I am curious as to the majority view on who is the " Fastest human in the water ? ".
More specifically on what criteria do we base it on ? I followed Ion's link to www.swimclub.co.uk and started posting on their discussion forum. I have received a very hostile reaction there.
In the UK, Mark Foster bills himself as " The fastest Human in the water ". His basis for claiming this, is that he holds the world record in the 50m Short Course freestyle event. I felt that this was not fair to Popov and Hoogie as he had never beaten them head to head in any event and that they held the World Records for 50m and 100m Freestyle.
The angry response was that Foster was the fastest as his short course 50m is faster than the 50m LC record. I feel that this is a ridiculous comparison.
Do you agree with me ? Should we base that claim on the 50m Free or the 100m Free event, LC or SC ?
I am not welcome on their site, after only 4 posts, is that a record ?
I think, after living in North America for 12 years that I now have more in common with the mindset of Canadians and Americans than the British who IMHO don't seem to want to "be the best by learning from the best !".
BTW the standard of posts and discussion is much higher over here on the USMS site.
Parents
Former Member
I was able to win my argument thanks to the nice guys at 'swiminfo'. They have a nifty time conversion table which i used to get an accurate comparison. Here is that info:
"I have done the time conversions from short course to long course using the web page: www.swiminfo.com/.../conversions.asp
These convert Popovs 50m LC world record time from 21.64 seconds to it's short course equivalent of 21.01 seconds.
Fosters 50m short course world record time converts from 21.13 seconds to it's long course equivalent of 21.76 seconds.
Who is fastest ?
The link to Mark Fosters info on his training is: news.bbc.co.uk/.../3078131.stm
This was in the Telegraph: " Foster holds the short-course record (for events held in 25m pools) with the 21.13sec he clocked in Paris two years ago. However, the 50m long-course record is the one everybody defers to, and that continues to elude him. His best is 22.32, compared with Alexander Popov's world mark of 21.64." This link is: www.telegraph.co.uk/.../sofost10.xml "
Anyway now I can go to sleep tonight happy !
I was able to win my argument thanks to the nice guys at 'swiminfo'. They have a nifty time conversion table which i used to get an accurate comparison. Here is that info:
"I have done the time conversions from short course to long course using the web page: www.swiminfo.com/.../conversions.asp
These convert Popovs 50m LC world record time from 21.64 seconds to it's short course equivalent of 21.01 seconds.
Fosters 50m short course world record time converts from 21.13 seconds to it's long course equivalent of 21.76 seconds.
Who is fastest ?
The link to Mark Fosters info on his training is: news.bbc.co.uk/.../3078131.stm
This was in the Telegraph: " Foster holds the short-course record (for events held in 25m pools) with the 21.13sec he clocked in Paris two years ago. However, the 50m long-course record is the one everybody defers to, and that continues to elude him. His best is 22.32, compared with Alexander Popov's world mark of 21.64." This link is: www.telegraph.co.uk/.../sofost10.xml "
Anyway now I can go to sleep tonight happy !
