Why are the men's mile records so old and stinky?

My general feeling has always been that the "tech suits" had less of an impact the longer the distance. By in large it was the 50's and 100's that were dropping time off the record at nearly major meet. If you go back to "pre-millennium" swim records it wasn't uncommon to see a record stand for at least 2-4 years. Seeing them broken in non-major swim years was much less common. As for the 1650/1500, they certainly are no glamor events. It's hard to swim the Olympic event in which you can be assured they will cut to commercial half way through your race.

I think CT's record holding up so long is a bit of a fluke. Vendt, Rouault and Jensen have all been under 14:27, but all fell just short of breaking the record. Hackett's record has lasted so long for a couple reasons. One, it's an impressive record. Two, competition is very fierce now in the event. So, no, swimmers have not lost interest in the event. On the contrary, it's gotten very difficult to final in the 1500 in major meets now. In the "old days" top swimmers like Hackett could hold back somewhat in prelims and still make finals easily. Not anymore. At both Beijing and Rome it took very strong prelims swims to make finals. I think the fatigue of swimming this event all out twice has made it very difficult to break the WR.

At both Beijing and Rome it took very strong prelims swims to make finals. I think the fatigue of swimming this event all out twice has made it very difficult to break the WR. I too think that was a big factor for record not being broken the last two years. And unlike pretty much all the other events, it was not feesible to do a minitaper to try and set record inseason so the opportunity to do it just was not there. The 800M free swims from World Champs last year certainly indicate that there were people capable of breaking Hackets record. Oh and the best example of how much a prelims 1500 can fatigue you was from Vendt at trials in 2008.

I did an interview with Chris Thompson in 2008 about his record: Click here. Everyone who has gotten close to his record were unable to break it because of his amazing final 50 yards, swum in 24.46! Swimming World Magazine named it the top collegiate swim of the 2000-2009 decade.

Everyone who has gotten close to his record were unable to break it because of his amazing final 50 yards, swum in 24.46! Wow. He clearly loafed the rest of the race. :)

Hackett's 1500M record is stinky? I think it's stood so long because it is arguably one of the best swims the world has ever seen across any distance or stroke. Hackett was, IMHO, always over-shadowed by Thorpe, but one of the best freestylers the world has ever seen. As for the US, we still produce some good and great distance swimmers, but collegiate formats and points from sprints and relays tend to favor shorter distance specialists. I'm hoping, though, that the addition of OW racing to the Olympic and World Championship programs will result in a resurgence for American distance swimming at the 1500M level. Now, if only the Olympics could end the disgrace of not having a women's 1500 on the program, we'd be making real progress. I think the Olympics should have both the 800 and 1500 for men and women.

I agree with this. He's an incredible athlete, with amazing technique. The rubber suits at the last Games may have been one of the main factors in how and why the others were coming close to his times. And that's not going to happen any time soon. YouTube- Grant Hackett Front Crawl Technique

Now, if only the Olympics could end the disgrace of not having a women's 1500 on the program, we'd be making real progress. I think the Olympics should have both the 800 and 1500 for men and women. I just learned about that oversight last week. I had no idea there was no women's event for the 1500! I think we (as a gender) proved that we can handle a marathon, and I'm a just-getting-into-shape-after-30-years swimmer, and I handled the 1500 just fine, as did my 60-something year old teammate. Heck, I'll submit my 25-minute 1500 meter swim for the Olympics if they'll have me.

I think the Olympics should have both the 800 and 1500 for men and women. I don't agree. I think the skill set in the 800 is almost exactly the same as the 1500. I would think that 6 (or more) of the finalists would overlap in the 800/1500 events. Which race is more different: 50 stroke to 100 stroke OR 800 free to 1500 free. How many of the 50 stroke WR are held by the 100 stroke WR holder? Ehh did that make sense? If one event is going to be added to the program, I vote for 50M dolphin kick in-water start.

first of all tech suits started in 1992, more on the scene in 1996 completely on the scene in 2000 pretty sure they wore tech suits to do those. Records used to be difficult and rare to break it's hard to hold 29.15 LCM for 30 50's in a row takes tremendous training, talent and a little luck 14.34.56 1500 free, Grant Hackett, in Japan, 2001! 14.26.62 1650 free, Chris Thompson, in the US of A, 2001! I know who Hackett is, Thompson is only vaguely familiar. Fact is, their records are nearly a decade old. Does anyone else find this as impressive and striking as I do? Did Hackett set such an out-of-reach record that more swimmers are cowed rather than motivated to break it? Or have male swimmers just collectively lost a lot of interest in the mile? All of the other men's records are newborns. In fact, Phelps's 400 IM from Beijing is the second-oldest, and it's still not even two years old (it survived the climax of the suits, though, so that's impressive).