One of the big themes of shiny suit world titles last summer was that 100m 'fly final among women in which breaking 57sec was made to look like a walk in the park. Not so this year, but Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) is at the helm of those seeing to hack their way back that way: in 57.39 at the LA round of the USA Grand Prix, she kept all at bay and sped to the helm of the 2010 world rankings.
The lead had been held by at 57.67 by China's Jiao Liuyang, while Vollmer's season best was 57.73 (2009 best 56.94). Vollmer’s time was also a meet record and left her well ahead of 2008 Olympic silver medalist Christine Magnuson (Tinley Park, Ill.), on 58.87, and Lyndsay DePaul (Orange, Calif.) third in 59.13.
Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) kept 16-year-old Rachel Bootsma (Eden Prairie, Minn.) at bay by 0.39sec in the 100m back, winning in 1:00.52, third place going to Presley Bard (Napa, Calif.), on 1:01.03.
Coughlin followed up by confirming that, as winner of the 2004 and 2008 Olympic crowns, she is aiming to join the elite club of Dawn Fraser (AUS, 100m free, 1956, 60, 64) and Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN, 200m back, 1988, 92, 96), stating: "My main goal for the next two-plus years is London [2012]. I’m just going to take my time and work my way toward London."
Two other meet marks fell, to Olympic champions Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J.) and Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima, both in the 100m breaststroke, on 1:06.23 and 1:00.82 respectively. Soni's effort left her a league apart from thos who followed, Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.), on 1:08.61, and Kasey Carlson (Walnut Creek, Calif.) was third in 1:09.55; Kitajima kept at bay Michael Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill.), 1:01.35, and Tales Cerdeira (BRA), 1:01.81.
As the series drew to a close, Chloe Sutton (Mission Viejo, Calif.) took home the big purse of $20,000 after a consistent run of performances throughout the eight-meet tour.
After an encouraging 400m free, Katie Hoff put in another best-effort since Olympic year 2008, with a strong 1:57.58 win in the 200m free, ahead of Ariana Kukors (Auburn, Wash.) and Kate Ziegler (Fairfax, Va.), on 1:58.95 and 1:59.77 respectively.
The men’s 100m back was David Russell (Wellesley, Mass.) get the better of Olympic silver medallist Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill.) 54.22 to 54.59, with Guilherme Guido (BRA) third in 55.99.
Masayuki Kishida (JPN)took the 100m 'fly in 52.80, ahead of Tom Shields, 53.67, with Chen Yin (CHN) third on 54.10, while the 200m medley went to Austrian Markus Rogan in 2:00.82, ahead of Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.), 2:00.92, and a rare multi-stroke appearance from Kitajima, on 2:01.66.
At the long end of the spectrum of events, Michael Klueh won the 800m free in 8:01.82, the women’s 1500m free went to Bonnie Brandon (Aurora, Colo.) in 16.45.76.
