Erika Erndl, at 34-years old, is swimming better than she ever has in her life. And not suit-fueled-better, but she has legitimately exploded into the national consciousness over the last few years, including making her first international roster last year in the Pan Ams team.
Thus it’s no surprise that she has begun an assault on the Masters World Record book after missing the U.S. Olympic Team, beginning with a World Record in the 100 IM (Short Course Meters) this morning at the 4th annual Rowdy Gaines Classic in Orlando. Erndl swam a 1:02.52 to shave .03 seconds off of the old mark held by Hitomi Matsuda of Japan from 2010. Matsuda was dominant in this 30-34 age group and held the World Record for 7 years before Erndl was able to break it.
She was also the fastest swimmer overall, despite some stiff competition that included former NCAA Champion and Olympic finalist Alia Atkinson in the 18-24 age group. Atkinson was a 1:02.82 to win her segment.
In her second swim of the day, Erndl broke a 2nd with a 54.75 in the 100 free. That took down a three-year old record held by France’s Alena Popchanka. Former Olympian Brooke Bennett, who has been back in training with Randy Reese for quite a while now, was 2nd in that race in 59.74.
Erndl, who has been back in training since September 1st, will be pleased with her first swim back. She also won the 100 fly in 1:00.34. That missed the World Record by about two-tenths. She would come back in the 800 free relay and lead off in 2:00.58, which is a third World Record on the day. That again crushed a mark held by Matsuda had held at 2:02.60.
She isn’t the only Masters World Record breaker in this meet so far. The lone competitor in the 85-89 age group of the women’s 1500 free Betty Lorenzi swam that race in 30:50.51. This is a World Record that has only been broken four times in history. The old mark was set by another American, Rita Simonton, in 2003 with a 31:44.50. That means Lorenzi broke the record by almost a minute, a feat that we think speaks for itself.
Watch the full meet live on the Florida Swim Network here.
Hi Erika,
do you know that you have relatives in bavaria, germany? Because ou nam e is Erndl, too. My father tells me that somebody from our famaly a lot of years ago go to amerika. The grandma and grandpa were Maria and Johannes Erndl. They were living in Luitpoldplatz 15 in 94486 Osterhofen.
A lot of love : )
Veronika(13), Eva (9), Anna (6), Kurt (dad), Antonie (mum)
I know that it is nice to let the old people swim what they want but I feel like masters meets would be significantly more popular if the older age groups (maybe 70+) didn’t have the longer events at every meet. Even though setting an age group world record is great, nobody enjoys watching a 30 minute 1500
Looks like Erika is still going. Has Katie Hoff officially retired or is she taking a break?
Where can full results be found for rowdy’s masters meet?
I’ve only seen them on the Meet Mobile app. Check there!
Where can we find the full results from rowdy’s masters meet????many thanks