A World Record Recognized and The Passing of a Legend on The Week That Was

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch
PHOENIX, Arizona, October 20th. This show has a truly international flavor to it, as four of the five top swimming headlines of the past week took place outside the United States. So get your virtual passport ready as we start the countdown in China.


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The number five headline of the week took place at the Chinese nationals, as rising star Ning Zetao went faster in the 100 free than he did at the Asian Games. The 20-year-old posted a 47.65, moving from third in the world to a tie for second with Australia’s Cameron McEvoy and a whisker off James Magnussen’s leading time of 47.59. Ning was scheduled to swim the 50 freestyle as well, but he withdrew for what we understand to be food poisoning. He’s getting us very excited for the possibilities at next year’s world championships. When you pair him with Sun Yang, China has a good chance of winning all the freestyle events in Russia.

We head over to France for our number four headline. Yannick Agnel will put his relocation to France to the international test in late November at the short course world championships as part of an 11-member squad. You might remember that Agnel trained in the United States with Bob Bowman at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, but did not perform well this past summer at the European championships. Agnel is training with Lionel Horter, who was France’s national technical director before resigning to devote his full energy to training Agnel. The men’s squad looks strong across the board for France at the short course world championships, including Florent Manaudou as a potential multiple medalist. As for the women, more work needs to be done, but the free relays for France have potential.

Just this morning we learned that the legendary Peter Daland passed away in Los Angeles at 94 from natural causes, and that is our number three headline of the week. Daland was virtually unstoppable on the college level in the 1970s, winning four straight NCAA team titles for the University of Southern California from 1974 to 1978 to go along with the one he won in 1960 and the four from 1964 to 1968. His roster of esteemed swimmers is too long to list here, but he coached Olympians in the 60s, 70s and 80s as well as numerous NCAA champions. He was the coach at USC from 1956 to 1992 and in that time helped start a small newsletter-type of publication named Swimming World in 1951 that would become Swimming World Magazine in 1960. Our thoughts go to Daland’s family and the thousands around the world whose lives he impacted even just a little bit.

Let’s head to New Zealand for the number two headline of the week, as Lauren Boyle’s swim in the 1500 short course meters freestyle at the winter nationals in August has now been officially approved by FINA as a world record. Boyle’s time of 15:22.68 in the event faced some controversy after its completion, as some believed it should not be ratified because the pool was shallower than FINA’s standards. Normally, a world record swim is ratified very quickly, once the swimmer has passed a drug test and the paperwork is completed. But this swim went months listed as pending by FINA. Now, Boyle can celebrate the swim, and look toward the short course world championships to see if she can lower that time in Qatar, where there should be no controversy about the swim, should she go faster.

And we’re going back to France for the number one headline of the week. Camille Lacourt hasn’t raced since May, citing a hip injury that prevented the backstroker from competing in the European championships and other events. Late last week, Lacourt told the French sports newspaper L’Equipe specifics regarding the injury, saying he had a benign tumor that was discovered during the removal of a hematoma, or a collection of blood in the hip area. Lacourt told the paper he expects to be racing again next month at a meet in France. Lacourt is a major player on the world scene, winning the 50 backstroke at last year’s world championships, tying for gold at the 2011 worlds in the 100 back and placing in the top five in the 100 back at the 2012 Olympics and 2013 worlds.

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