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).
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).
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).
