International swimmers to watch for

I'm trying to keep track of what has been happening in meets in Europe the past few weeks in order to learn more about swimmers from other countries prior to Rome. It also helps to learn who else is good in Ryan's usual events.

Paul Biedermann - Germany - 200m Free
He's the one in the middle at this photo from the Olympics. Biedermann just swam the fastest 200m free time in the world so far at the German nationals - 1:44.71. That's unbelievable. It's not like he came out of nowhere - he finished 4th in this event at the 20008 Olympics - but his time was 1:46.0. He's improved by more than 1 second since then. He's definitely someone to watch for in this event in Rome.

Helge Meeuw - Germany - 100m Back
Helge Meeuw is in the photo above with the beard. He just swam the 4 fastest time in the world so far this year in the 100 back - a 53.08. He competed in this event at the 2008 Olympics, but did not qualify for the semi-finals. Some say it was because he did not shave his beard. In 2008, prior to the Olympics, Meeuw set the Euorpean record in the 100m back with a time of 53.10, a record that was broken by Aschwin Wildeboer last week. He will be a serious contender in this this event in Rome and I bet this time he will shave.

Aschwin Wildeboer - Spain - 200m back
We know that Wildeboer broke the WR in the 100m back last week at the Mediterranean Games. He also swam a super fast time in the 200m back - 1:54.96. This was the 2nd fastest time in the world this year, behind only Ryosuke Irie's 1:52.86 in an illegal suit. This time was .03 slower than the European record, which is held by Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia. I know who Vyatchanin is because he won bronze in this event in the 2008 Olympics behind Ryan and Aaron Peirsol. He also led the race most of the way until Ryan (and Aaron) pulled ahead in the last lap. Much has been made of the suit he was wearing when he set the WR in the 100m back, but Wildeboer is really good and has been for a while. He placed 7th in the 100 back in Beijing and qualified in the 200 back but did not swim it. There's no doubt he'll be someone to watch in the backstroke events in Rome.





















Marco Loughran - Great Britain
Marco qualified in the 50/100/200m back events at the Scottish nationals. His times in the 50 and 100 back did not make the top 25, but his time in the 200m back was a 1:58.47, which is the 24th best time in the world this year. Marco trains with Ryan at UF and hopefully will do well in Rome.