup in Berlin, Germany.
Comparing splits of McEvoy’s national championship swim and Thorpe’s World Cup swim, McEvoy’s second hundred was a few splits slower than Thorpe’s, but his striking first 100m paved the way for his record breaking swim. McEvoy’s first 50 (23.45) was more than half a second faster than Thorpe’s (24.04). McEvoy turned at the 100m mark in 48.92, almost a full second ahead of Thorpe’s 100m split, which was 49.73. McEvoy held on in the 3rd 50m (25.78) and his final 100m split was 51.92. In Thorpe’s race 15 years ago, his 3rd 50m was 25.70 and his final 100m time was 51.37.
McEvoy has had a good meet so far, as he set a personal record in the 100m freestyle the previous night, touching the pads in a time of 46.31 and winning the final. He will compete in one more event, the 50m freestyle, scheduled for day 4 of the meet.
If he continues these impressive swims in LCM racing, he will for sure be a standout swimmer for Australia at the 2016 Olympic Games next summer.
I think if the Australians can get their act together, they will pose formidable threats for gold in the freestyle relays at Rio.
Australian swimmers are much more strangers to me overall than American and of course French swimmers but yes, they can win 3 of the 4 freestyle relays in Rio. But only the women’s 4X100 free gold looks like a lock for them.