Swim world record prediction proves prophetic
06/06/2012
With the 2012 Olympic Games only weeks away, freestyle swimmers across most distances have been unable to beat the times they set immediately following the last Olympics (Beijing 2008) when they were permitted to wear so-called supersuits, made from water-repellent material that made swimmers extra buoyant in the water.
Lausanne-based FINA, the sport’s regulatory body, banned the supersuits at the end of 2009, but allowed most of the titles and records athletes established while wearing them to stand.
The table below gives a selection of current freestyle swimming world records (showing the event, time, athlete, country and date set). The suggestion is that swimmers will be hard pushed to give the crowds at London 2012 the thrill of seeing new world records, which Olympic swimming competitions have become used to seeing.
- Men’s 50 metres freestyle (long), 20.91, César Cielo, Brazil, December 18, 2009
- Men’s 50 metres freestyle (short), 20.30, Roland Schoeman, South Africa, 8 August 2009
- Women’s 50 metres freestyle (long), 23.73, Britta Steffen, Germany, 2 Aug 2009
- Women’s 50 metres freestyle (short), 23.25, Marleen Veldhuis, the Netherlands, Apr 13, 2008
- Men’s 100 metres freestyle (long), 46.91, César Cielo, Brazil, 30 Jul 2009.
- Men’s 100 metres freestyle (short), 44.94, Amaury Leveaux, France, 13 Dec 2008
- Women’s 100 metres freestyle (long), 52.07, Britta Steffen, Germany, 31 Jul 2009
- Women’s 100 metres freestyle (short), 51.01, Lisbeth Trickett, Australia, 10 Aug 2009
- Men’s 200 metres freestyle (long), 1:42.00, Paul Biedermann, Germany, 28 July 2009
- Men’s 200 metres freestyle (short), 1:39.37, Paul Biedermann, Germany, 15 Nov 2009
- Women’s 200 metres freestyle (long), 1:52.98, Federica Pellegrini, Italy, 29 July 2009
- Women’s 200 metres freestyle (short), 1:51.17, Federica Pellegrini, Italy, 13 December 2009.
The pattern repeats itself for the four events (men’s and women’s, long course and short course) at the distances of 400 metres and 800 metres. That is, all the current world records were established in 2008 and 2009. At 1,500 metres, for the long course, Chinese swimmer Sun Yang established a new world record of 14:34.14 at the World Championships in Shanghai on July 31, 2011, but this is very much an exception.
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