Germany has a man who can swim faster than Ian Thorpe (AUS) ever did over 200m freestyle in a short-course pool. Paul Biedermann (GER) wiped out the former Olympic champion's world record with a 1:40.83sec blast on the final day of action in the 2008 World Cup series in Berlin.
Biedermann, who gave sponsor Arena a good send-off to the 2008 series, leapt on to the lane ropes and punched the air after racing 0.33sec outside Thorpey's pace at 100m, 0.50sec outside it at 150m, before rocketing past the Australian's ghost for a 1:40.83sec victory. That came off a final 50m of 24.90. Imagine that: not far short of a second faster than Thorpe's homecoming effort.
Biedermann's was the 87th world record since February this year. Randall Bal claimed the 88th with a 22.87sec blast in the 50m backstroke that won him the VW car, and Marieke Guehrer (AUS) the 89th with a 24.99sec thunderbolt in the 50m butterfly.
The splits compared:
- Biedermann: 24.18; 50.06; 1:15.93; 1:40.83
- Thorpe: 24.04; 49.73; 1:15.43; 1:41.10
- 1:40.83 Nov 2008
- 1:42.39 Nov 2007
- 1:43.38 Nov 2007
- 1:43.46 Nov 2008
- 1:43.60 Dec 2007
Thorpe hit back at that in words and water, while Thiesmann denied he had said any such thing, while repeating to an international agency that there were "suspicions on the deck". In Berlin, Thorpe questioned the chain of command of a test-sample bottle given to him in the anti-doping process.
Biedermann, based in Halle in eastern Germany, was presented with a $10,000 cheque for his world record. He said: "After the heat this morning I reckoned that I would be able to achieve a performance within a world-record time. My coach [Frank Embacher] told me - we're going for the world record today! And I just answered 'well, let's do it'. It's absolutely fantastic to set a world record in front of a home crowd. My whole family is here today." A pity that his family wasn't far short of making up the bulk of the paying spectators at the venue.
In Biedermann's considerable wake came another man intent on smashing down Aussie legends, Oussama Mellouli (TUN), 1,500m Olympic champion ahead of Grant Hackett, in 1:42.88, with Darian Townsend (RSA) third in 1:43.19.
In a blistering 50m backstroke that produced the first two men inside 23sec, Peter Marshall (USA) led the way but was caught by fellow American Randall Bal in the last stroke. The clock split the two men 22.87 to 22.90. Third place went to Robert Hurley (AUS) in 23.50.
In the 100m butterfly, Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) set a European record of 49.74 to become only the second man to break 50sec. His dominant victory, off a 23.15sec split, over Matt Jaukovic (AUS), on 50.70, and Nikolay Skovortsov (RUS), on 50.98, placed him second all-time behind the 49.07sec world record of Ian Crocker (USA), who split 22.76.
Will we ever see Laure Manaudou return? The question was less pressing for France today in the wake of a near-miss for Coralie Balmy in the 400m freestyle: 3:56.24, just 0.15sec shy of the 2004 Olympic champion's world record. Tough to lose in Beijing, tough too to lose supremacy in domestic waters. Time will tell but Balmy looks like a girl on a roll, the smoothness of turnover, the ease with which she wiped 6sec off her best time to rocket up the rankings to all-time No2 suggesting that there is much more to come.
The 2008 World Cup winners, each taking a $100,000 prize are:
- Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) and Marieke Guehrer (AUS)
