Swimming events at the Olympics wrapped up on Sunday (4th Aug).
And they wrapped up with a big old KA-BOOM, with a couple of world records and the fastest 100m freestyle split in history.
In the 1500m freestyle, Bobby Finke of the USA set a new world record, beating Sun Yang’s 12-year-old mark from the London Olympics.
In an essay he penned prior to Olympic Trials for Men’s Health, Finke noted that his preparation in the final months before the Games was all about “honing in on certain details.”
More specifically, he was working on not breathing into his turns, to maintain momentum and bounce out of the turns.
By doing so, he would secure precious hundredths and tenths of a second with each lap.
Which is exactly what happened.
Finke was out ahead of world record pace from the first lap, and by the time he touched the wall at the finish, he’d beaten Yang’s former record by 0.45 seconds.
That 0.45 seconds represents just 0.051% of the total race time.
Click on the race analysis below
Sharpen the Knife
“My coach Anthony Nesty is always saying the same quote over and over and over again: ‘sharpen the knife,’” wrote Finke back in June. “So, I’m just focused on sharpening.”
- Work the details.
- Mind the small things.
- And sharpen the knife.
See you in the pool,
Source: Olivier Poirer-Leroy
olivier@yourswimbook.com