Pan Pacific Championships, Irvine, California, day 1 finals:
The 1,500m free brought a great day of first-day racing to a close, Australia leading the women's meet with three gold to two for the USA, and the hosts leading the men's meet, with three golds, and overall, five wins to Australia's 3.
Men 1,500m freestyle
The championship record of Grant Hackett (AUS) remains supreme, on 14:41.65 from 2002 but Ryan Cochrane (CAN) showed his class-apart status this season with a 14:49.47 victory over 30 laps battle that he took command of at 300m. He never looked back on his way to regaining the helm of the 2010 world rankings with the only sub 14:50 effort seen so far this year. Cochrane is now the very clear favourite for the Commonwealth crown in October.
Silver in Irvine went to Chad La Tourette (USA), in 14:54.48, bronze to Zhang Lin (CHN), in 14:58.90. Sean Ryan (USA) was next home in 15:06.34, while teenager Andrew Gemmell (USA) raced unknowingly to fifth in the fastest morning heat on 15:07.51. Some big names in their wake: Park Tae Hwan (KOR) on 15:13.91 after a silver in then 200m free earlier in the session, and down in 16th place the Olympic champion Ousamma Mellouli (TUN) on 15:24.74.
"I'm not going to cry about this. I saw it coming," Mellouli told AP. "I have not been very consistent and in the 1,500 if you're not consistent, it shows. A lot needs to be done."
Cochrane said: "I had the best year of training in my life and it was great to see it pay off with the win here. The big difference for me was the first half of my swim was really smooth tonight. That allowed me hold on and then really progress over the final lengths."
Randy Bennett, Cochrane’s coach in Victoria, added: "He felt comfortable against this field and being in the lead. He needs to swim to win and winning the race was the most significant thing for him tonight."
Frenchman Sebastien Rouault, who now trains in Mulhouse and has been a regular in the Us training scene in recent years, won the European crown in 14:55.17 and backed up with an 800m victory in the same week in Budapest.
Cochrane's effort was a lifetime textile best: on 14:40.84 in a shiny suit, he first cracked 15mins, on 14:59.02, in 2007 at the Paris Open, as we reported here. At Canadian Olympic trials, when Canada barred swimmers from using the LZR Racer in the interests of fairness, not everyone able to get hold of a suit that had already been worn on the way to a slate of world records, Cochrane, coached by Randy Bennett, swam a 14:54.66.
The champion's splits:
- Cochrane: 56.62; 1:55.71; 2:54.64; 3:53.61; 4:52.56; 5:51.79; 6:51.37; 7:51.19; 8:50.98; 9:50.76; 10:50.88; 11:50.98; 12:51.19; 13:51.63; 14:49.47
Trans-Atlantic medals:
- Pan Pacs: 14:49.47; 14:54.48; 14:58.90
- Euro 1-3: 14:55.11; 14:56.90; 14:59.76
Records
Shiny suit era
- WR: Grant Hackett (AUS) 14:34.56 Jul 2001
- ER: Yuri Prilukov (RUS) 14:41.13 Aug 2008
At February 1, 2008
- WR: Grant Hackett (AUS) 14:34.56 Jul 2001
- ER: Mateusz Sawrymowicz (POL) 14:45.94 Mar 2007
