The Week That Was: Surprise World Record In Tokyo Highlights Busy Week

Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Yang Lei

This was a busy week across the swimming world that was highlighted with a big world record over the weekend at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup in Japan. Read about all of the stories from this week in this edition of The Week That Was!

The Week That Was #5 – USA Water Polo Renews Head Coach Contracts

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Photo Courtesy: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

USA Water Polo announced this week that the organization has signed coaches Adam Krikorian and Dejan Udovicic to new four year contracts that will leave the coaches at the helm of both women’s and men’s national teams through the 2020 Olympic Games. Krikorian has been the head coach of the USA women’s national team for the last eight years, including two back to back Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. The United States women have developed into a powerhouse team under Krikorian and remain undefeated in international competition since 2014. While the men’s team has not reached the status of the women’s internationally, they have been on an upward progression since Udovicic took the helm. As head coach of the men’s national team, Udovicic lead the men’s team to a Pan American gold medal and their first international medal since 2008 at the 2016 World League Super Final. Both coaches have been hard at work developing the rosters for the premier event on the 2017 calendar: the FINA World Championships in Budapest.

The Week That Was #4 – Open Water World Champion Keri-Anne Payne Retires

Photo Courtesy: Sylvia Stanley

Great Britain open water swimmer Keri-Anne Payne announced her retirement via her Twitter account this week. Payne was a three-time Olympian for Great Britain who competed in both pool and open water events at the 2008 2012, and 2016 Olympic Games. She was an Olympic silver medalist in Beijing in the open water 10k and won world championship titles in the 10k at both the 2009 and 2011 World Championships. Payne finished seventh in the 10k in Rio in what would be her final swim at the Olympic stage. In her statement, Payne stated that she was honored to have been part of the growth of open water swimming and said her proudest sporting moment came in 2012, when she competed in front of 30,000 fans at the Olympics held in her own country.

The Week That Was #3 – Ryan Lochte Signs With TYR

Photo Courtesy: TYR Sport

This week suit maker TYR announced a new partnership with American Olympian Ryan Lochte. This comes just a week after Lochte, 32, was featured in a new PowerBar promotion that marked one of his first endorsement deals following his controversy following the conclusion of the swimming events at the 2016 Olympic Games. Lochte had previously been signed with Speedo since the conclusion of his college career in 2006, but that sponsorship was one of many that he lost following the gas station incident in Rio. Lochte, who owns six gold medals and has competed in four Olympic Games, will join a TYR team that features fellow U.S. Olympians Dana Vollmer, Matt Grevers, Kelsi Worrell and Jacob Pebley. You can read the full press release from TYR here.

The Week That Was #2 – Fast Times Across NCAA As Tennessee And Duke Notch Historic Wins

Photo Courtesy: Duke Athletics

This week saw some big stories across the NCAA, including fast times from Stanford’s Simone Manuel and Katie Ledecky. Against UCLA on Friday, Ledecky posted a 1:43.48 in the 200 free for a new pool record. A day later against USC, Manuel went even faster with a 1:42.72. These are the top two swimmers in the country in that event. Texas’s Clark Smith also posted a fast time in the Longhorns dual against Arizona, albeit in an unconventional event. Swimming unopposed in a 2000 freestyle, Smith posted a time of 17:42.61, a time that becomes even more impressive when looking at the splits. Smith was 14:37.95 at the 1650, which is the third fastest time this season in that event (Smith himself is the fastest in the country) and only 6 seconds off his best time. Finally, the women’s teams of Tennessee and Duke had historic wins against Florida and UNC, respectively. That was the first road win for Tennessee against Florida, while it was Duke’s first time beating UNC in program history. The Blue Devil men also made history of their own, beating UNC for the first time since 1939.

The Week That Was #1 – Ippei Watanabe Breaks 200 Breast World Record

Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Yang Lei

This week ended with a surprising long course world record in the men’s 200 breaststroke when Japan’s Ippei Watanabe became the first man to break 2:07 in the event at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup in Tokyo. Watanabe recorded a time of 2:06.67 to take nearly 4-tenths off of the old world record, which had stood at 2:07.01. That record was held by Watanabe’s countryman Akihiro Yamaguchi back in September of 2012. The performance also came at a meet named after Japanese breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima, who was a two-time double gold medalist in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. Watanabe’s previous personal best had been a 2:07.22 from the semi-finals of the Olympic Games this past summer in Rio. Although he went on to finish sixth in the finals of the event the next day behind Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin, his time stands as the Olympic record in the event. Watanabe expressed surprise following his swim, saying he didn’t expect to break the world record and saying he hoped to continue to drop it lower in the coming years.

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Sameh Ezzat Farid

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Sameh Ezzat Farid

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