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Missy Franklin Shatters American Record in 200 Back (Again); Wins 2nd Gold [with video link]

American 16-year old Missy Franklin won the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:05.1, which is an almost unfathomable time for a swimmer that young, to win her 2nd gold (and 3rd overall) medal in this meet. That breaks her own American Record that she set in prelims of 2:05.90.

Now, over the course of two swims, Franklin has lowered the old American Record, previous held by Margaret Hoelzer at 2:06.09, by almost a full second. She’s lowered Elizabeth Beisel’s old 15-16 National Age Group Record by even more than that, as Beisel swam a 2:06.39 at the Rome World Championships.

Now, only two swims in history have been faster than Franklin’s, both of which were done in a rubber suit in Rome: a 2:04.94 from Anastasia Zueva of Russia and a 2:04.81 from Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe.

Also notable in this race, the 2nd-4th swimmers took down their respective National Records, despite not being close to Franklin.

Belinda Hocking: 2:06.06 (old mark Belinda Hocking, 2:06.88, – 2011 Australian Nationals)
Sharon van Rouwendaal: 2:07.78 (old mark Femke Heemsekerk, 2:09.14 – 2011 French Nationals)
Daryna Zevina: 2:07.82 (old mark Daryna Zevina, 2:10.08 – 2009 Prague)

Click here to watch Missy Franklin’s full 200 backstroke swim on Universal Sports.

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Donald Duck to water
13 years ago

Hey Braden, all along you have been saying that Missy will swim in college. I think this past week might be a game changer. After 2012 I have a feeling she will be the face of USA swimming and the piles of money at the front door will be hard to ignore. This plus the fact that LCM is not the same as SCY for backstrokers, and if she has any weakness, it’s her turns.

Dutch fan
13 years ago

Congrats to Missy, but I was most impressed by Sharon van Rouwendaal’s bronze. She improved her PB in 3 races by more than 3 seconds and could seriously challenge Franklin next year.

Cayley Guimarães
13 years ago

Is she swimming Nationals?! Hold your breaths…

tm
13 years ago

the most impressive swim was her last: 52.69 free split to anchor the medley relay to gold !

gosharks
13 years ago

It is probably a blessing in disguise that a) Franklin wasn’t able to swim more events here and b) that she remains just out of reach of the WR. Much less pressure going into Olympic Trials/Games.

tm
13 years ago

even without any improvement in missy’s technique cant see this record lasting too much longer !

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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