After Doha, It’s Still Katie Ledecky Over Katinka Hosszu for Swimmer of the Year

Photo by Delly Carr

By David Rieder

CHARLESTON − Last week, Swimming World announced Katie Ledecky as the female World Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive year. Sure, no one will ever confuse Ledecky for someone that can jump into any event, any stroke and distance, and be an instant threat. If you want someone who can do that, look no further than Katinka Hosszu, who FINA announced on the same day as their top honoree.

Hosszu made FINA happy this week at the Short Course World Championships in Doha, winning four gold medals, all in world record-time, and she also picked up two silvers. Hosszu spent the fall season pouncing short course world records between the FINA World Cup and World Champs as a follow-up to one of her best long course seasons. She finished with the top times in the world in both IMs, including a 2:08.21 in the 200 distance, and she also clocked the year ranked third in the 100 back.

But still, Ledecky wins my vote for the top spot for 2014 − followed by Hosszu and then Sarah Sjostrom. The difference lies in the long course pool, the Olympic-sized version. Long course World Championships always gets everyone’s best shot, but the short course version misses half of the world’s top swimmers. Some, like Ledecky, hardly compete short course meters at all, so those records don’t always pack the same punch as their long course counterparts.

Outside of Europe, which holds a short course titles meet every December, a large group of athletes hardly swim championship short course meets, so world records can go down in bunches, such as the 21-mark barrage this week. In contrast, only seven long course world records went down in all of 2014 − five of them to Ledecky alone. And in those swims, Ledecky redefined the landscape of women’s distance swimming.

Between two swims, Ledecky took eight seconds off of her own 1500 free world record, and she paced the world rankings by 27 seconds. She chopped off almost three seconds from her previous mark in the 800 free at the end of a little-known mid-summer meet in Texas. And in the 400, she broke one of the most intimidating and notoriously suit-aided long course marks on the books, Federica Pellegrini’s 400 free.

Sure, Hosszu impressed in 2014 with her prowess in so many events and her inability to get tired. But Hosszu is by no means dominant in any event, except for perhaps the 200 IM. But Ledecky is miles ahead in all three distance events right now, and she looks like a legitimate World title contender for the 200 free next year. And even when she’s not at her sharpest, as was the case at this week’s Short Course Nationals, she can still drop a 1650 ten seconds faster than anyone else − including American distance greats like Janet Evans, Brooke Bennett, Kate Ziegler, and Katie Hoff − has ever swum.

On the men’s side, Swimming World’s pick for top male swimmer of the year picked up just one gold medal, but the win might have been the most meaningful one of the meet. He took down four-time defending Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM, knocking off the oft-honored American by almost a full second. The race actually marked the only head-to-head in the 200 IM between the two this year after Lochte swam in the B-final at Pan Pacs this summer.

The pair actually clocked the same time in winning their respective finals time at Pan Pacs, but Hagino ended up clocking the world’s top time with his 1:55.34 from the Asian Games. Lochte finished more than a second ahead of his Japanese rival in the event at the Long Course Worlds in 2013, but Hagino managed to turn the tables in Doha, despite Lochte being recognized as one of the best short course swimmers ever.

Lochte will swim a limited program at Worlds next summer, having just qualified for the 100 and 200 free and 200 IM, while Hagino will have a full slate, which could consist of the 200 and 400 free and both backstrokes in addition to the IMs. Their 200 IM showdown could be one of the most intriguing showdowns of the week. Hagino has supplanted him as the premier male swimmer in the world, and a 200 IM win in Kazan next summer would be a symbolic passing-of-the-torch.

Five years ago, FINA banned fullbody and non-textile suits after a two-year onslaught of records, many of which still remain on the books. Almost nothing survived that streak, so seeing the date “2002” in the record books seems like it must be a typo. Indeed, a pair of short course yards American records survive from March 22, 2002, when Natalie Coughlin posted a 50.01 in the 100 fly and then an hour later, 49.97 in the 100 back.

In almost 13 years, no one has been able to touch the marks of the then-Cal sophomore. At the time she set them, the 100 back mark was most extraordinary, because no one else had even swum under 52 at that point. During the suit era, Gemma Spofforth broke into the 50-second range with a 50.46 range. Two Cal Bears from a later era, Cindy Tran (50.31 in 2012) and Rachel Bootsma (50.12 in 2013) would get closer, but the 49.97 kept puffing its chest out.

This weekend, Courtney Bartholomew came as close as they come to joining Coughlin in the exclusive sub-50 club. Her 50.01 leading off Virginia’s 400 medley relay at the Georgia Invite left her painfully close to the record, but in another chance in the individual event a night later, she couldn’t punch it in, clocking a 50.39. Records that old and that revered can be elusive, so even though Bartholomew and others (such as Bootsma) have a whole season ahead of them, that relay on Friday night may have been the best chance gone by.

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swimfan

9 years ago

You are a hypocrite. You say that barely anyone swims SCM but then you praise Ledecky for being great in SCY. Let me tell you something, BARELY ANYONE SWIMS SCY not SCM. Or let me rephrase that, SCY swimming exists only in the US, and so many of the great swimmers don’t have opportunity to taper and come to the US and break the records. Nor they should do it because nobody in the world cares about SCY, except of course for USA

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David Rieder - Senior Writer

9 years ago

Reply to swimfan

I re-worded that paragraph you’re talking about. Just trying to point out how far she has dropped these times. Comparing her to Evans, Ziegler, etc. – that’s good company! I get your point about SCY/SCM, but I still think of a long course WR as vastly more meaningful than a short course one. Europe has a significant short course season, but plenty of swimmers from Asia and Australia (as well as the U.S.) don’t really focus on SCM meets.

Bill Bell

9 years ago

When Hosszu sets three wrs next summer @ Kazan MAYBE she’ll rate consideration.

Now?

Over Coach K’s dead body!

Wahooswimfan

9 years ago

A very good case for Chad Le Clos as the best male swimmer right now also exist. With Lochte’s injuries, both Hagino and Le Clos have passed him, although is still a while till 2016.

Rory Mitchell

9 years ago

Reply to Wahooswimfan

Le Clos went undefeated in the World Cup over a whole bunch of different events, not just butterfly events, but who cares if is only dominant in butterfly events as Hagino in dominant in nothing. Even IM races he loses to his teammate (who is his real rival, not Lochte) very often. Thank goodness FINA got the real winner for men right unlike Swimming World Magazine. Although they were out to lunch in not picking Ledecky. Swimming World Magazine were the ones to get that one right.

Maria

9 years ago

I don’t get it, praising Hagino for 200IM and not a single word about his huge defeat in 400IM especially after bragging around how he’ll break WR in this event? If Hagino had won both, if Lochte had been in the same conditions as he was, than I would have had no objection. But in the case talking about “the most meaningful gold of the meet” is not correct at the very least.
Also, have to disagree on Ledecky still over Hosszu. Stop treating SCM accomplishments like not important. 9 World Records in one year is hard to top.

David Rieder

9 years ago

Reply to Maria

In terms of long-term repercussions, I think Hagino beating Lochte means something, especially in that he did it during an otherwise-poor meet. He never had before (though, as I mention above, they didn’t have the chance at Pan Pacs). Back to what Wahooswimfan said, I thought about the le Clos-Hagino debate last week, but check out Hagino’s LC world rankings: first in both IMs, second 200 free/200 back, fourth 100 back, and fifth 400 free. Le Clos, other than his 200 free win this week, is very much a flyer, and he was by no means dominant this year long course.

Believe me, I am not discounting all of the records Hosszu set, and that’s part of the reason I put her second on the list. But 21 WRs fell in Doha alone, compared to 7 LC WRs all year. That number speaks for itself.

Maria

9 years ago

Reply to David Rieder

It definitely means something. But if they both had been in the same conditions, Hagino win would have been the most meaningful of the meet. No excuses for Lochte, but amount of technical errors he made and his weak breaststroke shows he’s not fully shaped hense it’s hard to compare Hagino’s form who’s been racing the whole season SC included and Lochte’s who was racing in 25m pool for the first time since 2012 (don’t count that small meet in Italy). Not trying to belittle Hagino’ overall accomplishments this year, just talking about the particular race.
Also I don’t see how counting SCM WRs compared to LCM is an argument against Hosszu. This is no major LC meet year , can we expect elites to pick at LC in a year like this? Some of them do but also
lot of them preferred to focus on SCM, dozen of WRs were set in new events FINA recognized just before the meet.

David Rieder

9 years ago

Reply to David Rieder

It’s a whole other issue entirely (that I thought about addressing here but saved for another time) about all these “new” records. FINA suddenly decides to recognize these 200 relay and mixed relay times and says that a new “record” there is the same as an individual one. But I digress…

We’ll have to wait until next year to know for sure, but I say we see 10 or less WRs in Kazan. Those marks are just so out there in a lot of events. It’s really once every four years that focusing on a SCM meet makes sense for the entire world (post-Olympics in 2012 is an afterthought for some), so a lot of these records fall when people just show up.

Jason V

9 years ago

What a meet! What a pool!

100Brst

9 years ago

An article in severe need of an editor. Mr. Hagino is the only person in this article with no first name. And his name doesn’t even appear until the second paragraph about the SW’s selection in the men’s category.

Rory Mitchell

9 years ago

Le Clos was way better than Hagino this year. Beating Lochte is not “most meaningful”. Lochte isnt even one of the 5 best swimmers in the world currently. He won exactly 0 golds at both Pan Pacs and the world short course, so in what planet is beating Lochte most meaningful. Le Clos beats Lochte too anytime they race today, 100 fly, 200 free at the WSC, and probably could even beat him in the IM now if they raced, despite that that isnt even close to Le Clos’s best event. What a biased slant that is.

Also how could Hagino take over from Lochte as the worlds best swimmer, when Lochte was never 2nd best to Phelps really, and by the time of London 3rd or 4th best behind Sung Yang/Agnel perhaps.

Rory Mitchell

9 years ago

Sorry I meant was never more than 2nd best to Phelps really.

Kim

9 years ago

Typical American bias – no surprise!