The Week That Was: Records Fall As Swim Competition At Worlds Begins

sarah-sjostrom-sweden-happy-100-fly-2016-rio-olympics

Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Editorial Coverage provided by

The beginning of the pool competition at the FINA World Championships has had no shortage of excitement, with several national and championship records falling on the first night of finals, including a world record! Catch up on all the action from that competition and the news of the week in the week that was.

The Week That Was #5 – Dartmouth Women’s Team Placed On Probation

Photo Courtesy: Dartmouth Athletics

The Dartmouth women’s swimming and diving team is receiving a one-year probation after violating the college’s hazing policy. The sanctions against the team will include cancelling three meets in the fall prior to December 1st and prohibiting the team from taking a training trip during winter break. The team’s violation did not involve alcohol or illegal drug use nor did it cause physical harm to any members of the team. The team will begin practice as normal in the fall and resume their normal competition schedule in December. You can read the full statement from Dartmouth Athletics here.

The Week That Was #4 – Adam Wright Takes Over Women’s UCLA Water Polo

Photo Courtesy: Joon Baik

The UCLA Athletic Department announced this week that Adam Wright will be taking over the coaching responsibilities for the Bruins women’s water polo team. Wright is the current head coach of the Bruins men’s water polo team in addition to being a UCLA alum himself. He will be stepping into the role that Brandon Brooks vacated last month, resigning after eight years as the head coach of the women’s team. That makes Brooks one of the few coaches at the Division I level who has a head coaching role with both the men’s and women’s varsity teams. Wright has had considerable success with the men’s team at UCLA that has included back to back NCAA titles in 2014 and 2015. You can read the full statement on Wright’s appointment from UCLA here.

The Week That Was #3 – France Dominant As Open Water Competition Comes To A Close

Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia Ltd.

France continued their impressive showing the open water competition at the 2017 FINA World Championships, taking two of the three open water races that closed the open water races this week. The team of Oceanne Maryse Jeannie Cassignol, Logan Fontaine, Marc-Antoine Olivier, and Aurelie Muller led France to a decisive win in the mixed relay event, while Axel Raymond was victorious in the men’s 25k event. That added to the world titles that Olivier and Muller had already won in the competition thus far. Team USA finished second in the relay event, while Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha won her third open water world title in the women’s 25k event. You can see all of the updates from the open water portion of the FINA World Championships here.

The Week That Was #2 – FINA Clarifies “Lochte Rule”

Photo Courtesy: FINA Doha 2014

FINA announced a series of technical rule changes for swimming this week that will affect international and masters swimming. The most notable rule change is related to the so-called “Lochte rule,” which stated that a swimmer could be on his or her back at no point while swimming freestyle during an IM or medley relay event. The rule has been adjusted to provide some wiggle room, changing the language so that the “swimmer must be on the breast except when executing a turn. The swimmer must return to the breast before any kick or stroke.” There has been a lot of attention over this rule for the last couple years, most recently after a series of DQ’s at the U.S. Nationals in the 400 IM that left would-be runner-up Ella Eastin off of the World Team. The rules will be effective this fall, which means the old interpretations will still be valid for the current World Championships. You can read a full list of the rule changes here.

The Week That Was #1 – World, National Records Fall On First Night of Swimming Finals

sarah-sjostrom-200-free-prelims-2016-rio-olympics

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Chinese gold medalist Sun Yang picked up the first gold medal of the meet, taking the top spot in the 400 free when he won in 3:41.38. Defending Olympic gold medalist Mack Horton was second in 3:43.38. Katie Ledecky repeated as the women’s 400 free champion in a new meet record of 3:58.34, with teammate Leah Smith finishing second to repeat their finish from last summer. But the most exciting races of the night had to be the 400 free relays. Caeleb Dressel led off the U.S. relay in a new American Record of 47.26 before powering to gold with Blake Pieroni, Townley Haas, and Nathan Adrian. Dressel’s teammate Mallory Comerford also led off in a new American Record, breaking teammate Simone Manuel’s mark of 52.70 with her own 52.59 and helping the team of Ledecky, Kelsi Worrell, and Manuel to gold and a new American Record of 3:31.72. But the performance of the day had to go to Swedish gold medalist Sarah Sjostrom, who led off the Swedish relay with a world record of 51.71, becoming the first woman under 52 seconds in history. You can stay up to date with all the action from the 2017 FINA World Championships on our Event Landing Page.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use