Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Great Britain is going into tomorrow night’s 200 IM final with the fastest qualifying time after posting a 2:07.57 in tonight’s semi-final. O’Connor just missed breaking the Olympic record of 2:07.45, which Hungarian Katinka Hosszu set in the prelims.
With that times she breaks her own British record of 2:08.21 and ties Ye Shiwen as the fourth fastest performer of all time in the event.
Top All Time Performers:
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:06.12 – Kazan 2015
- Ariana Kukors (USA) – 2:06.15 – Rome 2009
- Stephanie Rice (AUS) – 2:07.03 – Rome 2009
- Shiwen Ye (CHN) – 2:07.57 – London 2012
- Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (GBR) – 2:07.57 – Rio 2016
Their times are also tied for the 10th fastest performance in history.
O’Connor set the British record at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she won the event.
- 2014 Commonwealth Games – 27.37/1:00.02 (32.65)/1:37.41 (37.39)/2:08.21 (30.80)
- 2016 Olympic Games – 27.56/1:00.14 (32.58)/1:36.70 (36.56)/2:07.57 (30.87)
Her improvement in Rio was due to the difference in speed in her breaststroke split. That improvement is something she demonstrated just over a month ago setting a new British record of 1:06.34 at the Scottish Championships. Her time was a huge improvement on her previous lifetime best of 1:07.15.
O’Connor has made some big gains in the last four years taking her lifetime best from a 2:11.86 in 2012 and dropping it by over four seconds.
- 2012 – 2:11.86
- 2013 – 2:10.53
- 2014 – 2:08.21
- 2015 – 2:08.45
Every cloud has a silver lining. SMOC’s might even have a tinge of gold to it!!!! Good luck for tonight.
Lol no.. As much as I want O’Connor to win..
I don’t see O’Connor winning, but this is about the future. She is 20 years old and is getting better year after year. The improvements in her backstroke and breaststroke have been staggering this year, and she didn’t look like she had gone flat out at the end. If she keeps at it, there is no reason why she can’t surpass Hosszu in the next year or 2.
Kid has got grit!