2019 HCY Stingray Splash
- January 11th-13th, 2019
- Perth Amboy, NJ
- Short Course Yards
Soon-to-be Georgia Tech swimmer Josh Cohen (currently of Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA) swam a 500 backstroke during the 500 free at the HCY Stingray Splash this past weekiend. Cohen, a 3-time YMCA national champion, swam a 5:02.21, actually winning the event, despite swimming backstroke instead of freestyle. Here is a breakdown of Cohen’s splits, as well as the race video:
| Distance | Split | Total Time |
| 50 | 27.44 | 27.44 |
| 100 | 29.86 | 57.30 |
| 150 | 29.93 | 1:27.23 |
| 200 | 30.07 | 1:57.30 |
| 250 | 30.61 | 2:27.91 |
| 300 | 30.91 | 2:58.82 |
| 350 | 31.13 | 3:29.95 |
| 400 | 31.29 | 4:01.24 |
| 450 | 30.82 | 4:32.06 |
| 500 | 30.15 | 5:02.21 |
He kept his time under 1:00 100 pace for the 1st 350 yards of the race, ultimately finished the race at an overall 100 pace of 1:00.4. Cohenis a very well-rounded swimmer, but judging by his personal bests, he is primarily an IM’er and a middle-distance and distance freestyler. For context, here are his personal bests:
- 50 free – 21.35
- 100 free – 46.34
- 200 free – 1:38.10
- 500 free – 4:26.57
- 1000 free – 9:15.15
- 1650 free – 15:31.72
- 100 back – 51.22
- 200 back – 1:51.50
- 100 breast – 57.82
- 200 breast – 2:07.26
- 100 fly – 51.95
- 200 fly – 1:54.86
- 200 IM – 1:52.37
- 400 IM – 3:58.52
According to Josh’s father, his motivation for swimming backstroke for the 500 free came from seeing someone do it at the same meet 3 years ago, and someone else swimming the 500 fly at this meet 2 years ago. Josh wanted to do the same in his final HCY Stingray Splash meet.
Last year we reported on then-NC-State-recruit Kylee Alons swimming the 500 backstroke at a high school meet in her senior season. She swam a 5:26. Here is the link to that story.
That’s a slowww heat
Northwestern commit Ben Miller dripped a 4:57 500 back just a week ago. Sophmore Nathaniel Whitehead was 5:07 for a 500 back in the same race.
https://tigardtigers.com/recap/boys-swim-some-fun-exhibition/
A lot of the 200 yard back is spent UW by the best swimmers. Becuase a 200 and 500 back would have to be swum very differently, comparing a 1:37 200 freestylers 500 time to a 1:37 200 backstrokers 500 time isn’t really apples to apples.
That’s a fair point. It’s not apples/apples.
Low
The guy in the lane next to him should have punched him
Wasn’t there a tweet a while back about Ryan Lochte going like a 4:42 500 back in a Swim MAC practice?
Here it is:
https://staging.swimswam.com/lochte-feigen-coventry-sub-500-500-back-mystery-solved/
Lochte went a 4:44 and Clary went a 4:56
I also have it on good authority that Tom Dolan went 3:45 400y back circa 1995. That would be 4:41-42 if he extended to 500. And that’s practice.
Any guesses on what fastest 500y back could be? Ryan Murphy might have too much sprint speed to be the best 500 backstroker. Maybe Lochte/Clary b/c of the 4IM training would be better suited for it – or Piersol or Iyre b/c they are so smooth over a 200. Go out :51 and hold 54 — that seems imminently feasible. That would be 4:27.
I feel that if top backstrokers can go sub 1:40 in the 200 they could be under 4:30. Those two milestones are broken around the same time for freestylers so I don’t see why it would be much different for backstroke
That sounds about right. So what does that mean for a 1:35 backstroker? Probably more like low 4:22-24
Under the radar pick: I think Seliskar would have a sneaky shot to be the best in that event. His underwaters seem to translate to longer races (see his 4:13 500 free) and he was 1:41.3 in the 200 back in high school. Of the top 25 guys on the 2back performances list, only Conger, Lochte, and Roberts have been 4:13 like Seliskar was.
Lochte or Clary makes sense to me. 4:27 seems too fast. I think everyone’s legs will give out before 4:27. Though if a high school swimmer is going 5:02, maybe I’m not giving the pros enough credit. I’d take the over on 4:27, but I bet someone could go under 4:40 or maybe even under 4:35.
You’d have to lay off the underwaters for sure. And just to be clear – I’m not talking about what could be done in practice or at the “January Open” in a drag suit. I’m talking suited-up peak performance.
Suited up peak performance, peak Lochte…I could buy sub-4:35. I just still can’t believe he could go 4:27. But, maybe. It’s all just a guess until one of them does it, right?
I know this is a silly academic debate, but this is fun. So you must think endurance backstroke is dramatically different than freestyle, I guess. As another comment says, there is a rough equivalence of midddle-D freestylers breaking 1:40 (200) and 4:30 (500) about the same time. But a 1:36 backstroker can only go 4:35? I don’t see it.
And article below (from SwimSwam!) says Lochte went 4:44 in practice. I gotta believe peak 2010-12 Lochte is going sub 4:30 easily.
Shame that he didn’t win the 200 back in London. If he did, his fate as the greatest 200 backstroker of all time would be sealed. I still think he is.
Watch the Carson Foster interview from this latest PSS
Lochte was a beast in 2011, probably could have gone a 4:25 or something