As reported by SwimSwam’s Karl Ortegon:
WOMEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE
Etiene Medeiros swam well this morning, but Natalie Coughlin absolutely zoomed this race, going a 27.51 to destroy her own personal best and break the American Record at the same time. She is now ranked 3rd in the world in that event. Medeiros would settle for third, as Rachel Bootsma was 2nd in 28.05. That American Record was previously held by her. Fernanda Gonzalez Ramirez of Mexico grabbed 4th place (28.86) and was the last swimmer to dip below 29 seconds. Medeiros still does own the world’s fastest time this year in this event.
2014-2015 LCM Women 50 Back
FU
27.11
| 2 | Etiene MEDEIROS | BRA | 27.26 | 08/06 |
| 3 | Emily SEEBOHM | AUS | 27.47 | 04/07 |
| 4 | Natalie COUGHLIN | USA | 27.51 | 06/19 |
| 5 | Xiang LU | CHN | 27.58 | 08/06 |
Ali DeLoof, who nearly made the World Champs team for the U.S. in the 5o back, grabbed the B final win with a quick 28.97 out of lane 8. Guatemala’s Gisela Morales touched 2nd in 29.14.
She made Missy look really bad lol!
Hard for me to watch Missy’s start next to Natalie.
It was one of her worst backstroke starts ever.
It has never been great but here it’s….
I know it was just after the 200 free so she was very tired but it’s still….
And to think that after 2 years at Cal with Teri McKeever, I thought it would have improved a lot…
No, unfortunately, it still looks….
Hopefully it will be a little better tonight in the 100 back.
By the way, congrats to Natalie. Speed comes with age. Amazing.
I don’t see how she can win gold in Rio with a start like that, you simply can’t afford to fall more than a body length behind in the first 15 meters. And I know it was bad in London and she still won, but her start and underwaters seem to have gotten worse while the rest of the field is taking advantage of a wedge.
Anyway we can get Cody Miller’s race video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2FP2BfuA-Q