In the waning days of 2009, as the clock ticked down to the midnight deadline on December 31st for a global ban on the polyurethane supersuits that had brought a plethora (or plague depending on who you ask) of World Records on the sport of swimming.
Of those last-minute World Records that still stand, which as of posting stands at 4 from December of 2009 and 4 from November of 2009, one stands out above the rest as the most iconic: Cesar Cielo‘s 20.91 in the 50 free in long course meters. That record celebrates its 10th anniversary on Wednesday, and is representative of the passing of a decade since the end of the ‘supersuit era’ that caused maybe the biggest upheaval in the sport of swimming since at least David Berkoff’s underwater ‘blastoff,’ and at most since butterfly and breaststroke were declared separate events.
The scars left by that era upon myself (I launched my first swimming website in that period of time) still linger. Any time I read about a sporting achievement from 2008 or 2009, my instinct is to question the context of its historic relevance. Did the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals because Kobe wanted to prove that he didn’t need Shaq to win a title? Because Phil Jackson is the Zenmaster? Or because their shoes were made of 90% polyurethane and the Magic’s shoes were made of only 40% polyurethane? Intellectually I know that 2008 and 2009 were pretty ordinary years in all other sports. Instinctively, those years trigger me.
And only now, in swimming shortest race, the men’s 50 free, are competitors beginning to again approach Cielo’s record-setting mark.
After the suits were outlawed, the record seemed insurmountable for years. Nobody was even better than 21.3 until Florent Manaudou swam 21.19 at the 2015 World Championships.
But now it’s moving within reach. American Caeleb Dressel swam 21.04 at this summer’s World Championships, almost joining Cielo and Frenchman Fred Bousquet sub-21 in the club. Ben Proud made a step forward in 2018 as well, swimming 21.16 at the Sette Colli Trophy. Vlad Morozov swam 21.27 at the Singapore World Cup earlier this year, and the return of Florent Manaudou to the blocks brings a tantalizing possibility.
But for now, the date marks a reminder of what was, and in a decade that was fairly stagnant in innovation and revolutions in swimming until the International Swimming League launched early this year, a reminder that the face of sport is constantly evolving and changing, and that’s part of what makes it fun.
The whole supersuit record book is a big Fraud.. Cielo was really a 21.3 and 47.6 at his best.. Biederman a joke.
Cielo’s PB without supersuit is 21.32 done in 2013, which is ‘just’ 0.28s slower than Dressel’s current PB, and 2013 was arguably not his peak year. And supersuit doesn’t seem to help 50s as much as 200s. (The suited WR in other 50s have all been broken. ) Based on all of these, I doubt Dressel will do anything close to 20.0 even with the suit.
Cielo 2009 was his prime.. so can´t say what he would have gone in both 50 and 100.. he went 47,8 on 100 textile with both his knees long gone.. and managed to even after that have the fastest SC 100 split of all time..
Maybe a fit Cielo could have been 21,0 21,1 47,3 47,4 textile..
21.2/47.6 at best
I’m seriously wondering what a tapered Dressel could do in a 2009 super suit. No joke, I’m thinking he’d crack 20.0.
Maybe in SC definitely not LC
SCM or SCY?
It’s the 10-year for a bunch of records. I’d say 50% chance this is the last anniversary of Cielo’s 20.91, but I’d say a 99% chance that 200fr and 800fr get many, many more. It’s honestly so hard to imagine someone going 1:41 in the 2LCM free right now. I mean there’s just no way
I think it is important that we are talking about records in COMPETITIVE swimming. And the conditions of “competitive” should be clearly defined. It isn’t about absolute speed. For example, would Ledecky swim faster than 8:04 in Rio if there was a male “rabbit” in adjacent lane swimming at 8:00 pace.
The women’s marathon had two separate WRs until recently when Mary Keitany broke Paula Radcliffe’s mark. Radcliffe’s WR was set with male pacesetters. Keitany’s new mark was in a women’s only race.
Yes, good example. Many factors affect athletes performance: altitude, wind, air and water temperature, humidity, water conditions etc. There fore there are limits of these factors when a record can be accepted. Psychological factor of being in competition is also important but is difficult to measure in numbers.
I don’t mind to check what the limit of human abilities of moving in the water are. Such tests can be run in exceptional conditions. And there would be two kind of tests. One – a swimmer should be absolutely naked. And another one – anything that can help the speed can be used: caps, goggles, suits, fins… Same like we want to know if a human can fly using muscle… Read more »
Cielo couldn’t have broken this record in better timing, literally the last week tech suits were ever legal… today is not hard to name at least 3 or 4 swimmers that could’ve gone faster than that if those suits were still around…
Fun how 50 free world records always happen in sketchy pools too…
Will be interesting to have an opinion of Gold Medal Mel Stewart on the history of longevity of world records and how long he gives current records to live. He proved on many occasions that his intuition is superb.
“Many”?
yes a whole 14… percent of the times he predicted something
Well, if you don’t like his predictions, make yours. I don’t care. It’s a discussion actually of how close we are getting to biomechanical limits of such system like human body. There were many discussions on this topic including this website. But before beginning the discussion somebody has to give his/her opinion first. Mel used to do it. You don’t. So join OL’ LONGHORN and together go ahead do something interesting on this forum.
W200BU suit record will be the last one broken. If ever will.
Somebody will come along
Yeah, but by this time female competitive swimmer will be 6’6″ tall in average, the Olympic Games will be gone and Olympic size pools will be obsolete. Nobody will keep books of such records any more.
I’m sure you’ll still be writing creepy comments
And I sincerely wish you to be still able to read it. And I’m not joking about it. Stay healthy to witness this record got broken.
You people always do want an audience. It’s what you feed off of no?
It is a fair question. I think it’s age related. Ask Swimswam to run a poll on the age of posters to this forum. Don’t get surprised if the majority of “regulars” are old farts.
(Watch this, PVDH). Hosszu will break it before she retires.
How can you be so ….. ? She never retires 😀
A global water crisis will render swimming unnecessary and impractical before the women’s 200 fly record is broken. The idea of swimming for recreation or competition will be absurd to the average person. It will be strictly reserved for the disgustingly rich as a display of wealth. Tom Hardy will be strapped to the front of a heavily modified truck and driven through the wasteland. Etc.
I’d wager large amounts of money that it is broken… at some point. I firmly believe that if Mary T. Meagher had come along in the present day (with modern underwaters, a tech suit, goggles, a fin on the block, a little competition) that she would have a very, very good chance to go faster than 2:01.81. Do I expect to see another Mary T. anytime soon? No. But I do think someone will come along.
That is what sport is all about: beating opponent, beating the records, getting better than you were before. This permanent move is the source of the belief that there is no such a thing like unbreakable record. The selection process is improving as well and if it happens to be a strong talent it won’t most likely get missed and will be taken care of from the cradle. But still when i looking at the time of #1 this season (2:05.96) I’m realizing how far away this record is.
Incidentally, 2:05.96 is exactly what Mary T swam in Brown Deer in 1981 to set that long-standing world record