5 Best Performances of the Year 2015 – Men’s Edition

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

By David Rieder

The year’s major long course meets are complete, and with the exception of the ongoing World Cup and the upcoming FINA World Junior Championships, swimming has entered a bit of a quiet period. No better time than the present, then, to look back on the best performances of the year. Yesterday, I picked the top five women’s swims of the year, and today I will rank the most impressive efforts on the men’s side.

Whereas all of the top women’s swims came from last week’s World Championships in Kazan, the men’s include one from U.S. Nationals ¬– you can probably guess who – and one from another meet from this past spring. This exercise is not based on FINA points awarded for proximity to world record swims and thus is not fully objective, and I’ve also omitted short course times. Disagree? The comment box down below is open!

Honorable Mentions

Camille Lacourt broke out in 2010 with his 52.11 effort in the 100 back – the time still stands as third in the all-time rankings – and tied for the World title in the event a year later, but he did not win a medal at the 2012 Olympics or 2013 Worlds. He had not broken 53 in the event since 2012. He rebounded nicely in Kazan, however, to win the silver in the event in 52.48. Lacourt also defended his 50 back world title… Nathan Adrian swam to a disappointing seventh-place finish in the 100 free at Worlds but immediately put that behind him the next day, when he blasted an American record in the 50 with a 21.37. He went on to win silver in the event in 21.52… Great Britain’s breaststroke strength has been well documented over the past several years, but how about Ross Murdoch coming from lane eight to steal bronze in the 100 breast in a personal best time of 59.09?… It does not take a gold medal to warrant recognizing a breakthrough swim. Connor Jaeger deserves plaudits for his American record swim in the 1500 that earned him a silver medal in Kazan. Jaeger cut ten seconds from his best time and broke a streak of four straight World Championship finals where he finished fourth… James Guy’s time of 1:45.14 in the 200 free does not impress on the surface. But then remember that he dropped more than a second and a half in the past year in the event. After ranking 16th in the world in 2014, he found himself overtaking Ryan Lochte and Sun Yang down the stretch to earn himself a World title this time around.

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

5. Adam Peaty’s 50 Breast at World Championships

Officially, Cameron van der Burgh set a world record in the men’s 50 breast in prelims at the World Championships. But Adam Peaty had already swum that exact time, 26.62, at the European Championships last year, only for the time to never be ratified due to administrative error. Peaty, who had the night before had to narrowly edge out van der Burgh to claim the world title in the 100 breast, decided then that enough was enough.

Peaty blasted a 26.42 in the semi-final that evening to destroy the world record ¬– two tenths is an eternity, after all, in a race as short as 50 meters. He then came back a night later to win the world title in 26.51, the second-best time in history. With his two world titles, Peaty had established himself pretty clearly as the premier sprint breaststroker in the world, a meteoric rise for the 19 year old who had never before swum at a World Championships.

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

4. Michael Phelps’ 100 Fly at U.S. Nationals

Chad Le Clos deserves some serious credit. After all, he rebounded from his first 200 fly loss in four years to win gold in the 100 fly at Worlds, clocking 50.56. That moved him to fifth in the all-time rankings in the event, and at the time, only Ian Crocker (50.40) had ever swum faster in a textile suit. But a few bulletin board quotes and about seven hours later, Michael Phelps stunned Le Clos speechless, clocking a 50.45 to win the event at Nationals.

You can argue as to which of Phelps’ three national titles was most impressive; his 1:54.75 in the 200 IM actually netted performance of the meet honors, while his 200 fly (1:52.94) was the most stunning of the efforts. But Michael Phelps has always had a flare for the dramatic, particularly in the 100 fly. His first two Olympic victories in the event came by a whopping five one-hundredths of a second, combined. With his win at Nationals, Phelps sent a message express all the way around the world to Kazan to Le Clos and all of his other rivals that he would not go quietly in his latest comeback attempt.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

3. Mitch Larkin’s 200 Back at World Championships

Mitch Larkin entered the World Championships having never broken 53 in the 100 back or 1:55 in the 200 back. He looked like a contender but not a favorite for a medal in Kazan. A week later, he left the meet as the undisputed top backstroker in the world. He posted the top-ranked time in each round of both the 100 and 200 back events on his way to a pair of world titles. Larkin earns an honorable mention for his 100 back win, which saw him clock 52.50 or faster all five times he swam the event in Kazan.

But it’s his 200-meter performance that gets him the third spot on this list. Larkin won the event by almost a second with a time of 1:53.58, and that swim placed him in the event’s all-time top five. Those faster? Aaron Peirsol, Ryosuke Irie, Ryan Lochte, and Tyler Clary, two of whom he beat on his way to gold. And Larkin, who just turned 22 last month, should be just entering his prime, so look for more down the road for this newly-crowned backstroke king.

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

2. Florent Manaudou’s 50 Free at World Championships

Even though Nathan Adrian led the way into the 50 free final at Worlds with his 21.37, Florent Manaudou still looked like the favorite for the World title. After all, the Olympic gold medalist still had a faster time to his credit after swimming a 21.32 to win the European title last year. Still, few expected a massive 21.19 performance in the final, and few expected that a 50 free world title showdown would be decided by as massive a total as three tenths of a second.

Manaudou, who earlier in the week won the world title in the 50 fly and contributed to a French 400 free relay triumph, moved into the top-three all-time with his swim. Only Cesar Cielo (20.91) and Fred Bousquet (20.94) have ever swum faster, while Ashley Callus also has a 21.19 to his credit. No one has ever been faster in a textile suit, and the closest was Adrian’s distant semi-final time. Like Cielo before him, Manaudou has emerged as the sole dominant force in the splash-and-dash.

Photo Courtesy: FINA Doha 2014

1. Adam Peaty’s 100 Breast at British Nationals

For all the great swims at the World Championships, the year’s best goes all the way back to April 17, when Adam Peaty became the first man under 58 in the 100 breast. That barrier being broken seemed unthinkable as recently as, well, April 16. After all, it was only seven years ago that Kosuke Kitajima stunned the world when he first went under the 59-barrier on his way to his second straight Olympic gold in the event.

Peaty broke out onto the scene last year when, at just 19 years old, he swam a stunning 58.68 to win the European Championship in the 100 breast in his first big international meet. Then, on his way to qualifying for his first World Championships, Peaty swam his 57.92 in the 100 breast, obliterating the world record that Cameron van der Burgh set on his way to Olympic gold in the very same pool three years earlier.

Peaty went on to post a still-really-fast 58.18 in the semi-finals of the event at Worlds ¬– three tenths faster than anyone else has ever swum – and then edge van der Burgh for the world title the next night. Peaty continued to impress in Kazan, with his 50 breast world title and leading Great Britain to a mixed medley relay gold medal. But it’s for redefining the imaginable in the 100 breaststroke that Peaty receives the honor of the top performance of the year.

Photo Courtesy: Ian MacNicol

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NorwegianSwimFan#1

8 years ago

I believe Peaty’s previous, unratified world record in the 50 breast was set in European Champs last summer in Berlin, not at British Nationals.

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David Rieder - Senior Writer

8 years ago

Reply to NorwegianSwimFan#1

Whoops! Since been corrected. Thanks for noticing that!

NorwegianSwimFan#1

8 years ago

I believe Peaty’s previous, unratified world record in the 50 breast was set at European Champs last summer in Berlin, not at British Nationals.

Dunc1952

8 years ago

Ryan Murphy, 100 Back :52.18; he may have been inconsistent through the meet but the title of the article is outstanding performances. His swim was 4th all time performer, 5th all time performance, 1st in world for 2015
Needs mention somewhere.