Ben Hesen‘s 50 backstroke US Open record of 24.71 had stood since 2008, until this evening when David Plummer recorded a time of 24.52. Plummer’s time is also the fastest time in the world this year surpassing Jeremy Stravius of France who had posted a time of 24.61 in April.
Plummer who had a disappointing Olympic Trials, finishing third in the 100 backstroke, will be looking to secure a spot on his second straight World Championships team (the win in the stroke 50s does not guarantee athletes a spot on the team) tomorrow in the 100 backstroke. His season’s best time of 54.28 is the second fastest time this year by an American with Matt Grevers having recorded a 53.75 in January.
At the World Championships in Shanghai in 2011 Plummer finished fifth in both the 50 and 100 backstroke and was part of the 4 x 100 medley relay team that won gold.
Arizona Wildcats Kevin Steel started his day and ended his day the same way, breaking a US Open record in the 50 breaststroke.
In the preliminaries Steel qualified for the top spot in the finals by posting a 27.33 which was one one-hundredth of a second faster than the mark set by Mark Gangloff in 2009 of 27.34. In this evenings swim Steel outdid himself by posting a time of 27.26 breaking his own US Open record.
His 27.26 is the third fastest time done in the world this year with only Australian Christian Sprenger (26.90) and Brazilian Joao Gomes (27.20) ahead of him.
Steel will also be looking to punch his ticket to Barcelona tomorrow in the 100 breaststroke.
I didn’t even know we kept track of records in the 50? When did we start doing that?