The Week That Was is sponsored by
The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown continued her impressive 2020 performances with a near world record in the LCM 100 backstroke at the Queensland State Championships, joining American Regan Smith as the only members of the sub-58 100 back club. McKeown’s swim comes just a couple weeks after her world record in the 200 back in short course meters where she took down Katinka Hosszu’s mark from 2014.
Fellow Australian Shayna Jack is also getting her doping ban reduction appealed by Sport Integrity Australia after she got her doping ban reduced to two years, which would leave her eligible to compete again in July 2021.
Read below the five biggest stories in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.
The Week That Was #1: Kaylee McKeown Moves to #2 All-Time in 100 Back LCM
Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Queensland’s new wonder girl Kaylee McKeown has clocked the second fastest time in history with a new Commonwealth and Australian record of 57.93 in a stunning swim on the opening night of the Queensland State Championships at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre.
The 19-year-old from the USC Spartans on the Queensland Sunshine Coast becomes only the second swimmer to break the 58 second barrier – bettered only by American world record holder Regan Smith’s 57.57, set at last year’s Fina World Championships in Gwangju.
Kaylee McKeown’s time clipped 0.17 off Canadian Kyle Masse’s 2017 Commonwealth mark of 58.10 and 0.18 off her own Australian, Australian All-Comers and Queensland and Queensland All-Comers record of 58.11, set just a month ago in the same pool.
And it continues her remarkable month of record-breaking swims after her short course 200m backstroke world record, also set at the same pool at the Swimming Australia Virtual SC Meet.
#2: Dutch Women Throw Down World Record in 4×50 Free Relay SCM
Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Coming off of a fast qualifying meet at Rotterdam, the Dutch relay sprinters kept up the pace with a short-course world record in the 200 freestyle relay at the Wouda Cup.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Maaike de Waard, Kim Busch and Femke Hemskerk teamed up for a swim of 1:32.50.
It destroyed the previous record, of 1:33.91, also set by the Dutch at the 2017 Short Course European Championships (Tamara van Vliet, Valerie van Roon, Kromowidjojo and Heemskerk). The unofficial world record, or at least the fastest time ever from the suit era, was 1:33.25, set by the Dutch at the 2009 Short Course European Championships (Inge Dekker, Hinkelien Schreuder, Saskia de Jonge and Kromowidjojo). So this swim was quite faster than that performance as well, more than three quarters of a second.
This swim is now the Dutch national record, European record and world record.
The Week That Was #3: Michael Phelps Says World Records May Be Unlikely at Tokyo Olympics
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Michael Phelps, the owner of the most Olympic gold medals in history, stated in a recent interview with Reuters that the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic means it is unlikely any swimming world records will fall during next summer’s postponed Olympic Games in Tokyo, believing that the swimmers were put at a disadvantage this year with the training limitations.
“There are kids out there who are controlling everything that they can control. They are swimming like they should be, they are lifting,” said Phelps, who set 39 world records during his career.
“But honestly, I think pushing it back by a year throws a bigger loop into it than everybody thinks.
“The best of the best will fight back and you’re going to see some fast swims. But world records? I don’t think so.
“With all these pools being shut down, somebody would have to be damn near perfect for the rest of the preparation to have that chance.”
#4: Swimming Canada Announces Shift to Invitational For Olympic Trials
Photo Courtesy: Swimming Canada/Irwin Wong
Swimming Canada announced that the Canadian Olympic Trials for next April will be changed to invitational trials as a way to maintain physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move will offer a maximum of 20 places in each Olympic event at Trials, to be contested as timed finals from April 7-11 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Paralympics Trials will include up to 15 swimmers per event in multi-class timed finals.
“Today we announce some key decisions for 2021, based on the best information we have available. In this global COVID-19 pandemic, we have to make health and safety the priority, along with allowing for the best possible performance from our athletes who will be invited to the Trials,” High Performance Director John Atkinson said in a release.
Due to the limitations in the number of participants, Swimming Canada will re-assess the selection criteria for other international events, including the World Junior Swimming Championships. Teams are usually selected from age-qualified finishers at Trials.
The release includes Swimming Canada’s intention not to field a team for the World University Games, due to be held in Chengdu, China, in August. Open water trials, scheduled for April 17-18 on Grand Cayman Island, are cancelled, with the final representative for the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim qualifier in Fukuoka, Japan, in late May selected via the finish in the 1,500 meters in the pool. More info on the supplemental competitions is here.
The Week That Was #5: Sport Integrity Australia Appealing Shayna Jack’s Doping Ban Reduction
Shayna Jack makes a statement and answers questions from the media – Photo Courtesy: Ian Hanson
Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) is appealing the doping ban reduction on Shayna Jack at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), according to a story from Reuters. Jack had initially been banned four years by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) for testing positive for the banned anabolic agent Ligandrol right before the 2019 World Championships, with a scheduled return to competition in the summer of 2023.
Last month, she had her sentence reduced to two years by the CAS, which still left her ineligible to qualify for the Australian team for the 2021 Olympic Games as the suspension would have ended after the Olympic Trials in June 2021.
CAS found that Jack “did not intentionally ingest Ligandrol and considered that she had discharged her onus of proving that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional.”
Now, SIA, the government agency which replaced ASADA in July this year, is appealing the shorter suspension.
SIA said on Monday that after “careful consideration of the legal issues” it had decided to lodge a case with CAS Appeals Division.
“Sport Integrity Australia will always act to ensure a level playing field for athletes,” chief executive David Sharpe said in a statement.
“In order to protect athletes and sporting competitions, we must have clarity and consistency in the application of the World Anti-Doping Code.”
