1500 m. for elite sprinters

of the 3 at their peaks I'd put money on biondi, I think Matt had a better 200 than the hall or popov which means he should have a better 400, 800 and 1,500 I do believe Tom Jager was nationally ranked in the 1,650 as a 14 year old. If hall had trained really hard in his younger years, or if he had stayed at UT for all 4 years instead of leaving after his freshman year I'm convinced he would have been a much better swimmer. the 50 and 100 require way different training than the 1,500 Ande Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming I was wondering how fast some great sprinters like Popov, Biondi, Hall, etc. can swim 1500 m. distance. I know that Ryk Neethling used to be a distance swimmer, in 1996 and 2000 Olympics he placed 5th in 1500 and now he is one of the best sprinters...

Who knows but you aren't going to see Hall swim a 1500. I would be shocked to hear that he did a 1500 free. The South African dude is amazing to be a world class distance swimmer to a sprinter.

I do not know about the other swimmers mentioned but I do know that the great Jim Montgomery (1st person to bust :50 in the 100 LCM Free in the 1976 Olympic Games in Canada) swam one heck of a fast 1500 free in Dallas a few years ago. I forget his time, but I remember thinking as he swam that 1500.... "Wow, here is former World Record Holder in SPRINT events busting out a very fast 1500 free. "

Originally posted by Tom Ellison I do not know about the other swimmers mentioned but I do know that the great Jim Montgomery (1st person to bust :50 in the 100 LCM Free in the 1976 Olympic Games in Canada) swam one heck of a fast 1500 free in Dallas a few years ago. I forget his time, but I remember thinking as he swam that 1500.... "Wow, here is former World Record Holder in SPRINT events busting out a very fast 1500 free. " Jim Montgomery was supposed to swim in the Masters SCY swim meet that I attended a couple weekends ago here in Dallas. He was scheduled to swim the 200 yard and 500 yard freestyle events, but he didn't swim. I saw him in attendance as a coach. Jim was my coach for one of my first swim classes back in October. He is down-to-earth and was very patient with beginners. He even got in the water with us to show us how to breathe. It still amazes me that an Olympic gold medalist would take the time to work with beginners.

Lest we all forget, one of the greatest sprinters of all times if Rowdy Gaines..............check out his WR's for masters on th FINA website: As a 30-34 & 35-39 year old he held the 50-1500 records. Only the 200 has been broken in the 35-39 age grouop, his 1500 record is 16:37.34.

Actually, sprinters and distance swimmers train completely differently. And to say that it is easier to be a distance swimmer is completely an error. Real distance swimmers are a different breed of swimmer. They train harder and longer than any sprinter ever has. I have alot of respect for the die hard distance swimmers out there.

Ande, Matt was a better 200 swimmer than Gary only in the long run, remember Gary went 1:33+ his freshman year, then basically never swam it again.

Back in 1986 Jim Montgomery held every record from 50 Free to 800 Free and he accomlished that at the 1st FINA World Swimming Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In 1987 he swam to a World Record in the 1500 Free and there have been only a select few that have done this in USMS history.

Interesting thing about Rowdy is that he was faster in late 30's than early 30's

Hal, You missed both the point of the thread and my post. Of course distance swimmers and sprinters train differently (duh!). The thread is not about that, but rather, about how elite sprinters can swim distance events. I merely pointed out that because of their training, they have the endurance to compete in the longer events. The strength needed is there already due to the nature of sprinting. And I am not making a 1 on 1 comparison. Even the best sprinter is not going to beat the best distance swimmer in a 1500.