Women’s IMs – Commonwealth Games Preview- Alicia Coutts And Hannah Miley Set Up To Repeat Wins

WOMEN’S IM – PREVIEW

• Commonwealth Games 2014. Glasgow, Scotland. July 24-August 2
• 200m IM- Sunday July 27th
• 400m IM – Thursday July 24th
• Defending Commonwealth 200m IM champion- Alicia Coutts (Australia) 2:09.70
• Defending Commonwealth 400m IM champion- Hannah Miley (Scotland) 4:38.83
• 200m IM Commonwealth Games record- Alicia Coutts (Australia) 2:09.70
• 400m IM Commonwealth Games record- Hannah Miley (Scotland) 4:38.83

200 IM

The women’s 200m IM will be one of the fastest races at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland as it boasts four swimmers currently ranked in the top 10 of this year’s TYR world rankings.

Alicia Coutts is no doubt the star of the show. Coutts won the 200m IM at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi back in 2010, setting a new Commonwealth Games record while she was at it. At that games Coutts was the top swimmer, earning more medals than any other swimmer. Since then, Coutts has gone on to be one of the most dominant all-around swimmers in the current day-in-age, boasting incredible 100m fly and 100m free swims.

Coutts has been a mutli-medalilist at international competitions for a while now and it’s no surprise that she’ll be headed into the Commonwealth Games currently ranked first in the world in the 200m IM. Coutts’ time of 2:08.89 from Australian Nationals is currently over 0.7 seconds faster than any other swimmer this year. Coutts is my pick for the victory here in Glasgow. She’s shown incredible swims in the past, clearly has no fear of stepping up against the best in the world, and based on the time she swam at trials I’d say she’s going to throw down a 2:07 high or a 2:07 mid.

This will also be Coutts’ last run at a Commonwealth Games so you can bet the 27-year-old is going to want to try and repeat as the Commonwealth Games champion. Since her win in New Delhi, it’s just been silver, silver, silver for her. Silver at Worlds in 2011, silver at the Olympics in 2012, and lastly silver last year at the World Championships in Barcelona. She has consistently displayed that she is the top Commonwealth swimmer in this event and I have no doubts that she’s going to pull off a stunner in Glasgow.

For anyone who’s seen this girl swim they’ll have Coutts as their top pick in this event. The only issue that she might have comes with her schedule. Coutts will also have the 50m fly final that day, but considering how well she’s been able to swim hard doubles in the past I doubt this will be any sort of an issue. This is Coutts race to lose, but there still are some other swimmers who could make things interesting.

Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Sophie Allen, and Emily Seebohm will all be in the battle to get onto the podium and maybe even try to take down Coutts. Last year these three swimmers were the best behind Coutts. All three qualified for the final (Seebohm ultimately scratching it to focus on the backstroke) where Allen finished seventh in 2:11.32 and O’Connor finished eighth in 2:12.03. Currently O’Connor is ranked second in the world this year behind Coutts for the 2:09.63 that she swam at Mare Nostrum. That time is fairly consistent with the 2:09.71 that she swam to win the event at British Nationals.

With the way O’Connor’s looking I’d slide her in as a definite possibility for the silver medal. The only thing she lacks is experience, something that both Seebohm and Allen have. Seebohm already has a silver in this race at Commonwealths where she swam a 2:10.83 behind Coutts to take the win. She’ll be one of the only swimmers capable of keeping up with Coutts on the first half (Coutts has a fantastic 100m fly, Seebohm will be able to make some room up on the backstroke). I’d say Seebohm over O’Connor just because of the backstroke leg. O’Connor will have a strong back-half considering the strength of her breaststroke, but I think that if Seebohm can try and compete with Coutts and challenge her during the first 100 meters, O’Connor won’t be able to make up the room.

Sophie Allen and Aimee Willmott are the two other English swimmers other than O’Connor that could be also challenging for a medal position. Allen and Willmott aren’t that far-off of O’connor time-wise this year. Allen swam a 2:11.54 at trials, Willmott a 2:10.60. Willmott does have some international experience as she competed at the 2012 Olympic Games in the 400m IM. This could be a huge chance for her to prove herself amongst some of England’s top swimmers and some of the best in the world.

The two Aussies and the three English girls will be battling it out but the wild card slot could go to Canada’s Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson. Seltenreich-Hodgson is the next big thing in Canadian IM swimming, currently ranked 21st in the world in this event. The young Canadian is currently swimming one of the best seasons of her life which includes a 2:12.76 swim in the 200m IM from Canadian Trials. If she can improve on that time she could definitely be in the mix for a medal if she can cause a little upset with the British ladies. She’s not set up for one, but given a perfect race day she could very well be in the mix.

My Picks:

1. Alicia Coutts (AUS) PB 2:08.15
2. Emily Seebohm (AUS) PB 2:09.93
3. Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (ENG) PB 2:09.63
4. Sophie Allen (ENG) PB 2:10.23
5. Aimee Willmott (ENG) PB 2:10.60
6. Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson (CAN) PB 2:12.26

400 IM

Hannah Miley and Aimee Willmott look to be the two to watch in the 400m IM final. Miley is currently the world leader in the event with the 4:33.25 that she posted at Mare Nostrum. Miley will be fresh and ready for this event as it’s the first event she’ll be competing in at the Games. Miley is hands-down the home-town favorite here in Scotland. Since she usually swims for Great Britian, the chance to represent her home nation of Scotland in Scotland is unique to anything she’s every experienced before.

Miley was the only Commonwealth swimmer to swim in the 400m IM final at last year’s World Championships in Barcelona. While there, she swam a 4:34.16 to finish fifth. She’s already been faster than that this year and that’s a fantastic sign. The defending Commonwealth Games champion and Commonwealth Games record holder has been so consistant over the last few years in this event that it makes me believe she’s going to win. At the Olympics in 2012 she also finished fifth, only one one-hundredth slower than the time she would swim a year later in Barcelona.

Miley is only 24-years-old. Her young age is a blessing in an event like the 400m IM. Her front-half isn’t exactly her speciality, but look for Miley to be able to bring it home stronger than ever. Her freestyle has improved dramatically as is evident by the 4:09.91 she threw down in the 400m freestyle at the end of May. She’s going to have stiff competition from England’s Aimee Willmott, but I think her experience is going to give her the victory.

Willmott is currently ranked fifth in the world and second out of all Commonwealth swimmers. At the end of January Willmott swam a 4:33.64 at Flanders Speedo Cup. She was slower at British Nationals in April, still finishing first however in a much slower time of 4:35.94. The fact that she has swam two inconsistent times doesn’t help her cause in my mind. With no idea what type of taper situation was set up at the Speedo Cup in January I can only imagine that that was fairly close to the type of time we’re going to see from her this summer.

Miley’s consistency gives her the win in my books. I think in the end if these two are neck-and-neck going into the final 100m there’s no way Miley will give up a home-crowd victory. This win goes to Miley, Willmott finishing just behind in a close second.

The third place position is open to almost anybody. The next five Commonwealth swimmers on this year’s world rankings are all within approximately two seconds of each other. I’m going to have to give the bronze medal to Australia’s Ellen Gandy. Gandy was only a 4:41.11 this year at Aussie Nationals to qualify for the team, however has had some great swims in the past, specifically in the butterfly events. Gandy has a silver from the 2011 World Championships in the 200m butterfly. The fly expertise will give her some good front-half speed to be able to start off strong with Miley and Willmott. As long as she doesn’t get overzealous with her fly speed and end up falling for the remainder of the race I’d say she’s a solid pick for the bronze medal.

There are a few wild-cards in this event was well, swimmers who haven’t really have too much international experience, but have posted some decent times this year. Australia’s Keryn McMaster and Canada’s Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson are the two wild-cards in this race. No, I don’t think either of them will medal, but yes, I do believe they will keep it close and try to out-run Gandy for third. McMaster and Seltenreich-Hodgson have posted very similar times this year, McMaster just ahead of her on the world rankings with a 4:39.69 over Seltenreich-Hodgson’s 4:40.07.

My Picks:

1. Hannah Miley (SCOTLAND) PB 4:31.33
2. Aimee Willmott (ENG) PB 4:33.64
3. Ellen Gandy (AUS) PB 4:41.11
4. Keryn McMaster (AUS) PB 4:39.69
5. Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson (CAN) PB 4:40.07
6. Danielle Lowe (ENG) PB 4:42.24