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).
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. :)
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. :)
