Top 5 moments both positive and negative for the 2009 FINA World Championships!

This is written from my point of view, your point of view may vary and I hope it does.

Top Moments:

1) Michael Phelps beating Milorad Cavic in the 100 buterfly.

Michael Phelps dug down deep and set a WR in an epic swim where "trash-talk" got swimming talked about all over creation. It was the UFC version of Brock Lesnar versus Fedor Emelianenko and the "good guy", Michael Phelps, won. (I was rooting for Cavic.)

Both swam under world record time and both put the race onto the international radar! There must be something to making a race into a soap opera.

2) Aaron Piersol setting a WR in the 200 back.

Aaron Peirsol, after failing to qualify in the 100 back, bounces back and sets a WR in the 200 backstroke making it clear he is the best ever.

Per his interviews he seemingly let go of his loss like it was "water under a bridge" and he moved on to become the champion that he really is. How existential is that?

3) Britta Steffen definitively proving she is the greatest female sprinter on earth. None of the greats could touch her.

Britta Steffen is German Swimming and she is expected to win or the German press will tear her apart. Again, despite this pressure she steps up and spanks the best and those swimmers include, Dara Torres, Therese Alshammar, and Libby Trickett who really wanted to beat her.

4) Therese Alshammar placing second to Britta Steffen!

Alshammar who is better known as a short course meters sprinter finishing second to, Britta Stefen, in an amazing 50-free. She just gets younger-and-younger, faster-and-faster.

5) We saw the greatest Italian athlete ever, Federica Pellegrini, breaking the four minute barrier in the 400 free.

On the covers of Italian national magazines and well clothed in Armani, she exudes style, class, charisma, a sketchy tattoo that crawls up her neck, and completes this package with abject swimming confidence.

She is the perfect "leading lady" for our sport. Swimming has never had someone this classy or this sexy. (Can you tell I am part Italian?)

Top 5 low points:

1) Bob Bowman's rant and rationalization for Michael Phelps' loss in the 200-free to Paul Biedermann.

Bowman was the "Ugly American" in hi-def ranting pathetically about speedsuits and FINA. His grand threat to pull Michael Phelps out of international competition if his demands were not met greatly soured me on Michael Phelps. I am sure others feel the same way.

2) FINA returning men to briefs and Jammers come January 1, 2010.

FINA responding in less than 24-hours to Bowman's tantrum and thereby restricting the use of speedsuit way ahead of schedule confirmed in my mind that the organization is in Speedo's pocket.

If you look at the biggest mouths yelling for a return to briefs, they are generally form National Governing Bodies with huge Speedo interests. This is my opinion.

3) Speedo Commonwealth swimmers; Period!

4) That British swim journalist guy!

World records are over, swim and swimmer sponsorships just lost 75% of their funding.

5) FINA open water officials waiting a day to award Fran Crippen a bronze medal.

Imagine going back to the hotel not knowing how you finished? This is about your life's work, your employment, your income.

Open water is evolving and this has to be fixed. I recommend "photo finish video."

The photo above comes from the The Big Picture gallery at Boston.com. [Link]

Federica Pellegrini is to swimming what Miles Davis was to jazz: The 'Birth of Cool' , baby!

Federica Pellegrini was wearing a different kind of "speedsuit at the 2009 FINA World Championships! "From Swimming World:

"... dressed in black, with sunglasses, [She was wearing Armani] and bodyguards, Pellegrini exited in front of a crowd of spectators in a Maserati in divaesque fashion. ..." [Armani is taking swimmers very seriously from Therese Alshammar to Federica Pellegrini.]

[Link] and this link from fashion and runway: [Link]

Ciao Ciao, baby!

Jaked Suit Failure: Seam splits up the rear of the pelvis area!

Poor woman! Brought her to tears as well. If I was the official I would have looked the other way and let her race or I would have held up the race up so she could change. Think Dara Torres hooking up Therese Alshammar in Beijing when she held up the race so Alshammar could change.

The incident was unintentional and one's "rear-end" is not a "modesty violation."

The woman was gracious and apologized and I hope we see her swim soon.

Rob of Robaquatics sent us this from the Dailymail.co.uk.

(She is embarassed enough; I won't mention her name.)

'Jaked' - Here is the speedsuit that Fred Bousquet and Therese Alshammar swam and won their events in!

I found out about this suit from a reader known as Swim fast last August. This person was extraordinarily impressed with the suit. So much so that I could not believe the things this European swimmer was telling me about it. I kept checking up on the site from time to time and now the statements made about this suit are panning out as true.

Therese Alshammar set a WR in one but it got DQed due to conflicting rules between Australia and FINA. Fred Bousquet set a record at the Austin Grand Prix and there is Federica Pellegrini who has been swimming and winning in one as well.

Note that we are seeing Europeans now setting more and more records rather than the 'usual suspects': the United States and Australia! Speedsuits have made swimming more exciting despite the accusations of "equipment" or the unfair costs.

I took two images from the Jaked site and composited them above. Note how the suit lacks seams or perhaps the seams are taped over. Maybe even glue is used to stitch the suit.

The suit costs €372 which is $500 in US currency. If only the Euro was valued at .80 USD like it was just before George W. Bush entered office, then I could afford one!

A link to the Jaked website here: [Link]

It you were late to the 'FINA World Cup' - 'Universal Sports' has a wrap-up and videos of each event!

To the right is Tara Kirk storming it in the breaststroke. Tara did quite well proving that she she so deserved to go to the Olympics.

Here is a snippet from Universal Sports: "... The FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2008 got under way Oct. 10 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Over the next six weeks, drama in the pool unfolded in the form of world records, close finishes, renewed rivalries and comebacks.

The seven-meet series, which came to a climactic finish in Berlin on Nov. 16, provided swimming fans an opportunity to see some of their favorite athletes post-Beijing. Americans Tara Kirk, Randall Bal and Peter Marshall performed well, while international stars such as Oussama Mellouli, Christian Sprenger, Therese Alshammar and Katheryn Meaklim cemented their reputations as some of the world's top swimmers. ..." [Link]

Alshammar's walls, underwater work and her finish should be carefully filmed!

I was hoping Therese Alshammar would have had a better Olympics than she did but apparently short course meters pools are her forté.

In this video Alshammar almost nails a WR in the butterfly after coming from behind with a quick thrust towards the wall: [Link]

Here she does set a WR in the butterfly after trailing once again for at least 95% of the race but then snathcing victory at the wall with a great finish: [Link]

She is a very technical swimmer. I wish Glenn Mills or somebody would do a video with her so her work could be studied.

The 'FINA/Arena World Cup' is filling my mailbox with WR alerts! - Here is a link to some video!

VIDEO: Peter Marshall swims two world records

VIDEO: Watch day 2 from Stockholm

VDEO: Marshall's golden day in Stockholm


Also, Therese Alshammar has really done well. I have been rooting for her every since her blue eyes did me in! From Universal Sports: "... In the final event of the day, Swede Therese Alshammar delighted the home crowd by setting a world record in the women's 50m butterfly. Her time of 25.31 bested the old mark of 25.32 set by Australian Felicity Galvez last April. It was the fourth world record to fall at the two-day meet. ..."

Oh, Kim F. sent me a note that the world record in the backstroke was set in a TYR Tracer Rise. Berlin is going to be the final stop and it is going to totally rage! You can watch it for free at Universal Sports: [Link]

I will practically post anything with Therese Alshammar in it

From You Tube: "...Krooli (The Crawl) is set almost entirely in or by the water. It uses images to explore the significance of water in the philosophy of swimming. It is not a biographical documentary of a swimmer, although the main characters are real competitive swimmers. Even though the film explores the profound meaning of the interface between a swimmer and the water, it is just as much a story of the meaning of a sport to an individual, a young competing athlete. It speaks of devotion and a search for ones own place in sports and life ..."

Alshammar cuts $100,000 check with 50 meter fly win

From the video description: "Sweden's Therese Alshammar completed her own World Cup standings victory to cut a huge check of $100,000 when she clocked a time of 25.69 in the women's sprint fly. ..."

WCSN won't let me embed this You Tube video but here is the You Tube link: [Link]

I am actually quite cross about this too. This is not like WCSN and it is summarily illogical for them to do it this way. The more you let people embed your videos, the bigger your brand becomes. If they keep it up then I can't endorse them and I won't link to them anymore.

I will only link this one time to a WCSN video that disallows You Tube embedding. I hope all swim bloggers follow suit.

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]

Libby Lenton, the most accomplished yet most under rated swimmer in the world

It completely went over my head that Lenton won five gold medals at the FINA World Championships. All I could focus on was Michael Phelps' seven gold medals and several world records. The above You Tube is Lenton winning her 5th gold at FINA World Championships in the 50 meter free beating Natalie Coughlin and Therese Alshammar.

Here are some articles discussing her recent accomplishments and her Telstra Swimmer of the Year award; (an Australian version of the "Golden Goggle.)

The Australian [Link]
Hanson Sport Media [Link]
Swim News [Link]

Dara Torres won't swim the 100 fly

Lane 9 News: Dara says, "Dude, I'm 40! Leave that to the 30-somethings like Therese Alshammar!"

Just kidding; she said this instead: [Link]

This photo is part of mrjkbh's photostream at Flickr.com

Some fast swims in Paris right now.

Therese Alshammar of Sweden nearly set another world record in the 50 fly in a time 25.60. Look at her set the world record in the 50fly above. Her technique is so sublime that her shoulders and gluteus maximus are practically dry throughout the race. Her bones must be made of cork or something.

Britta Steffen won the 100m free with a 53:80. I can't wait to see Couglin, Lenton and Steffen together in the 100 free. I predict Steffen.

" ...Ukraine's Yuliya Pidlisna held off the United States' Amanda Beard, 2:28.65 to 2:28.68, for the bronze. ..." Amanda Beard is swimming faster now as compared to her 2:34.03 set a couple months ago. It's comparable to Recca Soni's prelim time of 2:28.37 set a a couple of days ago but she has some work to do. I wouldn't say her time is anemic but they certainly will not be a top three time at US Nationals either.

Lane 9 News for the full wrap-up [Link]

Therese Alshammar sets a world record in the 50m fly at the Mare Nostrum meet in Canet, France

Let's see what can I say about Therese Alshammar? She is Swedish, she is fast, she stands at 5'11" tall and at the Mare Nostrum meet in Canet, France she set a world record in the 50m fly in a time of 24.46 versus the former world record of 24.57. (Can I say she is not hard to look at as well?)

Then, after taking 15 minutes or so to warm down she then placed first in the 50m free. All this brought to you by a Swimming World email update. [Link]