Hannah Stevens, a rising senior at the University of Missouri, just became the 10th-fastest American female 100 backstroker in history.
Swimming at the UMiz Invite (results on Meet Mobile), Stevens popped a 59.40 to win the 100 back. She was well ahead of her Tiger teammate Nadine Laemmler (1:01.87), who touched 2nd. Stevens took a couple of tenths off of her previous best 59.67 from June of 2016, as this marks her fifth time under the 1:00 barrier.
Stevens split 29.14 going out, then came home in a 30.26 to register her final time of 59.40. She also went 2:10.91 to win the 200 back, taking nearly two seconds off of her previous best 2:12.90 from July of 2015. While her 200 back won’t make the top 25 list this season, her 59.40 sits 5th in the world.
2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 100 BACK
MASSE
58.10*WR
| 2 | Emily SEEBOHM | AUS | 58.53 | 07/30 |
| 3 | Kathleen BAKER | USA | 58.54 | 07/30 |
| 4 | Yuanhui FU | CHN | 58.72 | 04/12 |
| 5 | Olivia SMOLIGA | USA | 58.77 | 07/25 |
| 6 | Katinka HOSSZU | HUN | 58.80 | 07/24 |
| 7 | anastasia FESIKOVA | RUS | 58.83 | 07/25 |
That 59.43 from Ali Deloof had her ranked tenth in American history in the event– Stevens’ time just knocks Deloof out of the top ten. The two of them will be among a contingent of American backstrokers trying to get onto the U.S. team heading to Budapest this summer.
Top U.S. Performers (100 Back)
| 1 | 58.33 | Missy Franklin | London | GBR | 7/28/12 | Final | |
| 2 | 58.75 | Kathleen Baker | Rio | BRA | 8/8/16 | Final | |
| 3 | 58.94 | Natalie Coughlin | Beijing | CHN | 8/9/08 | ||
| 4 | 58.95 | Olivia Smoliga | Rio | BRA | 8/8/16 | Final | |
| 5 | 59.10 | Rachel Bootsma | Omaha | USA | 6/25/12 | Semi | |
| 6 | 59.11 | Hayley McGregory | Minneapolis | USA | 7/29/08 | Prelim | |
| 7 | 59.21 | Margaret Hoelzer | Omaha | USA | 6/29/08 | Final | |
| 8 | 59.27 | Elizabeth Pelton | Indianapolis | USA | 6/25/13 | Prelim | |
| 9 | 59.37 | Amy Bilquist | Omaha | USA | 6/28/16 | Final | |
| 10 | 59.40 | Hannah Stevens | Columbia | USA | 4/29/17 | Final | |
| 11 | 59.43 | Ali Deloof | Mesa | USA | 4/15/17 | Final | |
Awesome article!!!
I agree, the 100 back has taken off and a very deep event in the USA and around the world. But how come the 200 back hasn’t taken off the same way? Kristina E. would have won the Rio Olympics some 20 years later or would have been in the mix for sure!…..and she wore what we consider a practice suit!! Same in the fly….Mary T would still be relevant some 30 years later! Why have the 100’s improved so much but the 200’s haven’t? Were they just super talented and they would be dominating in this era??
I wonder if the change in training philosophy of some programs from yardage based to more of a sprint based one has helped the 100s improve disproportionately compared to the 200s
or maybe can be attributed to more strength programs for women these days. maybe more muscular women doesn’t help 200’s as much? just guessing
or maybe the use of underwaters have meant much more to 100’s then to 200’s?
The world record in the women,s 200 fly is 2:01. That isn’t improvement?
What sort of times would you suppose is improvement in the women,s 200 fly.
Same with the women,s 200 back. The WR is 2:04:01. 2:05 won gold in rio. Not a slow time.
Mary T would still be relevant 30 years later?
You would think from that statement that world records are supposed to be broken easily. Florence griffith joyner still holds the women,s world record in the 100 meters sprint from over 30 years ago. in fact no woman has come close and I won’t be surprised if her and usain bolt,s world records are still in tact a hundred years from now, same… Read more »
what won Rio in 200 back and 200 fly? put them in practice suits like Mary T and Kristina E. and see what those winning times would be. And i said compared to the 100s which are significantly faster, the 200’s aren’t at near the level as the 100s are now. just asking why?
Super talents
So proud of Hannah and her swims. Even more proud of her humbleness and genuine comical nature!!! Go Mizzou Tigers!
59.40 is very good but in 2017 you have to swim around 58.50/58.75 to win medals at the international level.
There’s right now a great group of US girls between 58 high and the minute.
Who will be able to go the next step?
I pick Baker and Smoliga to make the US team for Budapest.
With eyes on young Regan Smith too.
I sincerely doubt she was rested as much as she will be for worlds
She has to make it through Baker and Smoliga first. I’ll be rooting for Stevens this summer, would love to see her build off of last summer and make Worlds
For this summer, US will take swimmers in this priority:
1) top 4 at relays events / top finisher at Olympics events
2) second finisher at Olympics events
3) top finisher at non-Olympics events
4/5) fifth and sixth swimmer at relays events
No mention of second finisher of non-Olympics events, I guess they won’t bring them coz the maximum 26 rule.
For someone who made the team in others events(Olympics events) might be able to fill in(non-Olympics events), require the swimmer to reach FINA stadard time of course.
I encourage swimmers who wants to qualified in non-Olympics, do the 50 stroke at PSS more.
You never know, that qualification time might save you some… Read more »
without looking at the results, I remember that a few did strokes during the 50 free, those times do only count as freestyle times.
At other world champs they have used someone already on the team for the 50 event. Some years it has been a person doing the 50 & 200 f a stroke, so I agree that it can benefit someone to do the 50 stroke at some other meet just to try to go under the FINA A cut.
A lot of girls will be fighting for those 2 spots and even the 50 back spot.
Backstroke revolution in Usa
Ongoing revolution since about 2000
Really picking up now with 6 people below 1:00 in just one year
USA is a great backstroke industry for a while now. Especially on the men’s side.