Fan video of a sub-two-minute 200 butterfly heat at the '2008 FINA World Cup' in Berlin

I don't want to give it away but keep your eyes on lane 4 and lane 3.

Threse Alshammar versus Natalie Coughlin for 100k large in the 2007 FINA World Cup Series

Therese Alshammar, along with Dara Torres are contenders in both the 50 and 100 free. Both will have a combined age of 71 years old next year in Beijing. Dara will be 40 and Therese will be 31.

Look at the angles on Therese in the photo to the right. Every angle on her looks hydro. (Is she really a land dwelling animal?)

Currently Therese is leading in points in the 2007 FINA World Cup Series with Natalie a far off second. According to Lane 9 News: "... While there are various other event-win and world-record bonuses included in the prize money allocated for the World Cup series, the overall winners receive $100,000, while those placing second and third overall will receive $50,000 and $30,000, respectively...." (Hey, I wonder if it is paid in Euros? If so that's a $147,000 Benjamins.* Yep, that is how week the dollar is.) [Link]

They suggest Natalie could take it though.

[*If I won that money, I would stick it in an interest bearing account in Germany or England and let it grow as the dollar falls further and further. This way you get both interest and Euro-appreciation as the dollar sinks more and more. Hence, it is a safe way to make 15% on your Euros with little to no risk. You can thank the treasury and our current administration for the collapse of our dollar. No country ever became prosperous by collapsing it's currency.]

I woke up to a "Swim Alert" from Lane 9 News that Dara Torres beat Therese Alshammar and set an American record

Though Torres placed second to Marleen Veldhuis, Dara Torres now owns the American record in the 50 SCM. I think it is a pretty significant swim especially since she also beat Therese Alshammar. I was hoping You Tube would have a fan video but nothing has been posted yet. I now think there is a very good chance that Dara Torres will medal in the LCM version of this event in Beijing if she qualifies next year at trials. Lane News [Link]

From WCSN: "...

Marleen Veldhuis blazed the splash-and-dash event with a time of 23.58 to pip Sweden's Therese Alshammar's global standard of 23.59, set way back in March 2000. The mark also jumped Veldhuis well ahead of Libby Lenton's season-best time of 23.77, set at the Aussie championships in August.

Additionally, the United States' Dara Torres rocketed past the previous American record of 24.21 set by Kara Lynn Joyce in March 2004. Torres posted a blistering time of 23.82 to become the first sub-24 American in the event.

Alshammar (24.05) and teammate Anna-Karin Kammerling (24.32) took third and fourth, respectively ..." [Link]

Link to a better video of Natalie Coughlin's WR

Swimming World has a nice video of Natalie Coughlin breaking the 100 SCM backstroke world record. This video is straight from WCSN so it's class act: [Link]

You can watch the 'FINA World Cup' series liv at the FINA website

These times are central European times: [Link]

Australia	November 2-3	10:00*
Russia	November 9-10	15:30*
Sweden	November 13-14	19:00*
Germany	November 17-18	15:30*
Brazil	November 24-25	13:00*

The feed is provided by WCSN who has proven to be quite generous to the swimming public at large by providing streaming content at either a very low price or by providing it a day or two later on You Tube or at their very own site. I wish USA Swimming would have signed a marketing deal with WCSN rather than the Wasserman Media Group.

You can also see these races as well as other high profile sports at the WCSN website as well: [Link]

Natalie Coughin's 100 SCM backstroke world record

UPDATE: Swimming World has a nice video of Natalie Coughlin breaking the 100 SCM backstroke world record. This video is straight from WCSN so it's class act: [Link]

From Lane 9 News: "... SINGAPORE, October 28. THE United States' Natalie Coughlin cashed a big check on Sunday in Singapore as she came through with the first swim eligible for the world-record bounty at the 2007 FINA World Cup series.

In similar fashion to when she reset the women's 100 backstroke world record over the long course at the FINA World Championships in March, Coughlin did the same over the short course with a sparkling time of 56.51 in Singapore. ... [Link]