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Cielo WR: 20.91 - 50 Free In Sao Paulo
Dec 18, 2009 - Craig Lord
Cesar Cielo (BRA) today took 0.03sec off the world l/c 50m free record in an arena X-Glide suit that has two weeks to live before a ban apparel that enhances performance artificially. The Olympic champion clocked 20.91sec at Brazilian nationals in São Paulo.
His was the 251st world record to fall (a handful never ratified) since February 2008, when non-textiles fabrics were allowed in suits for the first time in a move that aided buoyancy and thus speed and endurance. From January 1, 2010, swimmers must wear suits made of fabric that conforms to a definition of textile, while the bodysuit will be banned, to be replaced by a cut of suit from waist to above knee for men and shoulder strap to above knee for women, with no fasteners or zips allowed.
For Cielo, a world-class sprint talent long before shiny suits and even before he went to train in the US, the world mark capped a year in which he claimed the 50m and 100m world crowns. "I really wanted to finish the year with the 50m and 100m freestyle records," said Cielo, whose mentor is Alberto Pinto at Pinheiros in Brazil, where he has spent most of his time since those heady days in Rome. "I was so anxious I got up at 3am this morning. It's hard to control yourself but thank God everything turned out well."
Here's the progression of the world 50m free since silly suits arrived, starting with the last textile world record by a man who wore briefs, Alex Popov (RUS), the quadruple Olympic champion and most successful freestyle sprinter of all-time in Cielo's view (and, of course, the view of a fair few other folk too), on his way to a 21.64sec effort that was No1 performance by the No1 performer on February 16, 2008 and now stands at No63 (performance) and No16 (performer).
50m free WR progression:
Between 1985 and 2008 the world record over 50m improved from 22.40 to 21.64, 0.76sec. Between that time, 16 men managed to crack 22sec. In the past 22 months the figure has stretched to 42: in 2008 alone, 20 men cracked 22sec, and in 2009 alone, 31 men cracked 22sec. The first five men to crack 21.50 did so in 2008. Now there are 13, and two of those below 22sec. The steps in all of that progression correlate directly with the type of suit being worn, the amount of poly on the bones. The clock reflects the suit, not the hard work and talent, which is back there somewhere, hidden below the fabric.
Cielo will, of course, be a force to reckon with, the man to beat in 2010 and beyond. But below is a progress on the clock that reflects the suit being worn and prevents us from saying whether the Brazilian (and all others who went the same way in a shiny haze) is a better sprinter than generations gone by, at the helm of which was Popov. In the two years leading to a 6th place at the 2007 world championships, the Brazilian progressed 0.7sec on the clock to a fantastic speed for a man moving from an 18-year-old to a 20-year-old. In the past 17 months, he has progressed 0.84sec, in stages that reflect the amount of poly in his suit.
Between 1991, as a 19-year-old, and his retirement in 2004, Popov raced 89 times in a range between a 1991 best of 22.78 and his 2000 world-record of 21.64, the latter exceptional because 21.91 was the next career-best of the quadruple Olympic sprint champion.
