Top 5 Reasons Why These Were The Best Pan Am Games Ever

After an extremely eventful week in Toronto, we at Swimswam compiled a list explaining just why these Pan American Games were the best ever.

1. THE REBIRTH OF NATALIE COUGHLIN – MAKING HISTORY

Prior to the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, Natalie Coughlin had only won three individual international medals since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Three is still an amazing feat, but for someone as decorated as Coughlin, it was a decline from her usual performances.

This past week in Toronto saw a new Coughlin come to light, a Coughlin reminiscent of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Coughlin was fierce in the 100m freestyle, swimming a 53.85. That time was the fastest she went since 2010 when she won the 100m free at the Pan Pacific Championships.

Coughlin set a new personal best in the 50m freestyle with a swift 24.66. That’s one of the first times Coughlin has set a best time in years in an event, showing absolute progress heading forwards towards Rio.

Often thought to be off the table, Coughlin swam an incredible 100m backstroke to come within 0.11 seconds of her best time. Leading off the prelims team in the morning with a 59.20, Coughlin came back and split a 59.05 to leadoff the finals team en route to her 60th international medal ever.

With a stronger-than-ever Coughlin back in the water, and her achievement of 60 international medals, Coughlin is now very much in the running to make the 2016 Olympic team in the 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle. That would also give her a prime spot on two relays.

2. THE EMERGENCE OF THE CANADIAN WOMEN

The Canadian women stepped things up dramatically at the Pan American Games. Edged on by a home crowd, they took home six gold medals including two 1-2 finishes.

Starting with the women’s 100m freestyle, Chantal Van Landeghem made her case for being one of the top sprinters globally. With a 53.83 time, Van Landgehem won the 100m freestyle over Natalie Coughlin. Van Landeghem also constantly split 53-lows on the relays to show her consistency and strength.

Audrey Lacroix has been one of the best 200m butterflyers for some time now. The 2014 Commonwealth Games champion added another notch to her belt, claiming victory at the Pan Am Games. Heading into worlds, Lacroix has a very strong chance of making the final.

One of the most impressive aspects of the Canadian women’s performance was the 4x100m freestyle relay. There they beat a very solid American squad which had both Coughlin and Allison Schmitt, in order to come first. In doing so, they also broke the Canadian national record.

The 1-2 finished showed how strong the Canadian women are in both backstroke and breaststroke. In the 200m breaststroke, Kierra Smith took the gold over her teammate Martha McCabe. That solidified a 1-2 finish for Canada.

In the women’s 200m backstroke, Hilary Caldwell finished ahead of Dominique Bouchard, and the two of them also secured a 1-2 finish for Canada.

Emily Overholt is another reason the Canadians are fairly safe for the next few years. The 17-year-old shows tons of promise, especially in the 400m IM. Despite a DQ for a non simultaneous touch on her breaststroke, Overholt managed to swim a 4:35. Heading into worlds, regardless of the disqualification, it has to give her confidence.

Overholt also bounced back shortly after to win the 400m freestyle in a very gutsy swim, showing that she, along with the rest of the Canadian women, are ready to put things behind them and start going for gold.

3. ALL THE TOP 10 WORDLY SWIMS

In the majority of events, it took a time that would rank the individual in the top 10 world rankings this season in order to win.

On night one, all individual swims took a top 10 ranked time to win. That included the men’s and women’s 100m freestyles and 200m butterflys. Although global rankings for relays aren’t considered for this argument, it also took a Pan American Games record to win both 4x100m freestyle relays on the first night of competition.

Heading into night two, both the men’s and women’s champion in the 200m freestyle racked up a top 10 time in the world this season. The women’s 200m backstroke also featured a top 10 ranked time. The only relay of the night, the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, was won in Pan American record timing.

On the third day of competition, it took two top 10 times and a Pan American Games record (relay) to win. Following that up on day four, an incredible six events (every event other than the men’s and women’s 400m freestyles) took a top 10 time in the world this season to win.

On the last day of competition, two out of four individual events featured top 10 worldly times to win, and two more Pan American Games records were set in the relays.

The Pan American Games have never been this fast. With the onslaught of records and top 10 times, it truly showed a change in level of competition at these games.

4. ARIANA VANDERPOOL-WALLACE WINS FIRST INDIVIDUAL MEDAL FOR BAHAMAS SWIMMING AT PAN AMS

Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace has quickly been on the rise to becoming one of the top sprinters. A competitor for the Bahamas, her bronze in the 100m freestyle made her the first Bahamian swimmer ever to win an individual medal at the Pan American Games.

Vanderpool-Wallace struck again in the 50m freestyle, where she became the first Bahamian swimming champion in Pan American Games history.

Along with Vanderpool-Wallace, many countries who don’t traditionally steal the international spotlight managed to put up some strong performances at the meet.

Swimmers like Frederico Grabich proved just how fast they really are. Grabich, an Argentinian sprinter, took almost an entire second off his 100m freestyle personal best to post a new national record of 48.11.

5. YOUNG AMERICANS SHOW THEY’RE PRIME CANDIDATES FOR RIO

There were plenty of young American swimmers who managed to step things up at Pan Ams and show that regardless of how they swam at the 2014 U.S Nationals (American qualifier for the 2015 World Championships), they’re prime candidates for Rio.

Swimmers like Kelsi Worrell and Katie Meili each earned their first individual international hardware. Worrell is currently ranked third in the world in the 100m fly, Meili is ranked third in the world in the 100m breaststroke.

With the times they put up, there’s no denying that they could be red-hot at the U.S Olympic Trials.

Throw in some fast freestyle split on the relays for Michael Weiss, some great IM swims from both Max Williamson and Gunnar Bentz, a great sprint performance from Josh Schneider, and amazing performances all around by Allison Schmitt, and many of the swimmers who were on the Pan Am team and not the worlds team have the potential to make next year’s Olympic team.

 

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bo
8 years ago

1967 had 11 World Records at the Pan Ams in Winnipeg.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_1967_Pan_American_Games

Rafael
8 years ago

Top 10 times (or for relay winning time, I will compare with last worlds results)

Men side
50 free – Schneider, 5th of World
100 free – Condororelli, 1st tied to Morozov, Gabrich 4th after Mcevoy
200 free – De Lucca 9th
100 back – Guido 4th, Thoman 6th
100 breast – França 3rd
200 fly – De deus 6th
200 IM – Henrique 3rd, Pereira 5th
4×100 free – 6th at last worlds
4×100 medley – 4th at lard worlds
4×200 free – 7th at Last Worlds

Women
50 free – Ariana 4th, Etiene 8th
100 free – Chantal 10th
200 free – Allison 8th
… Read more »

L
Reply to  Rafael
8 years ago

I understand that the times from this Pan Am Games was showing good depth and strength from the other Pan American teams, but to label this Pan Am Games as the best ever just won’t fly for me. Maybe I am too much of a swim historian and student, but I remember and have read and spoken about Pan Am Games from when the best times in the world were coming from that competition not to mention watching the best athletes in their event. I also understand that the times have changed. There are more competitions NOW than there was back in the 60s, 70s, 80s and so on. The Pan Am countries pointed towards the Pan American Games because… Read more »

Lane Four
Reply to  L
8 years ago

I forgot to place my full name at the top. Sorry!

Lane Four
8 years ago

Maybe yes and maybe no. We haven’t have the so-called “A”-Team at a Pan-Ams since 1983 it is difficult to say whether this was the best Pan-Ams or not. Sure, there were great signs of possibilities for the future, but there hasn’t been a world record set since 1983 (Rick Carey, Steve Lundquist and the men’s 400 medley relay) and those performances showed great possibilities for the 1984 Olympic Games. Personally, I would say this was a good team but not great. Yes, there were hiints of would could possibly come in the future from all of the teams gathered, but I wouldn’t call this the best or greatest Pan-Ams ever. 1979, for example, showed us a very young Alex… Read more »

Rafael
Reply to  Lane Four
8 years ago

Even US not sending the A team.. there are some swimmers who were at Pan Am who will probably are more “A team” than the one at Worlds.. Missy is A team, but depending on her condition, I would not be surprise if Coughlin outsplits her.
Hardy will have a tough time to match Meili times, Kelsi will probably still be US #1 flyer after worlds.
Schmitt will probably still be faster of least one of the legs of US at worlds..
Leverenz might still be on top 2 americans after World..

Also, this Pan Am games showed the strenght of other countries, many top 5/10 times.
If US had a full B team (Or worse)… Read more »

Uberfan
8 years ago

Shoot I mean she won 2 in Dubai

Uberfan
8 years ago

She won 5 since Bejing. Bronze in back in Irvine and gold in free, bronze in Shanghai and 2 individual in Doha.

hswimmer

I would love to see Schmidt’s 800 fr also if you find it BOBO

bobo gigi
Reply to  hswimmer
8 years ago

All the races I’ve found are posted above.

Swimbrat
Reply to  hswimmer
8 years ago

ESPN 3 has a video with all of Saturday’s final and the women’s 800 free is the first event.

bobo gigi
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

Correction. the last one is the women’s medley relay.

NA
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

The videos are up on the CBC website. For example, you can find the Day 5 prelims and finals here: http://panam.cbc.ca/online-listing/sports/day=2015-07-18/index.html

But maybe this site is only available to those in Canada.

bobo gigi
Reply to  NA
8 years ago

Yes. ESPN3 and CBC not available in France.

Deraj
8 years ago

Has anyone found Natalie Coughlin’s 100 backstroke videos from this meet yet?

bobo gigi
Reply to  Deraj
8 years ago

There have been videos of all other days but nothing for the last day so far on youtube.

bobo gigi
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago
masters swimmer
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

Thanks Bobo! I so much appreciate you insightful comments and finding videos like this to share.

hswimmer
8 years ago

You forgot to mention Sierra Schmidt’s 800 free, that moves her up as well and in a good spot for her to challenge second behind Ledecky next year 😉

About Mitch Bowmile

Mitch Bowmile

Mitch worked for 5-years with SwimSwam news as a web producer focusing on both Canadian and international content. He coached for Toronto Swim Club for four seasons as a senior coach focusing on the development of young swimmers. Mitch is an NCCP level 2 certified coach in Canada and an ASCA Level …

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