Day 3’s swim of the day was a much easier decision than either of the first two days.
Though Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps taking gold and silver in the 200 free was exciting for American fans, as is evidenced by the mainstream media’s pickup of the story, the times just weren’t that fast (that is the only event so far where the champion has been slower than the 2007 champion). The 100 backstroke tie between Frenchmen Camille Lacourt and Jeremy Stravius might be a cheap-pick, but when the expectation was for a World Record, 52.7’s doesn’t cut it for swim of the day. Soni too was slower in the 100 breaststroke final than she was in the semi-finals.
There was some good semi-final action on the day, but I’m waiting for the men’s 50 breaststroke and 200 free women’s final on day 4 to choose between those two.
But one swim really stood out to me on this day, despite being a non-Olympic distance race, and that was Lotte Friis’ 1500 free.
Friis took this race out hard, and immediately put the field into a 5-second deficit (even over China’s Yiwen Shao, who opens like a champ). Throughout the race, she held that lead at at least 4-or-5 seconds, and every time the World Record holder Kate Ziegler tried to make a move, Friis felt it (she likely couldn’t see it, being so far ahead) and dropped another nasty 31.6 (lap 18) or 31.7 (laps 23 and 29) split to silence the charge.
At the touch of the wall, Friis recorded a 15:49.59, which is the 4th-best time in history (the third is also by her). It missed Ziegler’s textile-best swim from 2007 (15:42), but that performance was sort of a freak swim for her. It cleared by three seconds the legendary Janet Evans mark of 15:52.10 that stood for more than 19 years (until Ziegler broke it in 2007).
Friis is still the only World Championships gold medalist for Denmark in any discipline (she now has two), and still has a shot to defend her title in the women’s 800 free, where the prelim is on Friday and the final on Saturday. If she can repeat there in the same fashion that she swam here, then Friis, still only 23, should legitimately begin entering the conversation of the “greatest female distance swimmers of all time.” It almost feels weird saying that, but the numbers make it hard to deny.
She will have two of the top five times ever in the race, and along with her swim from the European Championships last year is one of only three swimmers (Evans and Ziegler are the other two) to have gone under 16 minutes in textile at least twice.
Due credit to Kate Ziegler in this race as well, as she’s fully back to steam with this swim in my opinion. Her 15:55.60 is the 4th time she’s been under the 16-minute barrier, all of which are in textile, which is more than anyone in history (Friis has been under 5 times in total – twice in textile and three times in rubber – Evans has done it surprisingly only 3 times).
Click here to Friis’ masterful performance in the swim of the day.
I agree with BK.
Although in general the men 200 free was fastest, but the winning time is so so.
World championships TEN years ago was won half a second quicker! and that was even without brilliant turn/underwater.
While women 200 free has progressed very quickly in the past few years, the men 200 free seems going backwards/stalling.
I am especially disappointed with Park, I thought he would have gone sub 1:44
I can’t wait for Thorpe to come back and teach these swimmers how to swim 200.
my pick would be heemkerk’s semi. It was by far the most shocking swim of the night (imo)– going under WR pace and shutting it down to record a 155.5 and didnt appear to be breathing hard. This is one event Im almost positive will be faster than 2007. First 2 under 155?
I too was a bit disappointed with the time 144.4. I was so pumped during the race but seeing the time sort of put me back in my seat, so to speak. But then afterwards I went back and watched Thorpe’s 144.0 and I realized for the first time how masterful of a swim that was (i didnt follow the sport then). I really didn’t appreciate how… Read more »
BTW Lotte is very pretty . Thats a thing for girls -ya gotta have the looks to withstand 16 min immersion & goggles & cap without looking like a sardine.
Friis is good but <3 secs in a rarely event swum (for Janet ) event over 1500 is not that great.
I look at the comparisons with the mens comparable WR. & use % analyses. Friis 15.49 will nt look hot %wise againstt Sun Cochrane etc.
In past years even though the women's 1500 was not a championship event several women have scored impressive margins below the men . These include Janet . If the 1500 was an event in 1978 I guarantee Tracey ickam 7 mihelle Ford would have broken the 16 min mark in lycra speedos in a 1936 pool.
Janet had a 15.45 easy in her if worlds had been every 2 years instead of 4.(89).
The… Read more »
BTW, I concede your point that the 200 free was not as close to textile best as all the other finals so far, and that Lotte Friis’ 1500 free was the best individual swim yesterday.
Mostly I was reacting to your comment that the 200 free was not that fast; my reaction watching the race had been “wow, that was fast”, so I was curious.
One other comment; in the 200 free this year there were FIVE guys under 1:45! That has to be the first time that has ever happened. In that respect, it was fast.
I’ll agree with you there, it was certainly a very deep final. That’s part of the reason why I was surprised that the winner didn’t get pushed closer to a 1:44.0 or so.
Braden: I agree with CoachErik. Yes, Phelps 2007 suit was “textile” but it was a FS2 that would now be considered illegal. Also, that 1:43 was out of this world at the time – his winning margin that year was huge from what I remember.
I’ll bet that there will be other finals with slower winning times than 2007. Phelps was in peak condition in 2007 and he clearly isn’t now. So, I think several of his events will seem “slow” this year. For example, the 200 fly.
Right, but I’d say Ryan Lochte (the champion) is in “peak condition” this year. There’s been plenty of textile-bests in this meet without FS2’s, and this one wasn’t even close, so I don’t know how you could qualify that as a fast race relative to the other swims we’ve seen.
For its worth, it was a FS2 body suit in 2007. Textile yes, but 2-3x as much suit than is allowed now. Not bad to be only off that time by about .6 and .4 off of Thorpes textile bodysuit (adidas?) effort.