2020 has been the strangest year for all of us – and that includes the sports world. Swimming has suffered a lot, including the cancellation/postponement of the Olympic Games. Now, as we are restarting our training and wading back into competition, the Italian swimming federation has given us some much-needed results to discuss after the Sette Colli Trophy.
We couldn’t predict any of the results in advance, but one of the most incredible swims was the Women’s 50m breaststroke.
14-year-old Benedetta Pilato, Benny the Rocket, swam an incredible 50 meter breaststroke: 29.85, the world junior record. That’s a competitive time at the sport’s highest levels. Lilly King won the 2019 World Championship with a 29.84.
The analysis of the race shows us some remarkably interesting data, firstly a great start. Pilato took 7.20 seconds to hit 15 meters. That’s really, really fast. On the other hand, we can actually see an imperfect finish.
Comparing Pilato’s Sette Colli swim with her own performance at 2019 Worlds, in report 1, shows us a great improvement on the start. At 2019 Worlds in Korea, Pilato took 7.6 seconds to hit the 15-meter mark, compared to 7.2 seconds earlier this month.
Benedetta Pilato Report 1 – PDF
Benedetta vs Bendetta 50 breast PDF
That improvement is amazing. 0.40 seconds in just 15 meters is mostly because of the technique, coordination and timing of the underwater phase. With that time at 15 meters, Benedetta Pilato is by definition one of the fastest swimmers in the world ever.
The management of the swimming part, from 15 to 45 meters, is approximately the same compared to last summer’s Worlds. The finish took 3.0 seconds in Korea and 3.3 in Rome this month.
Looking at the start we can see that the main difference is the speed of the underwater phase. Pilato is underwater longer, 11.20 meters in Korea vs 11.55 meters in Rome. And she’s also clearly gotten faster below the surface: 2.14 meters/second in Korea vs 2.51 meters/second in Rome.
The most important data is from the comparison between Benedetta Pilato in Rome and Lilly King in Korea, in report 2.
King vs Pilato 50 breast table PDF
We can see the splits and laps from the table below.
BENEDETTA PILATO / LILLY KING
|
|
|
|
Start 15m |
15-25m |
25-35m |
35-45m |
45-50m |
|
King |
Split |
Time |
00:07.20 |
00:13.54 |
00:20.15 |
00:26.79 |
00:29.84 |
|
|
Lap |
Time |
00:07.20 |
00:06.34 |
00:06.61 |
00:06.64 |
00:03.05 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pilato |
Split |
Time |
00:07.20 |
00:13.46 |
00:19.94 |
00:26.58 |
00:29.85 |
|
|
Lap |
Time |
00:07.20 |
00:06.26 |
00:06.48 |
00:06.64 |
00:03.27 |
Until 35 meters into a 50-meter race, Pilato is swimming faster than King. The gap is 0.21 seconds. From 35 to 45 meters the gap is exactly the same. The last 5 meters, Benedetta Pilato slows down a lot, 3.27 seconds vs 3.05 by Lilly King.
VIDEO COMPARISON
Courtesy of SwimLab
Here we see King swimming at 2019 Worlds on the top of the screen compared to Pilato’s Sette Colli swim at the bottom:
For sure now both Pilato and King have something to think about. The potential of the Young Rocket is becoming reality, but the Queen is always the Queen.
The delayed Tokyo Olympics add one new storyline. And we can’t wait to see how it resolves.
This story comes courtesy of STEFANO NURRA 
Analyst of Turkish Swimming Federation
Analyst of Energy Standard
Owner and Founder of Swim Lab
Two thoughts: 1) Timing the finish on a 50 breast has to be one of the most difficult things in the world. Like Dressel and Finnerty (in the comments) said recently, the stroke changes significantly when you’re rested and in a suit. Getting that finish right just takes experience. If Pilato has gotten it right, 29.6 would not have been out of the question.
2) She’s 14. She could develop a world-class 200 stroke in 6 months and no one would be shocked. I wouldn’t call her a lock for the 100 final in Tokyo by any means, but she has at least a dice-roll’s chance at gold.
Great googly-moogly! That’s fast!
Benedetta needs more glide in her breaststroke. She can not sustain that rapid fire machine gun technique for 100 meters breaststroke. Her coach should have her do more 3 whip kicks/1 pull drill and that should help put her on top of the podium next summer Olympics.
That’s what they said about Peaty.
Lol Captain Ahab apparently stopped learning anything about breaststroke in 1992 when “swim golf” was still a thing that people obsessed over.
She absolutely does not need more glide. If she wants to increase her DPS the only thing she needs to do about it is getting stronger.
She is the fastest ever at her age. I’m quite confident her coach isn’t sitting there and thinking to herself “man, I wish she was gliding more.” They don’t give medals based on the length of your glide, they give medals based on the order in which you touch that last wall.
Great article. Pilato looks to have taken some inspiration from Peaty. She has a very similar technique and looks so strong, fast and powerful. I would favour her to beat King in the 50 at the next Worlds.
However there is a big differnce in the 100 and I think King will continue to dominate there.
Lilly King is chasing history. No woman has defended her title at the Summer Olympic Games in the women’s 100 meter backstroke. Meanwhile, Rebecca Soni is the only woman to defend her title at the Summer Olympic Games (2008, 2012) in the women’s 200 meter backstroke.
Oops! I meant breaststroke not backstroke in both instances.
wow, never knew that there haven’t been breastroke dominators on the women’s side. Very different story for men’s breastroke, there seem to be era of swimmers. Right now the peaty era
No woman has ever won gold twice in the women’s 100 meter breaststroke at the Summer Olympic Games.
Makes Jones’s Silver/Bronze/Gold streak look even better. in the 100m…
That statement comes with a big asterisk. The 100 breast wasn’t competed until the 1968 Olympics. Catie Ball had the flo at that games and then there weren’t college scholarships for her to continue swimming. She was insanely good, but quit at 18. Galina Prozumenshchikova held WRs in both the 100 and 200, but again, the 100 wasn’t competed in 1964. So I would say she’s chasing history in the modern women’s pro and collegiate scholarship era.
Maybe not a contender in the 100m for Tokyo quiet yet. But excited to see her possibly become Kings new rival for the next Olympic cycle.
Her turnover is unbelievable. She’s built for the 50 breast. To me, it’s all about whether she can figure out how to turn that into a full 100. She’s dropping time like crazy. I agree with you – I wouldn’t bet on her winning gold in Tokyo. But, I also wouldn’t bet against her being on the podium.
Her turnover is comparable to Peaty’s when you factor in size, wingspan and the deviation in stroke rate from his peers. She should be able to swim a 1:05 100.
She’s 14 at that age she can challenge for an Olympic gold in the 100 and 200 next week. Between the ages of 14-16 girls can make huge improvements in multiple events just because of there age so i wouldn’t rule her out.
I will say she is young but she’s also as big and almost as developed as a lot of her older competitors so I’m not sure huge improvements are a given. However I will happily eat my words if she pops off in these coming Olympics.
Lilly King is more worried about the women’s 200 meter breaststroke with Escobedo, Galat, King, Lazor vying for two spots on the U.S. Olympic team. The women’s 200 meter breaststroke should be one of the most hotly contested races at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
King could quite possibly win 3 golds just swimming the 100. The Americans are looking better in the 200 than they were in Rio, but still a medal of any color would be a success in that event.