SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers to pick the most impressive performance of the Short Course World Championships:
RESULTS
Question: What was most impressive at Short Course Worlds?
- Russia sweeping men’s relays – 6.8%
- Hosszu winning 7 golds and 2 silvers – 44.8%
- Le Clos’ 100 fly WR, fly sweep – 22.0%
- Park sweeping 200, 400, 1500 frees – 26.3%
Katinka Hosszu was the most-decorated swimmer coming out of the meet, and she cleaned up in our poll as well. That comes after her early lineup choices – 12 events total – raised some concern among fans. The thought process is that while Hosszu is versatile enough to contend in a number of races at the world level, taking on a dozen races could potentially leave her too exhausted to have her best results in any single race.
In hindsight, that idea wasn’t entirely wrong-headed. Hosszu didn’t necessarily swim her best, with only one best time (in the 100 fly). But Hosszu has reached a level where she is so much faster than most of her competition that she doesn’t even need to swim her best to take home a medal. Hosszu won 7 total races (100 IM, 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 fly, 100 back, 200 back) and finished second in two (200 free, 50 back) while only scratching a single race (200 breast). She was just a tenth out of bronze in the 400 free and made the 800 free final, though the cumulative yardage added up somewhat as Hosszu slid to 8th in the medal final.
It was South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan who finished second in our poll, redeeming himself from a poor Rio showing with wins in the 200, 400 and 1500 frees. Park is an interesting case – he served a doping suspension in 2014 and 2015, and was eligible in time to swim in Rio, though a South Korean rule prevented any athlete with a doping suspension from competing for an even longer period. Park challenged that rule successfully and did get to compete in Rio, though he took much heat from fans in an Olympics that were increasingly overshadowed by doping concerns. Given the public outcry against those who have served doping suspensions, Park gained just over a quarter of the 776 votes cast in our poll. Park has a history of polling well with SwimSwam readers, for whatever reason. Back in May, 60% of voters supported his Olympic bid.
Chad le Clos‘ sweep of the butterfly races was just behind, and voters were unimpressed with Russia’s sweep of all 5 men’s relays. That also might have undertones of doping, with Russia under scrutiny for major doping violations in previous Olympic cycles and officials actually admitting this week to a massive, systematic doping system for previous Olympics.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters about tech suit bans for young age group swimmers.
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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner
You quickly react to our debates at swimswam. I’m impressed. We talked about the tech suits and the young kids a few days ago and that’s the topic of your new question..
Tough question. I presume that’s a question only about USA. We would see less NAG records but maybe some kids (I should say some parents and some coaches) would not be obsessed with the times and would be more focused on having fun and working technique with long-term goals. I’ve read that some parts of the country have already banned them so in terms of fairness about the records, yes, that would be a good thing. I add that I have no idea how much a tech… Read more »
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