The Week That Was: Short Course Records Fall Across U.S. and Canada

Foto Fabio Ferrari - LaPresse 04/08/2015 Kazan ( Russia ) Sport 16 Campionati del mondo FINA 2015 - uomini 200m stile libero - finale nella foto: Le Clos Chad Photo Fabio Ferrari - LaPresse 04 August 2015 Kazan ( Russian ) Sport 16 Campionati del mondo FINA 2015 - men's 200m freestyle - final in the picture:Le Clos Chad

Photo Courtesy: Fabio Ferrari - LaPresse

This week featured a bevy of short course yards and short course meters records broke at meets across North America. Check out the highlights from those competitions in addition to the rest of the news in the week that was!

The Week That Was #5 – Joseph Schooling Donates $200,000 To Singapore Swimming

Photo Courtesy: Singapore Swimming Association

Following a successful 2016 Olympic Games where Joseph Schooling walked away with a gold medal in the 100 butterfly, the Singapore swimmer received a large monetary award from the Singapore Swimming Association. For becoming the first swimming Olympian from Singapore to bring home a gold medal, Schooling earned a S$1 million reward (approximately just over U.S. $700,000). This week, the gold medalist and his family started giving some of that money back, donating S$200,000 to the Singapore Swimming Association as part of an effort to develop aquatic sports in the country. SSA President Lee Kok Choy called the donation “unprecedented” and explained that an independent committee is being set up to ensure the money will be used in a “fair and transparent manner” to help grow the association. He went on to say that this donation will help improve all aspects of the organization, including athlete development and the improvement of coaching standards.

The Week That Was #4 – World Para Swimming Introduces New Meet Circuit

Photo Courtesy: Kevin McCarthy

World Para Swimming introduced the Para Swimming World Series, the first international circuit of competitions open to para athletes. The circuit will begin in March of 2017, starting in Copenhagen, Denmark before moving through Brazil, Great Britain, the United States and Germany. Ryan Montgomery, Summer Sports Director for the IPC, noted that the series will grow the sport and provide opportunities for para swimming to continue enhancing areas of the sport, including classifications and meet management. He also noted a standardized point system will be developed to declare a best performing athlete over the duration of the series. The meet circuit will run through July and serve as a lead-up to the 2017 World Para Swimming Championships in Mexico City, which run from September 20 – October 6.

The Week That Was #3 – Second McLaren Report Released

Photo Courtesy:

The second Independent Person report from Richard McLaren was released this week, implicating over 1,000 athletes and detailing large scale corruption in Russia. McLaren released his first report back in July, right on the eve of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. That report revealed widespread doping in Russia and led the country to be banned from the Paralympic Games by the International Paralympic Committee and for the International Olympic Committee to release condition for Russian participation in the Olympic Games. While the first report showed that the corruption went through high levels of the Russian government, this report second paints a clearer picture of the alleged state-run doping, showing that it was part of an organized infrastructure within the Russian government. Both the IPC and the IOC released statements acknowledging Professor McLaren’s report and vowing to use the evidence to work to end doping in sport.

The Week That Was #2 – NAG Records Fall During Winter Junior Meets

jrs_regan_smith-2015-usa-swimming-junior-nationals

Photo Courtesy: Donna Nelson

This week USA Swimming held their Winter Junior National Championships, with the East location taking place in Columbus at Ohio State and the West location in College Station, Texas. Future Cal Bear Ryan Hoffer made a statement at the West meet, starting off the meet with an impressive 18.71 win in the 50 free. That was his second time under 19.0 after an 18.88 morning swim and tied Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian’s pool record in the event. Regan Smith had also had a record breaking meet, taking down two 13-14 NAG records and coming close in a handful of others. Smith broke the 100 butterfly record twice, first with a 52.22 in prelims before breaking it again with a 51.70 that night at finals. In that same session, Smith came back to break the NAG record in the 100 backstroke, touching in 51.09, giving the Riptide swimmer two NAG records in one night. Zoe Bartel of the Fort Collins Area Swim Team also broke the 15-16 NAG record in the 200 breaststroke on the final night of the meet, going 2:07.72 to take 4-tenths off of Caitlin Leverenz’s old record.

Meanwhile, at the East meet Reece Whitley and Drew Kibler both broke NAG records. Kibler started off the meet with a 15-16 NAG record of 1:33.36 in the 200 free leading off the Carmel Swim Club 800 free relay before breaking a second NAG record in the 500 free with a 4:15.36. Whitley, for his part, broke the 15-16 NAG record in the 200 breaststroke with a 1:52.37. That broke his own NAG record by over a second. You can see all the recaps of the Winter Junior meets by following the links below:

Winter Juniors – East

Winter Juniors – West

The Week That Was #1 – World Records Fall At Short Course Worlds In Canada

Photo Courtesy: Fabio Ferrari – LaPresse

The 2016 FINA Short Course World Championships were held this week in Windsor, Canada, and the meet provided a chance for athletes from across the world to compete on the international stage for the final time in 2016. South African Chad le Clos swept all three butterfly races, winning the 200 butterfly (1:48.76), 100 butterfly (48.08), and 50 butterfly (21.98). The swimmer’s time in the 100 butterfly broke his own world record in the event and brought him closer to becoming the first man to swim a sub-48 short course 100 butterfly in history. Hungarian Katinka Hosszu completed a sweep of her own in the IM events, taking the 100 IM (57.24), 200 IM (2:02.90) and 400 IM (4:21.67). The Hungarian also won four other events throughout the meet for a total of seven wins, adding victories in the 100 backstroke (55.54), 200 backstroke (2:00.79), 100 butterfly (55.12), and 200 butterfly (2:02.15) throughout the meet. The second world record of the meet came from the United States 200 medley relay team of Ali DeLoof (26.12), Lilly King (28.78), Kelsi Worrell (24.44) and Katrina Konopka (23.93), who won the event in 1:43.27 on the second day of the meet. For all recaps of all sessions of the meet, head over to our Event Landing Page.

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