Best race you've ever seen?

Not swimming but running - The Miracle mile in 1954, Bannister and Landy first two men under 4 minutes for the mile run. I was there it was an amazing feat. The race is 3 minutes into this clip, near the end of the race Landy looks over his left shoulder as Bannister passes him. www.youtube.com/watch

Quote: Originally Posted by 3strokes forums.usms.org/.../viewpost.gif Athens Olympics. Men's 200m Free final I thought of that one too. I can't remember ever seeing another race that had four titans duking it out like that. Another one that comes to mind is the Barcelona Men's 400m Free final. (Again) Thorpe v/s Hackett where they went stroke for stroke (a tactical rather than a go-for-WR race) for nearly 3/4 of the race and then Ian made his move and, voilá. I also like to watch World-Class 1500meters when swum by one (or more) of the giants of that distance but always get disappointed when they only show the first 150m (when everybody is practically level) then cut to commercials then resume for the last 72 meters when the lapping has already been achieved, the race already decided and all we're doing is watching one guy swimming alone to the finish..........

Billy Mills 10k Mexico City www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QaDQL0rMWw Somebody forgot to tell the guy he didn't have a prayer of winning that race.:bouncing:

I'm going to limit my response to races I've seen in person. My "best" is: USA Swimming-National Meets 2004 U. S. Olympic Team Trials - 7/7/2004 to 7/14/2004 Event 1 Men 400 LC Meter IM ================================================================== World: W 4:09.09 7/27/2003 Michael Phelps, USA American: A 4:09.09 7/27/2003 Michael Phelps, USA U.S. Open: O 4:10.73 4/6/2003 Michael Phelps, USA Meet: M 4:12.72 3/7/1996 Tom Dolan, Michigan/CUBU Oly. Tr. Cut: 4:28.89 Name Age Team Prelims Finals ================================================================== === Finals === 1 Phelps, Michael 19 North Baltimore 4:16.11 4:08.41W 26.15 55.66 (29.51) 1:27.00 (31.34) 1:57.85 (30.85) 2:34.04 (36.19) 3:10.75 (36.71) 3:40.39 (29.64) 4:08.41 (28.02) 2 Vendt, Erik 23 Trojan Swim Club 4:19.75 4:14.09 27.16 58.23 (31.07) 1:30.88 (32.65) 2:02.46 (31.58) 2:38.04 (35.58) 3:14.86 (36.82) 3:45.08 (30.22) 4:14.09 (29.01) 3 Shanteau, Eric 20 Swim Atlanta/Aub 4:20.16 4:15.08 28.08 59.70 (31.62) 1:32.77 (33.07) 2:05.68 (32.91) 2:40.57 (34.89) 3:16.05 (35.48) 3:46.20 (30.15) 4:15.08 (28.88) 4 Lochte, Ryan 19 Daytona Beach Sw 4:17.45 4:18.46 27.02 57.71 (30.69) 1:29.98 (32.27) 2:01.90 (31.92) 2:39.49 (37.59) 3:18.59 (39.10) 3:48.39 (29.80) 4:18.46 (30.07) 5 Donnelly, Eric 24 Gator Swim Club/ 4:24.57 4:21.91 27.22 58.32 (31.10) 1:31.59 (33.27) 2:05.00 (33.41) 2:42.20 (37.20) 3:21.31 (39.11) 3:52.29 (30.98) 4:21.91 (29.62) 6 Wilkens, Tom 28 Stanford Swimmin 4:22.39 4:23.50 27.42 58.57 (31.15) 1:33.19 (34.62) 2:07.08 (33.89) 2:43.23 (36.15) 3:20.62 (37.39) 3:52.67 (32.05) 4:23.50 (30.83) 7 Mellors, Patrick 18 Jewish Community 4:20.70 4:23.72 27.32 58.69 (31.37) 1:33.04 (34.35) 2:05.92 (32.88) 2:44.24 (38.32) 3:22.95 (38.71) 3:54.00 (31.05) 4:23.72 (29.72) 8 Fahey, Paul 21 Usc 4:24.82 4:29.18 27.97 59.98 (32.01) 1:35.09 (35.11) 2:09.50 (34.41) 2:46.95 (37.45) 3:25.58 (38.63) 3:58.18 (32.60) 4:29.18 (31.00)

I've always remembered the original duel in the pool where top 50m free swimmers raced in elimination heats with Jager and Biondi duking it out in the end, world record lowered I think twice on the day and in old-style racing briefs at that!

Actually, Mills was 1964 in Tokyo. I met Mills about 24 years ago at the world premiere of his autobiographical movie "Running Brave." My God, what a nice, decent, humble and wonderful person. Sometimes the good guys first first. -LBJ Sorry, my mistake. I did not see the race live but it got serious news coverage after it happened, back in a time when the 10k was not a race many Americans cared much about. Billy Mills heritage and demeanor just made it all the better, a great sports story.

Thanks for the link. The guy's not even a sprinter and he finishes 3rd......... Kind of a neat Thorpe commercial.... swimshare.com/play.php

best race ever youtube.com/watch

best race ever www.tvharmony.com/.../watch Catch that Derby yesterday?

Misty Hyman's 200 Fly gold-medal swim in the 2000 Olympics. :cheerleader: I agree! I could watch that swim over and over again! Her surprise and celebration at the end was such a classic Olympic moment! :applaud::applaud::applaud: