The REAL World Championships Started Today

[Mr. PeanutButter]

4 minutes ago, manatree said:

Here’s the thing, in most sports that I can think of, when a new technique is developed, they don’t create a completely new event. 

Back in the early days of track & field, shot putters pretty much just stood in the circle and put it into the throwing sector. Then they developed the Hop Step which is pretty much as it sounds. In the early 1950s, Parry O’Brien developed the Glide technique. In the early 1970s, the Soviets popularized the Spin technique. While there are still some Gliders on the international circuit, most of the top throwers use the Spin. You can use whatever technique you choose as long as it complies with the rules, but there is only one shot put event.

Same thing with the high jump. Techniques have changed dramatically, but there is still only one high jump event.

In swimming, the front crawl/freestyle and even the breaststroke have a long history. The butterfly developed out of modifying the breaststroke as it was a faster technique For some reason they eventually decided to create a new event out of it. The backstroke, much like race walking, is a fine fitness endeavor, but should not be a competitive racing event. 

If logic were to prevail, competitive swimming would at least cut down to freestyle and butterfly.

It is illogical to try and compare swimming with track and field. Running comes natural to humans. It is an inherent trait for us. On the other hand, There is nothing natural about swimming. My sister told me recently that babies have a natural floating instinct. She then plopped her baby into the water in front of us (we were in a pool) only to have to rush to submerge and extract the poor girl when she started sinking. 

 In track, distance covered in the least amount of time is the whole point. In swimming, a huge component of the "point" is "style". If it weren't, everyone would swim freestyle (front crawl) and there would be no limit to how far you could kick underwater.

It's fine to criticize the sport for its number of events. I personally have mixed feelings about the stroke 50s being added to the Olympic program. I'm also sympathetic to the argument that the large number of events is confusing to the casuals and lessens the value of each individual medal. However, I think comparing the sport to track and field is a tired and ineffective argument since the historical backdrop of each sport is so different and their aims differ as I pointed out above. 

Day 2 finals wrapped up this morning. There was speculation that one of the US' stars, Gretchen Walsh, may have been sick when she was pulled from the relay yesterday. She must have mostly recovered as she ended up winning the 100 fly (my personal favorite event) with the 2nd fastest time ever, only behind her own world record.

The US men have missed the finals in the 400 free, 100 back, 100 breast, and 50 fly so far. That is the most missed finals that I ever recall seeing at the world champs. They also lost the 400 free relay, an event they were considerable favorites in. I'm just going to enjoy the races for what they are from this point on and brace for another 2023 type team performance 

[Wrestleknownothing]

13 minutes ago, Mr. PeanutButter said:

It is illogical to try and compare swimming with track and field. Running comes natural to humans. It is an inherent trait for us. On the other hand, There is nothing natural about swimming. My sister told me recently that babies have a natural floating instinct. She then plopped her baby into the water in front of us (we were in a pool) only to have to rush to submerge and extract the poor girl when she started sinking. 

 In track, distance covered in the least amount of time is the whole point. In swimming, a huge component of the "point" is "style". If it weren't, everyone would swim freestyle (front crawl) and there would be no limit to how far you could kick underwater.

It's fine to criticize the sport for its number of events. I personally have mixed feelings about the stroke 50s being added to the Olympic program. I'm also sympathetic to the argument that the large number of events is confusing to the casuals and lessens the value of each individual medal. However, I think comparing the sport to track and field is a tired and ineffective argument since the historical backdrop of each sport is so different and their aims differ as I pointed out above. 

Day 2 finals wrapped up this morning. There was speculation that one of the US' stars, Gretchen Walsh, may have been sick when she was pulled from the relay yesterday. She must have mostly recovered as she ended up winning the 100 fly (my personal favorite event) with the 2nd fastest time ever, only behind her own world record.

The US men have missed the finals in the 400 free, 100 back, 100 breast, and 50 fly so far. That is the most missed finals that I ever recall seeing at the world champs. They also lost the 400 free relay, an event they were considerable favorites in. I'm just going to enjoy the races for what they are from this point on and brace for another 2023 type team performance 

And there is a probable cause for this year's under-performance, stomach flu has swept through the team. In addition to swimmers scratching from events you also see them turning in poor times. One of the two US men's backstrokers was 3 seconds slower than his time at Nationals (would not have mattered though), and 16 year old Luca Mijatovic was a whopping 14 seconds slower than Nationals.

[Wrestleknownothing]

On the plus side, Ledecky did Ledecky things in the 1500 prelims, taking the top seed for the finals by 10 seconds.

[ionel]

1 minute ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

And there is a probable cause for this year's under-performance, stomach flu has swept through the team.

So the team is wrestling with stomach flu.  Is this how you tricked this thread into the CW rather than NWT forum? 

[alex1fly]

I've been swimming a lot this summer to get ready for the folkstyle season. The watching folkstyle season I mean.

[Wildcat92]

to paraphrase Daniel Tosh..."Swimming?  You mean that thing you instinctively do before you die?"

[boconnell]

3 hours ago, Mr. PeanutButter said:

It is illogical to try and compare swimming with track and field. Running comes natural to humans. It is an inherent trait for us. On the other hand, There is nothing natural about swimming. My sister told me recently that babies have a natural floating instinct. She then plopped her baby into the water in front of us (we were in a pool) only to have to rush to submerge and extract the poor girl when she started sinking. 

 In track, distance covered in the least amount of time is the whole point. In swimming, a huge component of the "point" is "style". If it weren't, everyone would swim freestyle (front crawl) and there would be no limit to how far you could kick underwater.

It's fine to criticize the sport for its number of events. I personally have mixed feelings about the stroke 50s being added to the Olympic program. I'm also sympathetic to the argument that the large number of events is confusing to the casuals and lessens the value of each individual medal. However, I think comparing the sport to track and field is a tired and ineffective argument since the historical backdrop of each sport is so different and their aims differ as I pointed out above. 

Day 2 finals wrapped up this morning. There was speculation that one of the US' stars, Gretchen Walsh, may have been sick when she was pulled from the relay yesterday. She must have mostly recovered as she ended up winning the 100 fly (my personal favorite event) with the 2nd fastest time ever, only behind her own world record.

The US men have missed the finals in the 400 free, 100 back, 100 breast, and 50 fly so far. That is the most missed finals that I ever recall seeing at the world champs. They also lost the 400 free relay, an event they were considerable favorites in. I'm just going to enjoy the races for what they are from this point on and brace for another 2023 type team performance 

It is awesome that you responded to a post about shot put by saying running comes naturally to humans.  

[Voice of the Quakers]

22 hours ago, manatree said:

Having multiple strokes is ridiculous. It’s the aquatic equivalent of adding backwards run, one legged hop, sideway shuffle, etc. to track. Just jump in the pool and swim whatever is fastest.

Remember this take when we cheer for the inclusion of beach wrestling next to freestyle AND Greco-Roman wrestling at a future Olympics.

That being said, as the father of a (maybe former) competitive swimmer, you can have breaststroke. My son and I joke its "anti-swimming" - swim slowly as fast as you can. My son is a sprinter and could never muster any enthusiasm for it it.

[manatree]

38 minutes ago, Voice of the Quakers said:

Remember this take when we cheer for the inclusion of beach wrestling next to freestyle AND Greco-Roman wrestling at a future Olympics.

That being said, as the father of a (maybe former) competitive swimmer, you can have breaststroke. My son and I joke its "anti-swimming" - swim slowly as fast as you can. My son is a sprinter and could never muster any enthusiasm for it it.

For the record, I’m against adding beach wrestling.

[Fadzaev2]

22 hours ago, Jason Bryant said:

Swimming: Way to keep from drowning. 

 

21 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

GREATEST way to keep from drowning. 

But watch out for the sharks and currents

[Fadzaev2]

17 minutes ago, Fadzaev2 said:

 

But watch out for the sharks and currents

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1143732730897776

[Wrestleknownothing]

Three days in and Summer MacIntosh has been as advertised. She is 2 for 2 in individual gold medals as she attempts to tie Michael Phelps' record of 5 in a single championship, but the biggest showdown is yet to come. Her toughest race will be the 800 free against Katie Ledecky.

Speaking of which, Ledecky held serve with "only" a five second win in the 1500. It was the fifth fastest swim in history (the top 4 and 22 more of the top 24 belong to her as well). Before the event Ledecky had the 23 fastest times in history, but the silver medalist Simon Quadrella turned in the 12th fastest time ever to break up Ledecky's monopoly.

[OMW]

We were all "swimmers" at one point...

[ionel]

1 hour ago, OMW said:

We were all "swimmers" at one point...

Well sure but dont try to lump us all in with Wkn.  

[GrandOlm]

On 7/28/2025 at 8:12 AM, Mr. PeanutButter said:

It is illogical to try and compare swimming with track and field. Running comes natural to humans. It is an inherent trait for us. On the other hand, There is nothing natural about swimming. My sister told me recently that babies have a natural floating instinct. She then plopped her baby into the water in front of us (we were in a pool) only to have to rush to submerge and extract the poor girl when she started sinking. 

 In track, distance covered in the least amount of time is the whole point. In swimming, a huge component of the "point" is "style". If it weren't, everyone would swim freestyle (front crawl) and there would be no limit to how far you could kick underwater.

It's fine to criticize the sport for its number of events. I personally have mixed feelings about the stroke 50s being added to the Olympic program. I'm also sympathetic to the argument that the large number of events is confusing to the casuals and lessens the value of each individual medal. However, I think comparing the sport to track and field is a tired and ineffective argument since the historical backdrop of each sport is so different and their aims differ as I pointed out above. 

Day 2 finals wrapped up this morning. There was speculation that one of the US' stars, Gretchen Walsh, may have been sick when she was pulled from the relay yesterday. She must have mostly recovered as she ended up winning the 100 fly (my personal favorite event) with the 2nd fastest time ever, only behind her own world record.

The US men have missed the finals in the 400 free, 100 back, 100 breast, and 50 fly so far. That is the most missed finals that I ever recall seeing at the world champs. They also lost the 400 free relay, an event they were considerable favorites in. I'm just going to enjoy the races for what they are from this point on and brace for another 2023 type team performance 

There could easily be a world though where the only type of event is "freestyle" (use whatever technique you want to get from a to b fastest) with a sprint, middle distance, and something long for 3 events. Perfectly logical. 

It just so happens that in our timelines, that's not the case. If track were like swimming, you could have hop on one leg, hop on two legs, skipping, backwards running, side running, spinning races. That's the kingmaker position swimming has found itself in. 

[Pinnacle]

6 hours ago, GrandOlm said:

There could easily be a world though where the only type of event is "freestyle" (use whatever technique you want to get from a to b fastest) with a sprint, middle distance, and something long for 3 events. Perfectly logical. 

It just so happens that in our timelines, that's not the case. If track were like swimming, you could have hop on one leg, hop on two legs, skipping, backwards running, side running, spinning races. That's the kingmaker position swimming has found itself in. 

In some ways track already has what swimming has. 

Getting to the finish line first while keeping contact with the ground? Yup, speedwalking.

Running with obstructions? Hurdles. 

Running with higher obstructions? High hurdles, high jump.

Running with a huge wall in front of you impeding your path. Pole vault.

Running with a pond in the way. Steeplechase. 

[Mr. PeanutButter]

Leon Marchand just completely destroyed the 200 IM world record. In the semifinals. 

[alex1fly]

12 hours ago, GrandOlm said:

There could easily be a world though where the only type of event is "freestyle" (use whatever technique you want to get from a to b fastest) with a sprint, middle distance, and something long for 3 events. Perfectly logical. 

It just so happens that in our timelines, that's not the case. If track were like swimming, you could have hop on one leg, hop on two legs, skipping, backwards running, side running, spinning races. That's the kingmaker position swimming has found itself in. 

Love this. How about sack race?

[ionel]

13 hours ago, GrandOlm said:

 If track were like swimming, you could have hop on one leg, hop on two legs, skipping, backwards running, side running, spinning races. That's the kingmaker position swimming has found itself in. 

Don't forget we can synchronize it!  Who doesn't wanta see the synchronized backward skip 200m or synchronized pole vault?  

[MidniteToka]

I'm practicing for the next Olympics. 

[bnwtwg]

10 hours ago, Pinnacle said:

Getting to the finish line first while keeping contact with the ground? Yup, speedwalking.

No one recognizes speedwalking except speedwalkers. Every runner acknowledges that it is 1) a farce because they literally don't even follow the only rules of one foot always touching, and 2) being the fastest speedwalker is like saying you could have wrestled at Iowa but your HS coach wouldn't let you start your senior year.

And no that stupid sport doesn't grind my gears why do you ask

Edited yesterday at 09:15 PM by bnwtwg
sp

[ionel]

1 hour ago, bnwtwg said:

No one recognizes speedwalking except speedwalkers. Every runner acknowledges that it is 1) a farce because they literally don't even follow the only rules of one foot always touching, and 2) being the fastest speedwalker is like saying you could have wrestled at Iowa but your HS coach wouldn't let you start your senior year.

And no that stupid sport doesn't grind my gears why do you ask

Also for speedwalking to be a legitimate sport shouldn't there be a slowwalking sport?  

[GrandOlm]

15 hours ago, Pinnacle said:

In some ways track already has what swimming has. 

Getting to the finish line first while keeping contact with the ground? Yup, speedwalking.

Running with obstructions? Hurdles. 

Running with higher obstructions? High hurdles, high jump.

Running with a huge wall in front of you impeding your path. Pole vault.

Running with a pond in the way. Steeplechase. 

I think speed walking is ridiculous. No defense from me there. But it doesn't get one iota the attention that swimmers do. 

Well hurdles are a different skill set. It's not a suboptimal way of racing like the swimming styles are. It's adding  jumping obstacles. Which I'd argue isn't that contrived (ever run and have tree branches, puddles, or rocks in the way). It also looks like specialists are the ones winning hurdles. So it's not like swimming, where it's another medal for Phelps and friends to pick up. 

High jump isn't a race, ditto long jump. It just gets grouped with track because it occurs outside and is individual. How far or high a person can jump is so universal and true to the appreciation of human athletic excellence that it absolutely belongs in the games. The ancients had myths of their amazing heroes that could out jump farther and higher than all their peers.  

Pole vault is almost a gymnastics event. It's niche and definitely specialized, has been around forever. It gets grouped with track and field, but it isn't that closely related to the races.

I think steeple is outdated. It's apparent origins are in fox hunting? But again like speed walking, they don't get the attention that swimmers do. 

Swimmers collect medals like baseball cards. It's clear that  the styles and distances either aren't unique enough to require enough specialization (in which case just make it all freestyle) or the swimming talent pool is too low to properly delineate the stroke styles among competitors. It's always some swimmers with  boatloads of medals, this doesn't happen in track or other sports.

Edited 19 hours ago by GrandOlm

[Wrestleknownothing]

14 hours ago, Mr. PeanutButter said:

Leon Marchand just completely destroyed the 200 IM world record. In the semifinals. 

[ionel]

25 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Is that ^^^ a picture of a shark going after a lone swimmer? 

Impressive performance and graph showing how dominate.  Think if Jim Ryan's world record mile were graphed it would look similar.