{"id":250393,"date":"2017-04-06T15:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T22:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=250393"},"modified":"2017-04-06T14:16:57","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T21:16:57","slug":"world-masters-swimmer-spotlight-laura-val-darian-townsend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-masters-swimmer-spotlight-laura-val-darian-townsend\/","title":{"rendered":"World Masters Swimmer Spotlight: Laura Val, Darian Townsend"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>2016 Top 12 World Masters Swimmers of the Year<\/h2>\n<h3>Sponsored by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swimspray.com\" target=\"_blank\">SwimSpray<\/a><\/h3>\n<p><em>Swimming World Magazine<\/em> has been recognizing the Top 12 World Masters Swimmers of the Year for the last 13 years. Running from April 4th through April 9th the staff at\u00a0<em>Swimming World<\/em> will be shining a spotlight on the accomplishments of our Top 12 World Masters Swimmers of the Year, along with a special spotlight on the runners-up on the 10th.<\/p>\n<h3>Laura Val, USA (60-64, 65-69)<\/h3>\n<p>Laura Val moved into a new age group this past season and kept doing what she does best\u2014that\u2019s breaking world records.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of 2015\u2014and the start of the new Masters competition season\u2014Val grabbed one more world record (SC 200 back, 2:40.04) in her previous age group\u2014her 75th global standard for women 60-64. Then, as a member of the 65-69 division, she took down WRs 28 times in 23 events (nine long course, 14 short course).<\/p>\n<p>Named a Masters World Swimmer for her 11th straight year, Val nearly wiped the record books clean in short course freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and IM for all distances\u2014except for the 100 fly (but she set that record in the beginning of the new competition season, clocking 1:15.40 on Nov. 20, 2016):<\/p>\n<p>Freestyle: 50-100-200-400-800-1500 (29.99, 1:06.86, 2:25.41, 5:06.74, 10:34.67, 20:21.61)\u2014her 200-400-800-1500 marks were all swum in the same race on Jan. 30, 2016. Backstroke: 50-100- 200 (34.12, 1:15.71, 2:44.59). Butterfly: 50-200 (33.53, 2:45.20). IM: 100-200-400 (1:17.85, 2:48.15, 5:55.00).<\/p>\n<p>Val went on a demolition derby as well in long course, destroying previous marks in the 50-100-200-1500 free (29.92, 1:05.53, 2:25.29, 21:00.15), 50-100-200 back (35.46, 1:16.34, 2:49.39), 100 fly (1:13.70) and 200 IM (2:54.16).<\/p>\n<p>Val stuck to her typical workout regimen\u2014which is routine to her, but intense to the rest of the world. She works full-time as a nurse, and squeezes in 4,000 to 5,000 meters each day at 6 a.m. Most\u00a0workouts include a 600 of kicking, 1,500 of pulling and lots of freestyle swimming. \u201cI do mostly free, but enough stroke to keep it interesting,\u201d she said. Each workout ends with \u201ca little vertical kicking with fins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The highlight of Val\u2019s aquatic year did not come in the pool. Rather, it was when Pacific Masters Swimming renamed its year-end award\u2014given to its top swimmer\u2014the \u201cLaura B. Val Swimmer of the Year\u201d award. \u201cThis was a total surprise and a huge, huge honor,\u201d Val said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeriously, I feel so, so lucky to have swimming in my life. There is nothing I don\u2019t love about swimming. I love to train, to compete, to travel, to hang with swimmers. It\u2019s the best!\u201d \u2014A.G.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><script src=\"https:\/\/ads.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/absolutebm.aspx?b=1234\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Darian Townsend, USA (30-34)<\/h3>\n<p>After swimming in three Olympic Games for South Africa\u2014and winning one relay gold medal in 2004\u2014Darian Townsend was still living in Tucson, where he had attended the University of Arizona, but he wasn\u2019t sure what would come next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was at a point in my swimming career where I wasn\u2019t sure if I was going to continue competing or retire,\u201d Townsend said.\u00a0Coach Johno Fergusson of Tucson Ford Aquatics suggested that Townsend join the Masters squad while he was making his decision.<\/p>\n<p>As it turned out, Townsend was not done competing at the elite level, but he would no longer represent South Africa. He officially became a U.S. citizen in July 2014. Last summer, he competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, but it did not go according to plan, and Townsend topped out at 38th in both the 100 and 200 free.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t swim anywhere near what I was capable of swimming. After returning to Phoenix, I felt like I had unfinished business with the 2016 summer season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>So over the next few weeks, Townsend swam in a pair of Masters meets in the Phoenix area\u2014and broke Masters world records in the 30-34 age group. His 100 free time of 49.80 was much faster than he had swum at Trials (50.28), and he also dropped his time in the 200 by more than a second\u2014from 1:50.61 to 1:49.56.<\/p>\n<p>Townsend also set world records in five more events: LC\u2014400 free (3:58.12), 50 back (25.97), 200-400 IM (2:02.18, 4:20.18); SC\u2014200 fly (1:57.41).<\/p>\n<p>Last month, though, Townsend officially retired from professional swimming, but he said he would still swim Masters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStaying motivated to train hard has been challenging,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI did take some time out of the water, but I stayed fit running and lifting weights. I am back in the water now, with new motivation and new goals that I want to achieve.\u201d \u2014D.R.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2016 Top 12 World Masters Swimmers of the Year Sponsored by SwimSpray Swimming World Magazine has been recognizing the Top 12 World Masters Swimmers of the Year for the last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":250099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[26255,3123,54417,61081],"class_list":["post-250393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-swimming-world-magazine","tag-darian-townsend","tag-laura-val","tag-swimming-world-magazine","tag-world-masters-swimmers-of-the-year"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - 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