Relay Performance of the Year

This award is given to the best team relay performance, male or female.  The performance considered must be a finals performance, with special emphasis on the 2009 World Championships.

2009 World Championships – Men’s 4 x 100m Free Relay

The cards were certainly stacked against the men’s 4 x 100m free relay at the World Championships in Rome. The men were once again a distinct underdog to France prior to the meet, just as they were in Beijing a year earlier. There was the fact that three of the four members on the relay were different – only Michael Phelps returned, while Jason Lezak, Cullen Jones and Garrett Weber-Gale were replaced by Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian. None of the three newcomers had ever swum a major international final as a part of this relay. The race started with Michael Phelps’ (47.78) opening leg that had the U.S. in third place. Lochte split 47.00 to keep the U.S. in third, staying close to Alain Bernard, the Olympic champion from France. Grevers then split a steady 47.61, to move the U.S. into second place, just behind surprising Russia, with France trailing the U.S. by just five one-hundreths. Over the final 100 meters, Adrian swam the race of his life with a 46.79 split, earning the title “Little Lezak,” to hold off both Russia and France, giving the U.S. the gold medal by .31 over Russia and .68 over France.  

2009 World Championships – Men’s 4 x 200m Free Relay

The U.S. men were victorious for the sixth straight year in a major international meet in the men’s 4x 200m free relay, but not before a huge scare by the upstart Russians. The U.S. men pulled out the gold by six-tenths of a second (6:58.55 to 6:59.15), breaking the world record they set at the Olympics in Beijing by one one-hundreth of a second. Michael Phelps, in his customary role, led off with a 1:44.49 to put the U.S. in prime position. Ricky Berens split a personal best 1:44.13 to give the U.S. a solid lead, and David Walters, swimming the third leg, recorded a 1:45.47 to keep the U.S. ahead by nearly one second. Ryan Lochte, just over an hour after his bronze medal 200m backstroke swim, had to muster all of his strength to hold off Alexander Sukhorukov of Russia over the final 200 meters. Consistency has been a major factor for this relay, as both Lochte and Phelps have been a part of this relay since the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.   

2009 World Championships – Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay
The U.S. men took all the right steps in Rome to win gold in the 4 x 100m medley relay. A determined Aaron Peirsol led off the relay with a 52.19, setting a championship record and beating the men who had finished first and second in the open 100m back. It was a reprieve of sorts for Peirsol, who had misjudged his finish in the 100m back semifinal and failed to make the final. The U.S. had a .08 lead after that first leg, and Eric Shanteau, swimming on his first U.S. relay, kept the momentum going with a 58.57 split to keep the U.S. in the hunt.  Michael Phelps then swam the fastest 100m fly split in history (49.72) to give the Americans a solid one second lead over the nearest team heading into the final leg. David Walters, also on his first international medley relay, anchored in 46.80 to carry the U.S. to the world-record victory (3:27.28), a 1.3 second margin over second place Germany. The first four teams were all under the previous world record set by the U.S. in Beijing.

Female Race of the Year

This award is given to the female swimmer with the greatest single individual race of the year, with special emphasis on the 2009 World Championships.

Jessica Hardy: 100m Breaststroke at U.S. Open

Jessica Hardy returned to competition in August of 2009 and made the most of her races at the U.S. Open. Swimming less than one week after the World Championships concluded in Rome, the 22-year-old accomplished the rare feat of breaking two world records in the same race. Hardy, the former world record holder in the 100m breaststroke, regained that mark with a stunning 1:04.45. She broke the mark of U.S. and Trojan Swim Club teammate Rebecca Soni, who had won gold in Rome. Hardy also snapped the world mark in the 50m breaststroke at the halfway point of the race. Her time of 29.80 made her the first woman to break 30 seconds in the 50m race. The last person to set two world records in the same individual race was Kieren Perkins of Australia, who broke both the 800m and 1500m freestyle records at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria.

Ariana Kukors: 200m IM at World Championships

At the World Championships in Rome, Ariana Kukors proved her mettle by stepping up to defeat the gold and silver medalists from the 2008 Olympic Games in the final of the 200m IM. Kukors had completed each of the preliminary and semifinal rounds as the top seed, even breaking the world record in the semifinals by nearly 1.5 seconds. It set up a final which included a deep field and Kukors as the one to beat. She calmly swam the opening 50 meters, trailing Olympic champion Stephanie Rice of Australia by four-tenths of a second. The 20-year-old Kukors then recorded the fastest splits in the field in each of the next three legs, finishing with a 29.84 freestyle split to win the gold medal going away (2:06.15 to 2:07.03 for Rice). It was her first medal at a major international meet, and her swim earned 1039 points on the international performance rankings.

Rebecca Soni: 100m Breaststroke at World Championships

Rebecca Soni won the Golden Goggle for Race of the Year last year after her dramatic gold medal swim in the 200m breaststroke in Beijing. This year in Rome, however, it was the 100m breaststroke in which the 22-year-old shined. Soni had back-to-back swims in the semifinal and final that both went under the old world record. In the semifinal, she smashed the world mark of Leisel Jones of Australia with a 1:04.84 (old mark of 1:05.09), and then in the final, she blitzed the field to take gold by nearly half a second in 1:04.93. It was her first gold medal in her first swim at a World Championships. Her time of 1:04.84 in the semifinals scored 1029 points on the international performance rankings.

Male Race of the Year

This award is given to the male swimmer with the greatest single individual race of the year, with special emphasis on the 2009 World Championships.

Ryan Lochte: 200m IM at World Championships

At the 2008 Olympic Games, Ryan Lochte swam the 200m IM final only about 20 minutes after winning the 200m backstroke. He raced hard and won the bronze medal behind Michael Phelps and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, becoming one of just a few swimmers in Olympic history to win two individual medals in the same finals session. This year in Rome, Lochte had the opportunity to improve upon that bronze medal. With Phelps opting not to swim the IM, and no other event to conflict with his efforts, the 25-year-old Lochte let it be known that he is the new IM king. Leading from start to finish, Lochte made the most of his improved breaststroke, pulling away from Cseh by nearly 1.5 seconds with 50 meters to go, and then cruising home to defeat the Hungarian by just over one second. He broke Phelps’ world record with a time of 1:54.10, becoming the first person other than Michael Phelps to hold a world record in either IM since June 2003.

Aaron Peirsol: 200m Back at World Championships

After two years of finishing second in the world in his favorite event behind U.S. teammate Ryan Lochte, Aaron Peirsol proved that he had not lost his Midas touch. The 26-year-old had a dominating summer in this event, and has never been better than in the final in Rome. Many had wondered aloud whether Peirsol was still the best in the world. They didn’t need to wonder for long, as Peirsol calmly defeated Lochte (bronze) and Ryosuke Irie, a rising Japanese star, who won the silver. The race unfolded with Peirsol and Lochte exchanging the lead at the 50- and 100-meter marks. On the third 50, Peirsol took off with his patented smooth stroke, never looking back. He pulled away from Lochte and held off a fast-charging Irie over the final length, breaking his own world record for an amazing seventh time (1:51.92). After the race, Peirsol, who won his fourth 200-meter backstroke world title (2001, 2003, 2005 and 2009), called the race his perfect swim.

Michael Phelps: 100m Fly at World Championships

It was billed as the showdown of the World Championships – a race that caused all the buzz in the media and on the pool deck for days in Rome. Michael Phelps taking on Milorad Cavic of Serbia. A rematch of their epic race at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. This time, a volley of antagonizing Cavic comments were lobbed at Phelps in the days leading up to the race. Phelps didn’t say much, preferring to take care of business in the pool. In both the preliminary and semifinal races, Cavic finished as the top qualifier, and in the semis, he took down Phelps’ world record and nearly broke the 50 second mark (50.01). The race prognosticators stated that Phelps had to stay close to Cavic at the 50-meter turn, needing to split better than 23.8. He managed to do one better, turning in 23.36, less than seven-tenths behind the Serb. Phelps began to stalk Cavic over the final lap, and with about 10 meters to go, finally had pulled even. Phelps kept charging, and there was no short stroke this time. He nailed the finish to win gold, becoming the first person to break 50 seconds in the 100 fly (49.82). The celebration after the race was almost as exhilarating as the swim itself.

Michael Phelps: 200m Fly at World Championships

At the start of the summer, the 200-meter butterfly was not in Michael Phelps’ plans for the Rome World Championships. He still had the lingering question, “Could I go faster?” after having his goggles fill with water during the Olympic final in Beijing. He and his coach had decided on some other races, but after a solid 200m fly in Santa Clara early in the summer, the decision about what to swim in Rome became clearer. At the World Championships, Phelps was dominant from start to finish. He even had the fastest reaction time off the blocks! He led at every turn, and cruised to a 1.7 second victory over his nearest competitor, Pawel Korzeniowski of Poland. It was Phelps fourth world title in this event (2001, 2003, 2007 and 2009 – he did not swim it in 2005), and he broke the world record for the eighth time in his career (1:51.51). The swim also came the night after Phelps had finished second behind Paul Biedermann of Germany in the 200-meter free, proving his resiliency after a tough loss.