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Adrian Goes To Top Of 2013 Class

Jan 19, 2013  - Craig Lord

News Round-Up:

USA: Olympic champion Nathan Adrian cracked out a 48.32 season long-course opener over 100m freestyle  on the first night of the Arena Austin Grand Prix at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas. Adrian's time, a pool record, took him just 0.06sec ahead of James Magnussen (AUS),  the man he pipped by 0.01sec for the Olympic crown at London 2012, at the helm of the early 2013 world rankings. The pool mark is soaked in history: Matt Biondi, the last American to win the 100m Games title before Adrian, had held the previous record at 48.42 - from 1988, the year he won Olympic gold (one of five) win Seoul.  Adrian dominated the Austin race, fellow Olympians Ricky Berens and Jimmy Feigen on 49.35 and 50.01 respectively to follow home. Double Olympic champion Missy Franklin took the women's 100m free in 54.68 well up on Simone Manuel, 55.52, and Nathalie Lindborg, 56.16. Other winners included Rachel Nicol, on 2:28.79 in the 200m breaststroke; B.J. Johnson ahead of Clark Burckle and Mike Alexandrov 2:13.02 to 2:13.36 and 2:13.97 in the 200m breaststroke; Chloe Sutton under 4:10 in the 400m free ahead of Canada's Barbara Jardin, 4:10.27 and Texan Quinn Carrozza, 4:11.16. Jardon's Canadian teammate and Olympic 1500m free medallist at London 2012, Ryan Cochrane, clocked 3:52.07 to win the 400m free; Noemie Thomas took the 100m 'fly in 58.88, the sole sub-minute effort of the race; and Stanford training partners Eugene Godsoe and Bobby Bollier went 102 in the 100 'fly for men in 53.54 and 53.57 ahead of Club Wolverine's Dan Madwed, on 53.77.

 USA: Post-Oprah, the American Swimming Association has banned Lance Armstrong for life, barring him from many of the leisure swim events, such as lake races, in the USA, including competitions such as the Lake Travis Relay, in which the shamed former cyclist raced in 2011 and 2012.

New Zealand: Swimming New Zealand has appointed Australian rowing executive Christian Renford as its new Chief Executive at the helm of a revamped organisation. Renford was head of Rowing New South Wales for the past four years. The NZ fed issued a press release on the appointment yesterday.

Turkey: The Turkish swim fed has asked Bob Bowman to serve as consultant in an effort to raise standards in a country that hosted a world titles last month but is very far from being able to boast podium placers in world-class waters. Bowman was in Istanbul during the world s/c champs last month to speak to British Swimming about its post-London 2012 inquiry after having served as a panel member in the process as part of his new role as a TSE Consulting agent during a year in which the mentor to Michael Phelps is taking a year off deck.