Full day 5 recap from the Commonwealth Games is available here.
Ben Proud Manages Improvement After Mid-Season Peak
English swimmer Ben Proud took the top seed in the semi-finals of the men’s 50 free on Monday at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, swimming to a 21.76, breaking his own National Record by a tenth of a second.
He’ll be racing out of lane 4 on Tuesday evening in Glasgow, and will have the confidence of a new training regimen that seems to be paying off. He had previously broken the record in May of this year at just a small regional meet, and there was some concern over where his season would wind up taking him. That’s because he struggled just a bit at British Nationals (22.31) and then looked so good at a relatively meaningless met.
But Proud assuaged our concerns at the time by sharing that he’d actually begun with a new strength coach, and he felt that’s the reason, not any kind of special mid-season taper, that led to the impressive time in May. That success thus far has carried over to Glasgow in the 50 free.
Among the other major National Records broken on Monday:
- Joseph Schooling swam a 51.69 in the men’s 100 fly for silver. That broke the National Record done by Schooling at the 2013 Charlotte Grand Prix in a 52.33. It also gave Singapore it’s first ever Commonwealth Games gold in swimming, and was just the third Commonwealth Games medal in swimming won by an Asian. That adds to the Asian Record in the 50 fly he tied earlier in the meet.
- Jazz Carlin capped off an impressive season with a win in the women’s 800 free in 8:18.11. That broke the Wales Record of 8:18.36 that she swam earlier this year. It also made her the first Welsh woman to win Commonwealth Games gold in swimming in 40 years
- Finishing 3rd in that 800 free was Canadian Brittany MacLean. She placed 3rd in 8:20.91, which knocked precisely four seconds from her own Canadian National Record done in April in 8:24.91. MacLean is the defending NCAA Champion in the 500 yard free and the 1650 yard free.
Who’s going to win the medley relay? A Surprise Favorite.
Every year for the last two decades, this has been a relatively easy question to answer. The Australians haven’t lost gold in the 400 medley relay at the Commonwealth Games since taking bronze in 1990 during an era where Canada dominated this meet.
That’s five-straight wins for the Australians, but that’s a streak that might end this year.
If their grasp upon the medley was loosening already, the much-talked-about shoulder injury to Christian Sprenger may have been the final nail in the proverbial coffin. Though he could swim, Sprenger was just 11th in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:01.73. That might have to do, however, as the Australians didn’t bring another primary breaststroker to the meet. There will be a tough decision to be made, as Kenneth To did make the trip and is a very good breaststroker, even without it being his primary event. He swam a 1:01.58 in 2013 in the event, which is faster than Sprenger did in his individual in Glasgow.
Regardless, that will leave the Australians in at least a two second deficit to the English, who have the gold medalist Adam Peaty on their breaststroke leg (58.94); and South Africans, who have silver medalist Cameron van der Burgh on their breaststroke leg (59.28).
South Africa will need that, as they’ll give up a lot of ground to the English and Australians on the backstroke leg – they had only a semi-finalist there. Meanwhile, that’s another plus for the English, where Chris Walker-Hebborn won gold in 53.12, ahead of Australia’s Mitch Larkin in 53.59 and another Englishman Liam Tancock in 53.75. The advantage there isn’t as big as on the breaststroke, but it’s another check in the favor of England.
Fly will be to the benefit of the South Africans with the gold medalist Le Clos, but not by enough to make up for that backstroke. There again, the top English finisher (Adam Barrett – 51.93) was better in the individual than the top Australian finisher (Jayden Hadler – 52.42). That means that Team England could go into the final leg with a full three-second margin on the Australians.
Of course, that anchor leg is where Australia is at it’s finest. They swept the podium with James Magnussen (48.11), Cameron McEvoy (48.34), and Tommy D’Orsogna (49.04). England is no slouch there either though, with two finalists in Adam Brown and James Disney-May, plus the more 50 meter oriented Ben Proud to choose from. The Australians will make up ground on the anchor, but they’re going to have to find a way to keep things closer than three seconds if they want the win.
The aggregates for each of the three countries, based on their highest individual finisher:
Australia: Larkin (53.59) + Sprenger (1:01.73) + Hadler (52.42) + Magnussen (48.11) = 3:35.55
England: Walker-Hebborn (53.12) + Peaty (58.94) + Barrett (51.93) + Brown (49.63) = 3:33.62
South Africa: Murray (55.68) + van der Burgh (59.28) + Le Clos (51.29) + Shankland (49.81) = 3:36.06
And there you have it, barring a remarkable improvement in Sprenger’s condition, England are the favorites heading into Tuesday’s men’s 400 medley relay.
Surprised? Maybe you shouldn’t be. The U.K. (in all of its many parts) has swum very well over the last week, and could be in contention for relay medals in Kazan.