Connect with Us:
Status Report: World S/C (& Textile) Records
Dec 16, 2012 - Craig Lord
So far in 2012: Olympic 200m freestyle champion Yannick Agnel (FRA) became the latest to crack a shiny suit world mark when he clocked 3:32.25 over 400m freestyle on November 15, 2012.
Olympic 400m free champion Camille Muffat, Agnel's training partner at Nice under the guidance of coach Fabrice Pellerin, fell 0.01sec shy of the world 400m s/c mark, at 3:54.93, on world cup tour in November, 2012. On November 16, she then set a world s/c record of 8:01.06 over 800m freestyle at French nationals in Angers.
Then, on October 18 in Angers, Muffat set a world textile best of 1:51.65 in the 200m freestyle and Agnel a world textile best of 1:39.70 in the men's equivalent, his afford making him the first man inside 1:41 and 1:40 under current suit rules.
Muffat then cracked the 400m free world record, all suits, by 0.07sec in 3:54.85 on November 23 for the European s/c title in Chartres. The standard had stood to Britain's Joanne Jackson since 2009.
Another world textile mark was set at the Berlin round of the world cup tour when Matthew Targett (AUS) clocked 22.30 over 50m butterfly. That got inside the 22.34 at which Roland Schoeman (RSA) had equalled the 2010 textile best of Steffen Deibler (GER) at the Doha round of the cup this year.
On November 23, Vladimir Morozov (RUS) clocked 45.68 to shave 0.07sec off the world textile-suit standard that had stood to Cesar Cielo (BRA) since 2010.
On November 25, Hannah Miley (GBR) set a world textile-suit standard of 4:23.47 in the 400m medley at the European s/c Championships in Chartres.
On 12/12/12, Katinka Hosszu (HUN) set a championship mark and world textile best of 2:02.20 to win the world s/c crown over 200m butterfly in Istanbul. The same day Vladimir Morozov (RUS) clocked 45.52 leading off the Russian 4x100m free quartet, the time a world s/c championship record and best ever in textile.
Also on 12/12/12, Hannah Miley (GBR) won the 400m medley at world s/c championships in Istanbul in a world textile best of 4:23.14.
On December 13 at the world s/c titles in Istanbul, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) lowered her own world textile best over 50m breaststroke to 29.44. On the same day, Chad le Clos took down Ian Crocker's 49.07 100 'fly textile best from 2004 with a 48.82 victory at world titles in Turkey.
On December 14, Olympic champion Daniel Gyurta (HUN) established a 2:01.35 textile best over 200m breaststroke for the world s/c title in Istanbul. On the same day, Gyurta's Hungary teammate Katinka Hosszu clicked 58.49 to win the world s/c 100IM crown in a world textile best. In the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly, Nicholas Santos (BRA) set a world textile best of 22.23.
The same day, Ryan Lochte cracked the world record in the 200m medley in Istanbul, leaving the mark at 1:49.63.
On December 15 in Istanbul, Ryan Lochte set a world record, all suits, of 50.71 in the 100m medley semi-finals at world s/c championships, shaving 0.06sec off the standard that had been held by Peter Mankoc (SLO).
In the 200m medley final at the world s/c championships in Istanbul, Ye Shiwen (CHN) took gold in 2:04.64, a world textile best 0.08sec ahead of silver medallist Katina Hosszu (HUN). The standard had stood at 2:04.91 to Caitlin Leverenz (USA) for a year. Nicholas Santos (BRA) lowered the 50m butterfly to 22.22 in the final the day after his 22.23.
On December 16 in Istanbul, Rikke Pedersen (DEN) established a world textile best of 2:16.08 to win the world s/c crown.
In 2011: Seven textile world bests are also world short-course records, leaving 34 to go before the era off shiny bodysuits banned on January 1, 2010, is sunk.
Of the 42 world short-course records, one remains from a time before non-textile suits arrived (Grant Hackett, AUS, 1500m free, 2001), six have fallen to swimmers in a textile suit since the ban (In 2010: Ryan Lochte, USA, 200m and 400m medley; Russian men 4x200m free; Chinese women 4x200m free. In 2011: Melissa Franklin, USA, 200m backstroke, while the USA women's medley quartet clocked 3:45.56 at the Duel in the Pool in December.
Also in 2011, Allison Schmitt joined US teammate Franklin on the list of the swiftest ever in textile with a 1:52.08 over 200m free in Berlin during the world cup tour. Leader among men on the world cup tour in 2011, Chad Le Clos (RSA) was the only man to have set a world textile best this season, with a sizzling 1:50.15 over 200m butterfly in Berlin - until the last round of the cup in Tokyo, when Takeshi Matsuda (JPN) took the mark down to 1:49.50, the first ever 2sub-1:50 effort by a man in a textile suit.
At the European s/c championships in Poland on December 9, Lotte Friis (DEN) raced inside the 2007 world record of 8:08.00 over 800m freestyle that had stood to American Kate Zeigler, winning the continental crown in 8:07.53, and Daniel Gyurta (HUN) clocked 2:02.37 in the 200m breaststroke to erase the 2:02.92 mark that had stood to Ed Moses (USA) since 2004. At the Duel in the Pool in Atlanta December 17, Friis improved her 800m standard to 8:04.77, while Jessica Hardy (USA) clocked the best 100m breaststroke ever by a woman in textile, 1:03.33 and the US quartet of Natalie Coughlin, 52.59, Jessica Hardy, 52.32, Dana Vollmer, 52.19, and Missy Franklin, 51.36, set an American record of 3:28.46 in the 4x100m freestyle relay, the best ever by four from the same nation in textile suits (Jeanette Ottesen, DEN, on 52.39, Fran Halsall, GBR, on 51.57, Aliaksandra Herasimenia, BLR, on 52.21, and Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED, on 51.36, combined for a 3:27.53 inside the world record but unable to count under nationality rules).
Below is the list of world records (WR, any suit) and world textile bests (WT):
Men:
Women:
