{"id":265440,"date":"2017-07-11T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T19:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=265440"},"modified":"2017-07-12T09:33:50","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T16:33:50","slug":"eight-of-the-most-hyped-races-in-world-championship-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/eight-of-the-most-hyped-races-in-world-championship-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight of the Most Hyped Races in World Championships History"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andy Ross, Swimming World Contributor.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are just under two weeks from the swimming portion of the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest. I have always looked at these World Championship as the “encore Olympics,” since all the main story lines will revolve around what happened in Rio. This is what happens at every World Championships held the year after the Games.\u00a0It is always a chance for swimmers to show that their Olympics were not a fluke, or a chance for them to back up their shocking Olympic swims and prove their dominance in their respective events.<\/p>\n

In honor of the approaching World Championships, I decided to take a look back at some of the most hyped up rematches in a post-Olympic year. Since FINA decided to stagger the meet to every odd year after 2000, this is a short list. It does not include any World Championships in\u00a0the 90s and earlier\u00a0because FINA held them every four years at this time, pinning them in the halfway point between Olympics.<\/p>\n

This list is primarily focused on highlighting the races that I distinctly remember being very hyped up about in post-Olympic years, as they were all pitted as “official rematches.”<\/p>\n

Ian Thorpe vs. Pieter van den Hoogenband; 200 Free, 2001<\/h3>\n

In 2000, Pieter van den Hoogenband\u00a0<\/strong>stunned Aussie\u00a0Ian Thorpe\u00a0<\/strong>in his home country in the 200 free final in Sydney. Van den Hoogenband tied his own World Record from the previous night and handed Thorpe his first loss in a major meet in his career. There was talk that Thorpe was already the greatest swimmer ever and looked unbeatable leading into the 2000 Olympics. Van den Hoogenband posted a formidable challenge in the 200 final and shocked “the Thorpedo.”<\/p>\n

In 2001, Thorpe took his world record back at the Aussie nationals earlier in the year. The rematch was set as the two swimmers were in the same lanes they swam in a year prior. Even Australian commentators Ray Warren<\/strong> and Duncan Armstrong<\/strong> hyped the race as “revenge night” in Fukuoka.<\/p>\n

“How long\u00a0has he been aching?”<\/p>\n

“It’s been coming for about 310 days, so about 311 sleeps (since Sydney).”<\/p>\n

Thorpe stayed with the Dutchmen for 150 meters and ran away with the race the last 50 as he smashed his own world record with a 1:44.06, over a second faster than what van den Hoogenband went in Sydney (1:45.35). He split a 25.80 on the last 50 to blow away the Dutchmen and the world record as well. That record did not get broken until 2007 when Michael Phelps went 1:43.86 at the World Championships in Melbourne.<\/p>\n