Britta Stefen's WR in the 100 free and her suit comment soon thereafter!

Britta Steffen set a new WR in the 100-LCM free in a time of 52.85 at German Nationals. (Congratulations, Britta, the SCAQ Blog likes you. :-)

Soon thereafter she commented that the suit material her new Adidas Hydrofoil suit was made of would destroy the sport.

She had surpassed Libby Trickett's former WR by 3/100ths-of-a-second which is a really a small margin. Actually, it practically a tie.

I was recently beat during a 200-SCY freestyle relay that I was leading off in by SCAQ teammate, Dan Leonard, who beat me by 3-100ths-of-second as well.

I looked over at him like a bad boy as our hands were reaching for the wall and he beat me by only half-a-finger length. So over a 100-LCM race, Steffen, was half-a-finger-length faster than Tricket or simply just .42-seconds faster than her WR in Beijing before Trickett snatched it.

I don't see that sort of a time drop as a sure sign that the sport of swimming is going up in flames.

Since FINA is being so incompetent, Perhaps the athletes at large should just vote instead of the know-bests at FINA?

Let's have age-group swimmers, college swimmers, and here is a thought, let's have women swimmers vote too since not one woman had a say in the speedsuit votes in the first place. (Masters get to wear whatever we want. ;-P )

Reference to Britta's WR and comment, CBSsports.ca: [Link]

This '2009 Swim Preview' is exceptional: Quality photos and brief resumés too!

Universal Sports has put together quite a preview for 2009. Sort of like a digital version of Topps baseball cards for swimmers. I like how thorough it is and I find the quality of the photography nears that of National Geographic.

Here are some of the bios from Universal Sports:

On Alain Bernard: Unfortunately for Bernard, he will be remembered -- at least in 2008 -- as the guy Jason Lezak overtook in the final 25 meters of the 4x100m freestyle relay in Beijing. However, the late-blooming Frenchman (Beijing was his first Olympics) will be one of the top international men this season as he looks to rebound from his relay collapse last August. He turns 26 in May.

On Britta Steffen: Steffen stifled the competition in Beijing last August, edging Dara Torres and Libby Trickett in the 50m and 100m freestyle races for her two gold medals. Now 25, Steffen has at least one more Olympic appearance left in her. And what better time to prove that than in 2009? This German should maintain her status as a splendid sprinter.

Some new kid named Ryan Lochte: After a season in which Lochte performed well at the Worlds (four gold medals) and the Olympics (two golds), he returns in 2009 at the top of his game. The 24-year-old well-rounded swimmer swam at three meets since Beijing, and has earned a total of 10 gold medals. This season, look for Lochte to make another splash at the Worlds as London draws closer.

Dozens of lesser known swimmers are mentioned too.

[Link]

Britta Steffen going all out with a nice rotation and her pull is outside her center line!

That is how it's done Dara Torres; a nice rotation and a strong catch outside your center line like we see Britta Steffen doing it, like we see Kara Lynn Joye doing it, like we see Rada Owen doing it! You can too and you are going to have to do it in Rome 2009 if you want to win. So start doing drills! :-P

Dara may be stronger but Britta beat her by way of a superior freestyle technique and the fact that she was seemingly immune to pressure. I spoke with someone close to the German team who said that she was expected to deliver for Germany despite how amazing Trickett and Torres can swim. The fans expected it, the team expected and she came through in a big way! What is best about her win is that we will see a probable rematch between the three in Rome!

Britta Steffen - I can't say any more about this video save for the fact that she represented Germany quite well.

Britta Steffen winning the 100-meter free somewhere on the Asian continent this month!

Britta Steffen beat both Dara Torres and Libby Trickett at this "swim meet" a few weeks ago. In my opinion this accomplishment was under reported.

I am looking for some underwater videos of her stroke; I will post them when I find them.

Britta Steffen: "I'd like to see everyone swimming in a normal bathing suit..."

Britta Steffen on tech-doping over at Reuters: "I'd like to see everyone swimming in a normal bathing suit," said Steffen, who set a European 100 metres freestyle record of 53.20 seconds at the German championships in April.

"That way we could see who's the best swimmer and not who has found the best material. I'd have no problem finishing second or third and knowing 'Okay, you just weren't better than the others'. [Link]

The photo above is Britta Steffen exiting the pool. The photo was found on guyomedw's photostream at Flickr. Here is a direct link to the photo: [Link]

Britta Steffen stretching with Rainbeau Mars

Yes, Rainbeau Mars! And note that Rainbeau has a southern California accent as well. Surprise!

Torres, Alshammar and Steffen will race in the FINA World Cup event in Berlin

Though Steffen is the world record holder in the event and though Therese Alshammar and Dara Torres are summarily amazing, I think the 100 free is both for Libby Lenton and Britta Steffen to sort out. Britta also has the home pool advantage. Why this event is on my radar is the dissimilar age of the swimmers. Britta is only 24, whereas Therese Alshammar, is 30 and Dara Torres is 40. From the article:

"... Steffen, who turns 24 tomorrow, is European champion and world record holder in the 100m freestyle and was not even a year old when Torres, 40, picked up the first of her four Olympic gold relay medals at the Los Angeles Games.

Torres hopes to become the oldest ever swimmer to compete at an Olympics in Beijing next year, where she will be 41, and would be the first swimmer to make five Olympic teams. She will be up against Steffen and Sweden’s Olympic medallist Therese Alshammar in the 100m freestyle in Berlin during the two-day event. " [Link]

Gary Hall Jr. will be there too.

If you can read German; (I can't so I went to Babelfish to translate), here is an article about all the nonsense and allegations Steffen had to put up with once she broke the world record. She discusses that she dose not have the time nor the money to constantly prove she does not dope and that if she did have the time and money, critics would then accuse her of buying off the labs that tested her. Hence she just gets tested by the German anti doping agency. [Link]

Put Therese Alshammar of Sweden on your radar!

We hear about Libby Lenton and Britta Steffen when sprints are discussed but Therese Alshammar may beat them both. From Craig Lord over at Swim News : "The result, a 24.23 Swedish record that fell just 0.10 second shy of the world record set by Inge de Bruijn, of the Netherlands when she took gold ahead of the Swedish sprinter's 24.44 at Sydney 2000." Behind her in second place was Britta Stefen by about 3/4 of a second. (Dara Torres American record is 24.53) [Link]

Above is Alshammar obviously swimming fly for which she has a world record in the 50m. I had to include this picture because her reach and the vacuum or air behind her shoulders to her hips blows me away. This photo was taken by guyomedw's at Flickr

I have my eye on Britta Steffen right now

Britta is the world record holder 100m free. She is in France right now at the Paris Open and in her prelim for the 100m free she swam a 54.58 beating her best competitors by a second-plus.

Now, this was just a prelim and she nearly matched Dara Torres 54.45 swim. Craig Lord of Swim News is calling this swim "easy speed." I can't wait to see what she does in the final. It would e so cool if she matched Libby Lenton's faux world record of 52.99 she clocked against Michael Phelps. [Link]

Here is a profile of her in German. I got her picture from this site as well. It's what she looked like when she broke the world record in Budapest: [Link]

Australian women beat the USA and Germans in the 4x100 relay

From Eurosport: "...Libby Lenton - formerly the 100m freestyle world record holder - got the race off to a flying start swimming the second fastest 100m in history to put Australia in front of the United States' Natalie Coughlin after the first leg ..." [Link]

Gold - AUS 3:35.48 Course Record
1.)LENTON (53.42), SCHLANGER (53.95), REESE (54.90), HENRY (53.21)

2.) Silver - USA 3:35.68 COUGHLIN (54.13), NYMEYER (53.50), WEIR (54.02), JOYCE (54.03)

3.) Bronze - NED 3:36.81 DEKKER (54.57), KROMOWIDJOJO (54.82), HEEMSKERK (54.13), VELDHUIS (53.29)

STEFFEN (52.65) Fastest time