Swimming World Performance Of The Week: Flashback To Ryan Hoffer’s 100 Freestyle

Great retrospective, after only a couple of weeks! And there are still some further fun things to note about this performance, which was certainly among the most technically perfect performances ever. About 14 – 14.7 meters off every wall, with ideally angled breakouts and hitting every wall perfectly.

And even more performance relationship points are interesting.

The poor, overwhelmed announcer, who could not fairly have been asked to anticipate what he was about to see, has been made fun of in the blogs for his “noticing” at the finish that it was a meet record, when there was so much more to raise. His chortle before recognizing and then mentioning the pool record was really fun and brought a second priceless response from Ryan, whose look back over at his coach(es?) after he saw the time was in a class with and reminded me of the best reaction shot I’ve ever seen in a pool — Seoul ’88 when Evans responded to her 400 free LCM 4:03.85 on the board.

As has oft been recognized, Hoffer’s swim was 0.15 from the American record by Adrian. It has not been recognized as often that Nathan’s 2009 :41.08 was a plastic suit record, and while he still holds the textile American record from a swim 3 years later at :41.10, it reduces the apples to apples comparison from 0.15 down to 0.13.

And it is also fun to recognize that the only athletes exceeding :41.23 include only 1) the current Olympic Gold medalist and American record holder Adrian, 2) Cesar Cielo — 7+ year WR holder 50 LCM(current; also 2008 50 Olympic Gold and still Olympic Record) and 6+ year WR holder 100 LCM (Current) and 7+ year 50 SCY U.S. Open record (current) and 5 year holder of the 100 SCY US Open mark, which he held until 3) Vladimir Morozov eclipsed Cielo to set the current US Open 100 free mark in 2013. Pretty upscale company.

This takes us back to another fun twist with the meet announcer, who noted in the early stages of the race that the Meet Record was :43.27 in a 2009 suit era mark set by … Vladimir Morozov!! The same gent who now has the fastest 100 SCY of all time.

And thanks for noting the other swims he had that week, making the 100 free at the end of it all such a crowning achievement, a cherry on top! But as just one final reminder, his 50 back MR lead-off (:21.20) was in the same categories as his 50 Free, 100 Back and 100 Fly wins.

Thanks again, Ryan. You’ve made some wonderful memories for all of us who were watching.

HIS UNDER WATERS ARE INSANE!!!