6 Goosebump Moments of 2015

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Andy Ross, Swimming World College Intern

I have been a huge swimming fan since I was eight years old. After watching almost every race from every meet closely, I have grown to cheer for some swimmers over others for their character or sometimes if they always seem to come up short. There were a lot of moments from 2015 where I got goosebumps from watching certain swimmers do well, or just from seeing truly impressive performances.

Below are some of those goosebump-inducing moments of 2015…

1. James Guy’s 200 Freestyle

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

After Great Britain swam out of their minds at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, I was a bit skeptical if they could repeat those performances in 2015. A lot of those British swimmers with breakout swims, like Adam Peaty, Siobahn O’Connor and Ross Murdoch, had not been successful on the major international level (yet).

One of those swimmers from 2014 was James Guy. I wasn’t expecting much from him in Kazan but what he did in Russia was nothing short of spectacular. I knew he was the real deal when he went toe to toe with Sun Yang in the 400 earlier in the meet. But I didn’t think he would be able to challenge for a gold medal in the 200, because I assumed the 400 was his best event.

The men’s 200 free final in Kazan was stacked. I honestly thought that Ryan Lochte was going to be the guy to beat going into the final with Sun, Cameron McEvoy and Chad Le Clos with outside chances. But James Guy went out and won the race. He outswam Sun on the last 50 and it was so cool to see someone beat him at his own game.

2. Laszlo Cseh’s 200 Butterfly

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

I always felt bad for Laszlo Cseh because he had to live in Michael Phelps’ shadow for his whole career. He had the meet of his life when he won three silvers in the Beijing Olympics and yet nobody really knows about him or what he did in Beijing. To be honest, I thought Cseh was done in 2011. I thought after the suits, there was no way he would be as good as he was.

I honestly thought he peaked in Beijing, since he was also getting (relatively) old. But when he did well in the 50 fly in Kazan, it was almost like Cseh was reborn. He came into the 200 fly and it was expected to be a battle between him and Chad Le Clos. He took it out with Le Clos and pulled away at the 125 and he finally won gold again. I didn’t watch it live (as I was sitting in the airport before my flight to nationals), but I wish I could have watched it.

I tweeted right after he won and said that if he would win in Rio, then it would be easily one of the greatest storylines in the Olympics. It would be like if John Stockton and Karl Malone had won an NBA title in the early 2000s after getting beat by the Michael Jordan Bulls in 1997 and 1998, or if the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s won a Super Bowl after losing four straight times. But unfortunately for Cseh, Phelps went a time in the 200 fly that would have won the world title. But the Olympic final isn’t for another 11 months, so who knows what will happen…

3. Kevin Cordes’ Silver

Photo Courtesy: Maria Dobysheva

Kevin Cordes was another swimmer I have felt bad for. He had an incredible college career and everyone put a lot of pressure on him to perform in long course. In 2013, he didn’t make the final in the 200 breast at Worlds and disqualified the (would have been gold medal-winning) 400 medley relay. In 2014, he disqualified Arizona’s 400 medley relay with a false start again. And at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships, his goggles came off in the final of the 100 breast and he wasn’t able to qualify for that event at the 2015 Worlds. It was only a matter of time before he would have a breakthrough swim at a major international meet.

He lined up for the final of the 200 breast in Kazan as one of the favorites. He kept his stroke long the entire time and did not panic. He was right with Marco Koch and stayed with him to the finish, where he finished second behind Koch. It was Cordes’ first international medal and he finally proved that he could step up in big long course meets.

4. Emily Seebohm’s 100 Back

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

After she went 58.23 in the prelims of the Olympics, I always thought that Emily Seebohm was the best 100 backstroker in the world. Yes, I do know that Missy Franklin was around, but I always thought Seebohm was naturally better at the 100 than Missy.

When she won gold in Kazan this summer, it was cool to see her finally break through. She has been around on the world scene since she was 14, but has always seemed like she couldn’t step up in the big moment. I thought she might break the world record this summer, but it is only a matter of time before she can track that record down.

5. Katinka Hosszu’s World Record

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

Katinka Hosszu is probably one of the toughest swimmers in the world and the IM world records for women are probably the toughest in the books. After the 2013 Worlds in Barcelona, I knew she was the only swimmer in the world who had a chance at chasing down both of those world records. It was only a matter of time before she did.

When she went 2:06 in the semis of the 200 IM, I knew the world record was doomed in the final. She went out and won the race and got under Ariana Kukors’ world record. The camera then showed her husband Shane Tusup beating his chest and screaming. Then the camera panned to Hosszu in the water and she had tears in her eyes. I can only imagine how hard she works everyday to be able to handle her busy racing schedule. It was so cool to see her so emotional after getting her first long course world record. I don’t know Katinka personally, but I felt like I was watching a teammate of mine with the excitement I had for her after nabbing a world record.

6. Michael Phelps at US Nationals

michael-phelps-podium-interview-usa-swimming-nationals-2015 (7)

Photo Courtesy: Sue Borst

Michael Phelps has never been my favorite swimmer, but I still love watching him swim in person. I mean, who doesn’t stop and watch the greatest swimmer of all time? When I found out I was going to be on deck at US Nationals, I wasn’t really expecting much from Phelps. He had a lackluster 2014 and I thought he would just get by in San Antonio with a few wins, but no stellar times. Boy was I wrong.

When he lined up for the 200 fly, I thought he was vulnerable to Jack Conger. Phelps went out and was pretty close to his world record the whole time. He went 1:52 and when I saw how excited he was after he won, I knew I had just witnessed something amazing.

The next day was the 100 fly and all the talk on the deck was a quote from Chad Le Clos saying how he went a time that Phelps hadn’t done in four years so “he can be quiet now.” The deck was packed. I was in about the fourth row behind the lane one fence. A few of my teammates said they were going to try to watch the meet upstairs, but there wasn’t any room up there. Everyone was packed in to see what Phelps would do. When he touched in the world’s fastest time, it was spectacular to see. He got even more excited than he did when he won the 200. For the first time in quite a while, it looked like Phelps was legitimately enjoying swimming again. Something I hadn’t seen him do since about 2008.

The next night was the 200 IM. I had to warm up during the finals session and I made sure I was done with my workout before Phelps swam. When I walked onto the deck to watch him swim, I couldn’t even stand by the bleachers because it was so packed. I then moved to the benches behind the lanes. When I saw he was under world record pace, I started to freak out. When would be the next time I would witness a world record? I then committed one of my pet peeves and started taking Snapchat videos of Phelps swimming because I wanted to savor the moment (for 24 hours).

The entire pool deck was silent, aside from deafening cheers when Phelps’ head popped up for breathes during breaststroke. Everyone was hoping they’d see a world record. When he just missed it, I was disappointed I couldn’t tell my Snapchat friends I just saw a world record. But when I went back to finish my warm up, I started to soak in what I had witnessed over the last three days.

The greatest swimmer in the world gave us a performance like we had not seen since his (so-called) prime. After 2010, I didn’t think Phelps would be the same swimmer. I even said a few weeks before Nationals that I felt bad for kids nowadays because they have no idea how good Phelps really was in 2007 and 2008. But those kids saw that again in San Antonio, and to see that in person– that was special.

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Vince Harris

8 years ago

When news came out about Sun Yang pulling from the 1500 and not in time to inform Reserve Pal Joenson in time for him to compete, with Joenson sitting in the Stands. And Joenson then getting married a couple of days later. And after that, opening a 50m pool on a tiny island in The Faroe Islands.
What a story. There must be a film in that.

Dunc1952

8 years ago

Well done, Andy.

Sherif Ramses Ebbo

8 years ago

Zeyad Samy Eslam El Khateeb Tibo Islam EL-Nahas Hisham Hosny. Heya eh el ketaaf di?

NAS

8 years ago

I liked this a lot, but you said you “feel sorry for Cseh”, that sounds ridiculous to me, I understand where you came from, but there’s nothing to feel sorry for. Michael isn’t unbeatable, if anyone wants it bad enough, they have to train for it, and they will win. Everytime people say things like that it sounds to me exactly the same as “Michael was better retired so others have a chance”, how stupid is that? Isn’t Ryan Lochte an example of that? He trained for that and he beat Michael multiple times, taking his WR with him. Hagino has done it too, Pereira, Crocker, Thorpe, Le Clos. Of course Michael is out of the ordinary, but he’s not nearly invincible. If people don’t beat him, it’s mostly because they think they can’t, with that mentality it will never happen. Like many many articles already pointed out, swimming is a very mental sport, that being said is very simple to understand that, even though Michael IS amazing in the pool, people paint him being much more than he actually is.

He’s just a swimmer like everyone else, whatever medal and WR he had in the past, it’s the past. If he doesn’t train to achieve his goals, he will simply not achieve them like everybody else. So if people could stop being sorry for those who lost, and stop glorifying the ones who won, that would be great.

And I’m sorry if I was rude, but this topic frustrates me A LOT.

Brandon

8 years ago

What about Mitch Larkins 100 backstroke at Kazan.. Out touched two of the best backstrokers ever.. ( in my opinion ) nothing but class..

barkergk

8 years ago

I agree that it was nice to see Emily Seebohm break out. She has her work cut out for her if she doesn’t want a London repeat in Rio now that Missy Franklin is training long course full time at altitude and without studies to divide her time and a 20 hour per week training limit college rule. It will be interesting to watch.

Duncan Gordon

8 years ago

Amanda Wodke Stanbery

Mary Elizabeth Martin

8 years ago

I was there..

Chris Lee

8 years ago

Kay Bee
This is a swimmer’s definition. *scotter
Nathan Scotter

Coach Mike 1952

8 years ago

No goosebumps from Katie Ledecky’s 800 free obliterating her former world record? Oversight????

superfan

8 years ago

I disagree that Katie’s 800 free wasn’t included….dropping that much and setting a world record. I definitely had goosebumps.
Nothing against Kevin, but no goosebumps. It was a good swim, but not even a best time for him. It was good for him to win a silver medal and beat the Hungarian! But no goosebumps! I also didn’t have goosebumps for Seebohm’s 100 back either….not sure why not