The Week That Was: USA, Russia Prep For World Championships

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

While the Russians were preparing the team that will race in the pool at a home world championships, a major shift in the swimming landscape was taking place in the United States as a coach and swimmer announced some upcoming moves. For The Week That Was we will count down the top five swimming headlines of the past few days.

The Week That was is supported by AgonSwim.com

The Week That Was #5: Randy Bennett succumbs to cancer

Photo Courtesy: Kezia Nathe

Randy Bennett has been one of the leading forces in raising Canada’s stature in the pool for more than a decade, and that light was extinguished Monday after a long battle with cancer. Bennett was Canada’s national team head coach for many years, and his swimmers collected most of the country’s international medals, including distance ace Ryan Cochrane. It’s likely his athletes will dedicate their performances this summer – and for the remainder of their swimming careers – to Bennett.

The Week That Was #4: Team USA’s open water squad picked for open water world championships

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

This summer’s world championships is more important for open water swimmers than those who only swim in the pool. The top 10 men and top 10 women in the 10K marathon swim will be automatically selected for the 10K at next year’s Olympics, which makes this July’s swim almost as important as the Olympic race itself. Getting the opportunity to swim the 10K at worlds for the USA are Becca Mann and Haley Anderson on the women’s side, and Jordan Wilimovsky and Sean Ryan for the men. All have open water worlds experience, and will use that to get that coveted top-ten spot in Kazan. Anderson will be looking to return to the Olympics after winning silver in the 10K in London in 2012. Wilimovsky showed that he’s a strong force in open water, winning the 10K by 13 seconds over Ryan. Ryan had to wait for the official word on his selection to the world team, as a photo finish was needed to determine if he or Alex Meyer hit the finish pad first. It was determined that Ryan won by four thousandths of a second, which is closer than what is measured in pool swimming. Meyer got a bit of revenge by winning the 5K and will swim that event at worlds.

The Week That Was #3: More than 50 U.S. Masters national records fall at short course championships

Photo Courtesy: Nicolas Granger/French Swimming Federation

National records fell across multiple age groups – from college-age swimmers to those in their spry 80s – at last week’s U.S. Masters Swimming national championships. But the highlight for many of those in attendance was seeing Olympic champions Matt Grevers and Anthony Ervin up close and personal, a privilege that was extended with numerous selfies and autographs. Grevers and Ervin raced three times together, with Grevers taking the 100 back (46.79), 100 IM (47.78) and, a bit surprisingly, the 50 free (19.71) by one hundredth over Ervin. And for good measure, Grevers showed some breaststroke speed with a 24.35. The meet was held in the new Northside ISD complex that featured two 50-meter pools, one for competition and the other for warmup. The facility will be the site of this summer’s USA Swimming junior and senior national championships. Click here for a full list of the records broken at the four-day meet. Two of the new Swimming World Magazine World Masters Swimmers of the Year were responsible for four of the records. Laura Val set a new mark in the 50 back for the 60-64 age group with a 29.58, while Frenchman Nicolas Granger made his U.S. Masters debut with records in the 400 IM (4:01.32), 100 free (46.21) and 200 IM (1:51.44).

The Week That Was #2: Russian nationals feature fast swims, return to competition for dopers

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Last week’s Russian nationals was significant not only in the fast swims by star Vlad Morozov but the return to nationals for two prominent athletes who had been suspended for doping. Yulia Efimova had no problem winning the breaststroke events in her quest to defend her 50 and 200 breast world titles, coming off a 16-month suspension. Also back in the pool was Natalia Lovtsova, who had been out of competition since May 2013, had her two-year suspension cut by six months in order to compete at nationals. The result was three wins in the 50 and 100 free, as well as the 100 fly. One of the shocking outcomes of the meet was the failure of 100 fly Olympic silver medalist Evgeny Korotyshkin to make the final of that event, and it looks like he’s out of the world championships.

The Week That Was #1: Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps relocating to Arizona

Apr 15, 2015; Mesa, AZ, USA; 18-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps and coach Bob Bowman (right) hold a press conference at the Arena Pro Swim Series at Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa, AZ. Phelps, 29, returns from a six-month suspension by USA Swimming after his arrest Sept. 30 when he was accused of driving under the influence. Phelps pleaded guilty to that charge in December was sentenced to 18 months supervised probation in lieu of one year in prison. The probation includes random drug and alcohol testing. Phelps also completed a 45-day treatment program in Arizona. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher/Arizona Republic via USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Arizona Republic-USA TODAY Sports

It was a stunner of epic proportions when Bob Bowman announced last Friday that he would be taking the job as head coach of the Arizona State men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. Bowman had said publicly that he was approached about the position while in the area for the Arena Pro Swim Series, and his hire was made official a week later. Bowman has college coaching experience, working with the Michigan Wolverines from 2004 to 2008. In that time he worked only with the men’s team, but had such stalwarts as Davis Tarwater and Tyler Clary on his team. Michael Phelps moved to Ann Arbor to continue working with Bowman in the lead-up to the historic 2008 Olympics, and Phelps will relocate to Tempe in this year of training for a possible fifth Olympic appearance. It’s still unclear if Phelps will be the only member of the current postgrad squad at the North Baltimore Aquatic club that will move to Arizona, but Phelps’ presence alone could help bring a boost to the college program, and the learn-to-swim program that will be in place at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center under Bowman’s guidance. The major question facing Bowman in this upcoming tenure will be how quickly he can turn around the swimming programs at ASU after the teams struggled at the bottom of the Pac 12 and failed to score points in swimming at the NCAAs.

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