Dutch swimmer Femke Heemskerk has crushed her own Dutch Record in the women’s 200 freestyle and jumped up to 4th on the list of all-time fastest swimmers in the 200 free during the 2nd day of the 2015 Eindhoven Swim Cup.
Heemskerk swam a 1:54.68 to win the final by five seconds, which beat her own record of 1:55.35 done in December.
This swim from Heemskerk was a very, very different swim from her old record. Whereas Heemskerk has historically been known to be extremely aggressive on her front 100 in this race, on Friday it was her patience that paid off.
Old Record splits: 56.37/58.98 = 1:55.35
New Record splits: 56.96/57.72 = 1:54.68
Heemskerk now ranks as the 4th-best swimmer of all-time, and this was 7th-fastest swim of all-time, moving just ahead of American Missy Franklin.
Top 10 fastest swimmers in history:
- Federica Pellegrini, Italy, 1:52.98 (2009)
- Allison Schmitt, USA, 1:53.61 (2012)
- Camille Muffat, France, 1:54.66 (2012)
- Femke Heemskerk, Netherlands, 1:54.68 (2015)
- Missy Franklin, USA, 1:54.81 (2013)
- Sara Isakovic, Slovenia, 1:54.97 (2008)
- Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 1:55.04 (2014)
- Jiaying Pang, China, 1:55.05 (2008)
- Katie Ledecky, USA, 1:55.16 (2014)
- Dana Vollmer, USA, 1:55.29 (2009)
Based on circumstances involving the 2012 Olympic top finishers, the 27-year old Heemskerk now becomes a contender for gold in 2016. She was entered in this 200 free in London, but wound up not swimming, and while she has two 400 free relay medals, she owns no individual awards at either the Olympics or long course World Championships.
A full session recap will follow.
incredible that Ms Heemskerk can improve at 27. Just saw the video, she looked so smooth …
I dont know about Ledecky being a contender for gold in 2016, she seems to loose her form when she sprints, my impression is that it takes her a lot of additional effort just to shave hundredths in the shorter races … but then again she is a monster and nobody can rule her out.
Ps I read on Twitter that Sarah Sjostrom got sick because of food poisoning, is the ok now?
I hope Sjostrom peruses this event in 2016, with her, Heemskerk, and whichever two Americans make it through trials, the 200 free will be one to watch.
*pursues
Amazing how well Heemskerk is hitting her stride… at 27! Persistence pays off. I love to see a swimmer improving a little bit here, a little bit there, and steadily getting better. Skyrocketing teenagers might get more attention, but dropping seconds every year is never a sustainable pattern. At some point, it takes poise, maturity, and intelligence to improve because your natural gifts are no longer improving.
Ledecky went 1:55 while still focusing on 1500m in 2014. No 1500 at olympics means she will focus on speed in 2016. I believe she can get 1:53.
Ledecky focused on the 400 last year–but she also swam a 1:54.36 relay split which is probably equivalent to a sub 1:55 off the blocks. I figure this year she will just swim to win the 1500 before swimming the 200 semis the same night and the 200 finals the next. She should be able to do at least a 1:54 low this year.
I doubt Allison Schmitt will get back down in the 1:53 range. I think it will be a battle between Katie and Missy at trials.
A 4 x 2 free team of Franklin, Ledecky, Schmidt and Manuel would be almost like a dream team !
Thanos, I think Manuel is amazing, but there is a big difference between the 200 free SCY and LCM! Ask Nathan Adrian, who is great in the event SCY, but doesn’t even attempt it LCM. IMO she will not be in that relay final. Anyway, she will be busy enough with the 50/100 free and both 4×100 relays!
You sure Manuel can swim a 1:55 200 free?
Let’s see if she can swim 1:57 first.
Femke Heemskerk becomes a serious olympic rival for Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt (if she confirms her return at her highest level).
But I still think the 2 American girls I’ve mentioned above can swim 1.53 in Rio.
You will probably note that I don’t talk about Katie Ledecky. Miss Ledecky will have first to qualify in that event. And still today she’s the slowest of the 3. The battle against Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt to qualify looks pretty amazing.
I absolutely hope that Schmitty returns to the 1:53 level, but based on 2013-14 results, I think the favorites for the USA slots are Franklin and Ledecky. Granted – Schmitty’s recent yards times were outstanding, but just based on trajectories, I think Ledecky is foavored over Schmitty for 2016.
Recent trends point to Ledecky, considering she’s the second fastest this year and was well ahead of Schmitt last summer. Unless she chooses to not swim the 200 individually (which seems asinine considering there’s no 1500 at the Olympics for women), she’s probably ahead of Schmitty right now.