(thanks so much to somexseptember at Daily Reezy for the photo of Ryan, which was captured from the Speedo behind the scenes video found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PsfypVO7GY)
http://www.swimnews.com/rank
A review of the swimnews.com 2009 rankings for the 100/200m back, 100/200m free and 200/400m IM reveals some very fast times in March and April. Many of the performances I've already noted here, but others warrant attention as well.
100m Back
Junya Koga swam a 52.87 at the Japanese nationals last week, only .33 off of Aaron Peirsol's world record and the 3rd best time ever in this event. (Only Peirsol and Randall Bal have had faster times.) Ryosuke Irie came in second with a 53.19, the 3rd best time in the world in 2009. By comparison, Ryan's 53.92 is now the 10th fastest time in the world in 2009.
200m Back
I've already written about Irie's 1:54.02 last weekend at the Japanese nationals and his 1:54.74 in January 2009. I haven't mentioned that Takashi Nakano swam a 1:56.77 in the Japanese nationals and Damiano Lestingi swam a 1:56.91 in the Italian nationals in March. By comparison, Ryan's 1:57.73 is the 8th fastest time in the world in 2009.
Notably in the 100m/200m back, there haven't been any times put up by Aaron Peirsol or Michael Phelps in 2009. Peirsol swam only the prelims at the Austin Grand Prix in March and the prelims were in yards.
100m Free
It would be great for Ryan do well in this event in order to qualify for the 4 x 100m free relay in Rome. He's not really a sprinter (especially if he continues to swim the 400m IM) so I don't think he would qualify in the 100m free as an individual event. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that the best time in the world thus far in 2009 was a 48.11 at the Spain nationals by Filippo Magnini. Magnini also swam a 48.28 at the Italian nationals in March. The other two best times this year came from Eamon Sullivan in the Australian nationals - 48.24 and 48.34. There are no U.S. swimmers in the top 23 times this year. Ryan's best time in this event was 48.65 at the 2008 Olympic trials; his best time in 2009 was 50.58 at the Missouri GP.
200m Free
I've already written about Lin Zhang's 1:45.83 at the Chinese nationals and Marco Belotti's 1:46.33 at the Italian nationals. The best time this year by a U.S. swimmer was 1:46.57 by Peter Vanderkaay at the Austin GP. Ryan's best time this year was 1:48.17 at the Speedo South Sectionals in March.
200m IM
Five Japanese swimmers had times in the top 11 for 2009 at the Japanese nationals last week. Ken Takakuwa swam the best time in the world in 2009 with a time of 1:57.24. Takuro Fujii swam a 1:59.09, the 5th best time in the world this year. Yuma Kosaka had the 7th best time with a 1:59.59 and Hidemasa Sano had the 8th best time with a 1:59.62. Takayuki Ono had the 11th best time with a 1:59.86. That's unbelievable. Also last week, Duarian Townsend swam a 1:58.33 twice at the African nationals for the 3rd best time in the world this year. The fastest time by an American this year was Eric Shanteau's time of 1:59.31 at the Austin GP. Ryan's best time in 2009 was a 1:59.96 at the Speedo South Sectionals.
400m IM
The Japanese swimmers performed extremely well in this event as well last week. Ken Takakuwa had the 2nd and 3rd fastest times in the world in 2009 with a 4:12.41 and 4:12.56 at the Japanese nationals. Yuka Horihata swam a 4:13.69 and a 4:14.79 which were 5th and 8th in the world respectively this year. Hidemasa Sano and Yosuke Mori had the 11th and 12th best times with a 4:15.89 and 4:16.04 respectively.
I've already written about the best time in the world this year, a 4:12.39 by Thomas Haffield at the British nationals. I've also written about Luca Marin's 4:13.10 at the Italian nationals, the 4:14.06 by Lewis Smith at the British nationalss and the 4:14.16 by Hungary's David Verraszto at the Spanish Nationals. Ryan's best time in this event in 2009 was 4:19.49 at the Missouri GP.
No comments:
Post a Comment