Several big stories emerged on day two of the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series in Perth, as the competition wrapped up among Australia, the United States, China and Japan. Ultimately within the pool, Australia came away with the team win with a total of 318 points, followed by the United Stated with 284, China with 270 and Japan with 268 total team points.
Full Meet Results Available on Meet Mobile: “2015 BHP Aquatic Super Series”
The first major theme of today’s session was that of the multiple impossibly close finishes at the wall. If these brawls at the wall do not stress the importance of tightening up one’s races as “every hundredth counts”, then nothing will!
First, containing one of the sport’s most endearing competitive sibling rivalries, the women’s 100m freestyle was a beyond wicked-fast race with both Campbell sisters stepping up for Australia just like they did yesterday in the splash n’ dash. Today, Cate Campbell was again not messing around, crushing a 53.13 for first in the field and now first in the world rankings in the two-length sprint. Sister Bronte Campbell finished as closely behind as possible in 53.14 for second (second this race and also second-ranked in the world)….over a second later, USA’s Margo Geer touched the wall for a much-needed-USA-points boost for third in 54.23. C. Campbell was later awarded with the title Female Athlete of the Meet.
The men’s 100m breaststroke signaled another heated battle that came down to the wire, as USA’s Cody Miller surged to the finish to out-touch Japan’s 200m breaststroke winner from yesterday,Yasuhiro Koseki, by a mere three one-hundredths. Miller finished in 1:00.39 to Koseki’s 1:00.42, while Aussie Jake Packard picked up third in 1:00.54. Only Great Britain’s Adam Peaty has been faster than Miller this year and is still the only swimmer to have dipped beneath the minute-mark.
Tim Phillips also experienced a closer-than-close clash at the wall, as he cleared first place in the men’s 100m butterfly by just one one-hundredth over second-place finisher Jayden Hadler from Australia. Phillips took the race out hard and was 24.15 at the 50m mark, almost a half second ahead of 21-year-old Hadler. But, the Aussie started to inch up on the SwimMAC Elite athlete, and made up lost ground as the two were even until the very end; Phillips touched in 52.34 and Hadler was 52.35. Tommaso D’Orsogna then finished .11 behind Hadler in a time of 52.46. Ryan Lochte elected to scratch the event.
Yesterday’s 200m IM winner and the only American to score a first place individual finish from that session, Maya DiRado, was involved in an at-the-wall fury today in the 400m IM. The top three winners all finished within six one-hundredths of one another, led by Australia’s Keryn McMaster (4:37.79), then Japan’s Sakiko Shimizu (4:37.82), while DiRado landed third in 4:37.85. That was a solid outing for DiRado, whose time was just three tenths shy of her 4:37.53 mark from last August’s Pan Pacs.
A surprise to some was that China’s Ye Shiwen, the current 400m IM record holder, was not even on the radar during today’s race. Shiwen’s result of 4:46.58 was nowhere near her entry time of 4:30.19 and wound up last in today’s contest behind fifth place Melanie Margalis (4:46.39).
The second big story of day two, was that of Japan’s Daiya Seto further asserting himself as a threat across several events, resulting in four individual event wins on the meet, the most of any swimmer. In addition to his 200m butterfly and 400m IM victories from session one, Seto hammered out wins in the 200m free and the 200m IM today.
Seto swam away with the 200m freestyle win extremely narrowly, as all of the top five swimmers finished within a little over half a second of one another. He led the field in 1:48.35, followed by Australia’s Cameron McEvoy in 1:48.58 and China’s Keyuan Shang in 1:48.72. Just a few one hundredths made the difference between 3-4-5th place, as Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS) just out-touched Ryan Lochte for fourth and fifth places in 1:48.74 and 1:48.78, respectively. For Lochte, his effort falls in line with his in-season performances, such as the 1:48.69 he swam at the Georgia Bulldog Classic last July, as well as the 1:49.81 he clocked during the then-called Charlotte Grand Prix in May 2014.
These two heavyweights, Seto and Lochte would go head-to-head once again before the session was through, as their 200m IM battle went down to the very end. Seto came away with the win, but only by a slim margin – Seto at 1:58.27 and Lochte at 1:58.57. Japan’s Hiromasa Fujimori cleaned up third place in 1:59.89. A split comparison between the top two finishers revealed a tight battle throughout the entire 200m distance, with Lochte gaining a slight edge on backstroke and Seto making up some ground on breaststroke, as well as swimming a skosh faster on the freestyle leg to bag the first place finish.
Seto’s Splits: 25.60/ 30.32/ 34.14/ 28.21
Lochte’s Splits: 25.63/ 29.90/ 34.95/ 28.09
The two backstroke winners today were each in a class of their own, as both Emily Seebohm and Ryosuke Irie now reside in the number one positions in the 100m and 200m backstrokes, respectively, within the world’s rankings. For her part, Seebohm essentially crushed the field, as the only swimmer under the 1:00.00-mark…as well as the only swimmer under the 59.0 mark. In fact Seebohm’s 58.89 was so swift, it is within the realm of striking distance of Gemma Spofforth’s legendary super suit record of 58.12 set in 2009. In the meantime, Seebohm will settle for a time that would have beaten her Pan Pacs event-winning 58.84 mark, as well as finished fourth overall in the world last year.
As with yesterday’s 100m backstroke success, Japan’s Irie reminded the world why he is considered one of the discipline’s best ever. Winning today in 1:54.62, Irie sits atop the throne of the world rankings, with second place finisher Mitch Larkin (AUS) directly behind with his time of 1:56.05. Irie’s only other faster time of late was at last year’s Asian Games, where he logged a swift 1:53.26 for gold. For his stellar swims, Irie was named Male Swimmer of the Meet. China’s Jiayu Xu rounded out the top three in today’s race in Perth, touching the wall in 1:57.18.
USA garnered another female win on the day, as SwimMAC Elite’s Cammile Adams took the 200m butterfly event in 2:07.61. Japan’s Suzuka Hasegawa, at only 15 years old of age, was right on her heels, however, finishing closely behind in a time of 2:07.89. It was a two-horse race between these athletes, as Australia’s Madeline Groves’ 2:09.49 earned her third. For Hasegawa‘s efforts, her time should earn her a new Junior World Record, pending FINA’s confirmation.
Adams’ SwimMAC Elite teammate, Micah Lawrence, put up a fight in today’s 200m breaststroke race, but ultimately fell short to Kanako Watanabe, giving the Japanese swimmer a sweep of both breaststroke events. In today’s contest, Watanabe won comfortably with a time of 2:23.43 to Lawrence’s 2:25.19. Japan earned additional points by youngster Runa Imai, who, at only fourteen years of age, closed in on the field for third in a time of 2:25.48.
America continued with its compilation of individual victories on the day with Josh Schneider pulling off somewhat of an upset in the 50m freestyle race, beating both Australian speedsters, James Magnussen and Cameron McEvoy, as well as his own countryman, Cullen Jones. As in any splash n’ dash, the field was super tight, but ultimately Schneider’s man-speed overpowered all others and carried him to the wall in an impressive 22.38. Magnussen, yesterday’s 100m freestyle victor, earned second in 22.49 with McEvoy touching third in 22.51. Just out of podium contention, Jones clocked a 22.52, just .01 behind McEvoy, for fourth place.
Not happy with his performance, Magnussen commented to The Daily Telegraph after the meet, “That was pretty bad….they held that start for about an hour and a half……The whole race was pretty slow because of it.” He continued that he doesn’t “think that’s a good indicated of where I’m at.”
America’s Becca Mann had another opportunity to rack up a win today, as she was part of a solid women’s 400m freestyle field. Mann ended up fourth in the race in a time of 4:10.98, not too far off her 4:10.68 nabbed at last year’s Pan Pacs. The winning time today came from China’s Yuhan Zhang, who finished in 4:06.83 followed by an Australian pair Jessica Ashwood in 4:07.55 and Bronte Barratt in 4:08.72 who earned second and third places, respectively.
The final men’s race of the session saw another repeat winner from yesterday, with Mack Horton (Australia) simply dominating the 1500m freestyle event. Horton’s time of 14:55.76 overtook the already astounding world-leading time of 14:58.49 clocked by Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk just yesterday at the Golden Tour in Nice. Second place finisher Michael McBroom touched the wall today in 15:13.48, now positioning him third in the world. The surprise on the 1500m race, though, was Australia’s David McKeon. Racing in his first ever 1500m freestyle, the usual mid-distance freestyler claimed third place, noting on Twitter that it “may be [indicative] of things to come in the future.”
Thrilling relays capstoned the two-day meet, with the United States coming out on top in the men’s 4 x 50m freestyle relay. The combination of Josh Schneider (22.12), Jimmy Feigen (21.62), Ryan Lochte (22.31) and Cullen Jones (21.88) thundered to the wall in a time of 1:27.93 to end the meet on a good note for the Americans. Australia earned second place as an end to their successful meet, clocking a time of 1:28.35. Magnussen logged the fastest split of the entire field, with his leg of 21.58 as the third swimmer for Australia.
The opposite result took place in the women’s 4 x 50m medley relay, however, as Australia’s squad of Emily Seebohm (27.64), Lorna Tonks (31.09), Brittany Elmslie (25.97) and Cate Campbell (24.15) sailed past the cmopetition in a winning time of 1:48.85. America took second place in 1:50.98, comprised of Kathleen Baker (28.71), Katie Meili (31.17), Felicia Lee (26.40) and Madison Kennedy (24.70).
The BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series concludes tomorrow with the Open Water portion of the meet getting underway in Perth’s Swan River.
Question for Chinese fans:
What is the “right” way to translate Chinese names into English? I see stories about “Ye Shiwen” and about “Shiwen Ye”. “Wang Shun” and “Shun Wang”. The only name that gets consistently translated the same seems to be Sun Yang.
In Chinese, a person’s family name is addressed before their first name. So in Chinese, it would be Sun Yang, Ye Shiwen, Wang Shun. However, English media may switch the convention to first names before last names just so readers aren’t confused- making it Yang Sun, Shiwen Ye, and Shun Wang.
For Chinese, Japanese and Korean names, the surname goes before the given name. So Ye shiwen, Sun Yang, Wang Shun, Park TaeHwan, Irie Ryosuke would be the names that you see officially in their respective languages. When translated into English, Japanese names are put into the order of western names, but not Chinese and Korean names.
Nowadays in big events, the common practice is to simply capitalize the last name of the swimmer, but maintain the order.
My personal belief is that Magnussen is at his best (2011-2012) when his stroke turnover rate is very slow. Go back and watch his two best swims.
From the race video, it seems like his turnover is much faster than it used to be in the first 50. In the past that was how he was able to save energy for a 24mid or low 2nd 50.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziwysbg5gvI
Magnussen ended his race quite well, but I question whether his coaches have paid enough attention to stroke count. I personally feel like a coaching change was a very smart move for him, Best did find out what worked for Magnussen, its just up to… Read more »
Your secondary link took me to the Universal Network’s 2013 Barcelona coverage with Rowdy Gaines commentating. As I was thankfully watching Barcelona from European feeds (eurosport), am shocked to learn (again) how bad Gaines’ commentating is.
He is hysterical but almost always said the wrong thing, such as:
“..Adrian cannot see Morozov…Adrian cannot see Morozov…” all the while ignoring the fact that Magnussen is gaining fast on Adrian whom he CAN SEE.
Also, a former sprinter himself, had he never see before the way Morozov, Adrian and Magnussen swim their races? Because it looked like so.
Pretty good results for Team Usa !!! Schneider upsets everybody on the 50 free .
The Aussies women are untouchable on the sprints ; this year in Kazan , nobody will come very close to that team on the 50 and 100 free + 400 free relay . Unless Usa steps very strong on that relay , no chance for the gold medal .
Interesting and somewhat predictable comment by Magnussen, blaming his performance in the 50 on the starter. It reminds me of previous comments by him, and may be a clue that his mental game is still not up to par yet.
Interesting observation ! he seems to come with this pattern quite often – how is it possible when such a Big Meet happens at home to blame the starter while he knows he is just not a 50 specialist . If he wants to swim strong this summer , he better put his mind into alignment .
Actually, his 50 in the relays have been surprisingly swift (21.5+), so maybe he did have something, although yeah, blaming the starter is lame.
wow, Emily and Cate and Bronte – so fast! Missy will have to do something miraculous if she wants to win an individual gold at any major meet in the future.
😯
Why miraculous?
If she’s back at her best level on backstroke then she’s still the girl to beat on both distances, especially in the 200 back.
And in the 200 free, she’s the reigning world champion and in my opinion still the girl to beat.
She has never been a 100 free gold medal contender. She’s not a sprinter.
But I recognize I’ve put a “if” about backstroke, especially the 100 back.
And Emily Seebohm looks to be in the best shape of her life.
Honestly, I remember watching Seebohm’s 100back prelims in London. That was perhaps one of the most shocking swims of the entire games- it was apparent from her level of control and post race reaction that she was not fully exerted. Given the new starting blocks, if she returns to that sort of shape, I would not be surprised to see a 57.5 out of her in the near future.
Franklin is so far into unknown territory in the 200back that I really have no gauge of how much more time it is even possible for her to drop (and therefore, the amount she can drop in the 100). She does not seem to be the type of swimmer who will… Read more »
^ That said, I am quite surprised that Missy and Seebohm are so much faster than any other woman in history, take out Terakawa and they are 0.8s faster than any other woman in history. I’m sure we’ll see the gap filled in the next two years. I’m curious to see what Hosszu can do in LC backstroke. She has a 59.4 to her credit, but she has dropped significant time in the SC editions of both races. I would love to see her contend both races- I could see her popping 58’s, althought breaking Franklin’s 200back SC record by a second does not convince me that she can do better than a 2:06 or 2:07 LC.
no way Missy beats Katie in the 200 free – Katie is getting faster. I’m just not sure Missy can match her best times in backstroke again.
When Franklin first burst on the intl scene and even pre London; the hype was “Missy’s gunna do this, Missy’s gunna do that”. Another few years down the track, we have a much clearer read on her.
Is she the preeminent female backstroker at this present time ? Probably. Over 200, she IS clearly a level above. Over 100, it’s less clear. Seebohm has always had the talent to match her over this distance but the question was does she have the mental strength when it counts. We may have an answer in Kazan but on form of the last 12 months, Missy will need to be on top of her game.
As time’s passed, the indications have been… Read more »