Tuesday, December 01, 2009

First international meet without techsuits and Brent Hayden storms the 50-free SCM in 21.84!

Wendy from Of(f) the Deep End sent us this. From CBC.ca:

It's the first major national meet in which the swimmers had to wear swimsuits which conform to the new guidelines set out by FINA, the sport's world governing body, for Jan. 1, 2010. The same rule was implemented for national events by Swimming Canada on Sept. 1 to help the Canadians adapt to the new guidelines.

"It's definitely a new experience being on the blocks again without the full body suit," said Hayden. "But it didn't affect my race. My goal was to go under 22 seconds and I was pleased with the time."

[Link]


I am happy for him and I suppose this is the new "normal."

2007 - 2009 was the best years this sport has ever witnessed. The media at large from Huffington Post filing Ricky Barens, and Alissia Filippi as celebrities in their "Celebrity Skin" section after two Jaked suit failures to USA Swimming Nationals shown on prime time just about every day it was on.

We had new swimsuits, new manufacturers and we had more choices. We saw a US Masters Swimmer who goes by the name of, Rowdy Gaines, get sponsored by blueseventy. We saw the USMS get sponsored by blueseventy as well giving its members 15%-off on tech-suits

We all witnessed frantic emails and twitters of the latest world record set by somebody who does not live in Australia or the USA.

The numbers were there, USA Swimming growth up 11%, the highest ever because people were talking about swimming across the planet.

Well, Bob Bowman, and the British "journalist" got their way and in the next two years we see if FINA chose the right path or the wrong path. The proof will be in the numbers.

5 comments:

TedBaker said...

Hayden's going to be a rocket in the new textile era. He's built right - long & lean - and he's got 200m endurance with 50m speed.

If he can keep his head together, I think he might be the guy to beat in the 100m for a couple years here.

Chris DeSantis said...

Brent Hayden is just one more swimmer that didn't get the memo that his faster swimming was all suit and not him! The man was 21.7 "suited" at World Champs this past summer and somehow here, in clearly not his biggest meet of the year, 21.8.

Tony Austin said...

That was LCM and I suppose one could average his previous times and figure out a conversion but, yes, some swimmers have figured out a way to win without them.

Tony Austin said...

That was LCM and I suppose one could average his previous times and figure out a conversion but, yes, some swimmers have figured out a way to win without them.

TedBaker said...

Hayden's fastest scm is 21.34. Last year, in Rome, he went 21.73 lcm. Both times were in tech suits. I think the 21.3 was a LZR and the 21.7 was a X-Glide.

Regardless, 21.84 - this time of year - is serious going, especially in the absence of the tech suits.

He's really worked hard post-Beijing and I really do think he's going to be THE 100m guy for a bit here. Great technique, the right body and he's figured out that he needs to work very, very hard if he wants to be the best.