Haverford's Hansen makes more history

John Lohn, Of the Times Staff

One day, Brendan Hansen will slow down. That's the nature of stopwatch sports. For now, though, the Haverford High School graduate is getting better with age, and his swimming career is at an all-time high. Five days after celebrating his 25th birthday, Hansen lowered his world record in the 200 breaststroke while racing at the Pan Pacific Championships Sunday night in Victoria, British Columbia. The performance marked Hansen's third world record of the month.

Seeded first heading into the championship final, Hansen took control of the race from the start and completed the four-lap affair in 2:08.50, well under the 2:08.74 he produced at the United States Nationals during the first week of August.

After hitting the wall, Hansen celebrated with a "yeah" and a punch of the water at the Saanich Commonwealth Place pool. In a span of 15 days, Hansen has hacked .54 off the global standard in the 200 breast. He started the summer with the mark sitting at 2:09.04, his time from the 2004 Olympic Trials.

Hansen's latest world mark arrived in contrast to the record-breaking swim he popped at Nationals. Hansen was off his record pace at the 50-, 100 and 150-meter marks, but used a scorching back half to make history.

At the midpoint of the race, Hansen was .68 behind his record pace from Irvine, Calif. He pulled to with .28 at the 150-meter mark and covered the final length in 33.38. He was followed in second place by Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, who turned in a time of 2:10.87. Third place went to American Scott Usher in 2:11.49.

Kitajima has been a long-time rival of Hansen's and held the world records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events prior to Hansen. Kitajima won double-gold at the Athens Olympics, including a controversial decision of Hansen in the 100 distance, but Hansen has won their last three meetings to take the upper hand in convincing fashion.

Before defeating Kitajima twice at the Pan Pacific Championships, Hansen knocked off the Japanese star in the 100 breast at last summer's World Championships in Montreal.

Earlier in the meet, Hansen won the 100 breast in 59.90, but indicated that he made a handful of mistakes during the race. Clearly, the four-time All-Delco selection made the necessary corrections. Hansen now owns the three-fastest 200 breast times in history and seven of the swiftest 13 times in the event.

To put Hansen's dominance into perspective, his world record of 59.13 in the 100 breast is .40 quicker than Kitajima's personal best. As for the 200, Kitajima's top swim is .92 off Hansen's newly established world record.

With the Pan Pacific Championships over, Hansen will return to training with Longhorn Aquatics, the offshoot program of the University of Texas, where he attended college. His focus will turn to March's World Championships, scheduled for Melbourne.

Prior to Hansen's record in the 200 breaststroke, American Michael Phelps lowered his global standard in the 200 individual medley with a clocking of 1:55.84. That time held off teammate Ryan Lochte (1:56.11) and bettered the 1:55.94 that Phelps posted in 2003.

Men's 200 Breast

If seeing the soles of his feet isn't enough to fuel Kosuke Kitajima's (JPN) next 2 years of training, maybe the new world record will be. Brendan Hansen (USA) again lowered his own world record to 2:08.50. The 2 men were close at the 100 with Hansen splitting 1:02.26 to Kitajima's 1:02.77. By the 150 Hansen had a stroke lead, but he blew the Olympic champ out of the water on the last 50 as Kitajima faded to a 2:10.87. "My race strategy was to take it out a bit slower than Nationals. It was hard to trust myself and hold back, but it sure felt good at the end. We make those world records look easy, but a lot of hard work went into that."

Hansen shatters own world record at Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

VICTORIA, British Columbia -- A former University of Texas swimmer rewrote his own world record for the second time in as many nights Sunday evening at the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships at the Saanich Commonwealth Place Pool.

Former Longhorn Brendan Hansen, who broke his own 100- and 200-meter breaststroke world records earlier this month at the 2006 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships, broke his 200-meter breaststroke world record once again on Sunday. Hansen touched the wall in 2 minutes, 8.50 seconds, topping his previous world-record time of 2:08.74 set on Aug. 5 in Irvine, Calif.

Notably, Hansen's record-breaking swim marks the fifth occasion this month that a former Longhorn has broken a world record either single-handedly or as part of a relay. On Saturday, Aug. 19, Aaron Peirsol broke his own 200-meter backstroke world record at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, and Neil Walker helped add another world record for Team USA by swimming the second leg of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.

Also Sunday evening, Hansen and Peirsol teamed up with former UT All-American Ian Crocker and Jason Lezak to help Team USA to gold in the 4x100-meter medley relay. Peirsol swam the opening backstroke leg before giving way to Hansen at breaststroke. Crocker followed in the butterfly before Lezak closed out the victory for the Americans with a meet-record time of 3:31.79. The second-place team from Japan finished nearly four seconds behind the American team comprised almost entirely of Longhorns.

UT sophomore Michael Klueh (Evansville, Ind.) finished second in his 1500-meter freestyle heat, clocking 15:20.87.

Interview with Kosuke Kitajima This is a premium article at Swimming World so I won't post all of it but here are some of the better snippets...

These days, though, Kitajima isn't what he was. He has battled some knee injuries and some illness and reports from Japan suggest his motivation level isn't what it once was. His biggest problem, however, is Hansen, who has changed the nature of the breaststroke by taking the 100 and 200 world records to ridiculously low levels.

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It's gotten to a point where questions have arisen as to whether Kitajima will be able to regain his past form. And, even if he can match his personal-best times of 59.53 (100) and 2:09.42 (200), those swims do not compare to what Hansen has recently produced.

snip

With his responses, Kitajima seemed unwilling to delve into whether he will catch up to the risen bar established by his American competitor.

SWM.com: What did you think about Brendan Hansen setting a pair of world records at the USA National Championships?
Kosuke: My motivation really went up when I saw that Brendan broke both of those world records.

SWM.com: What did you feel about the 100-meter breaststroke earlier this week?
Kosuke: During the 100-meter breaststroke, Brendan was very fast at the first 50-meter mark. I want to race against him next time in that 100-meter breaststroke.

SWM.com: What changes do you think you need to make to compete against Hansen?
Kosuke: After watching Brendan in the first 50 meters, I have to focus more on the first 50 meters of the 100-meter breaststroke.

Phelps leads dominant U.S. swim team at Pan Pacs

VICTORIA, British Columbia (AP) _ It was more than ``The Michael Phelps Show'' for the United States at the Pan Pacific Championships.

Sure, Phelps won six medals and set three world records. But teammate Natalie Coughlin matched him with six medals and teenager Katie Hoff earned five.

``We went out there and had a blast,'' said Brendan Hansen, who set a world record and swept both breaststroke events. ``We showed how the U.S. can feed off each other and work as a team, not individuals.''

The United States displayed its tremendous depth by winning a leading 44 medals, including 24 gold. The Americans swept the six relays, too.

Japan earned 24 medals, including three golds. Australia had 16 medals and two golds courtesy of butterflyer Jess Schipper.

Canada's Brent Hayden earned four of his country's seven medals.

Of course, it was hardly a fair fight.

While the American team was loaded with stars, the Aussies brought one of their youngest groups ever to an international meet. Japan had lots of youngsters, too.

China kept its top talent home, sending 13 swimmers, who earned two medals.

``We know many of our friends had development teams here, so we can look forward to facing some different competition,'' said Mark Schubert, U.S. national team coach. ``We've seen a lot of faces here that will be heard from in Beijing.''

Schipper set one of the meet's six world marks, in the 200 fly. Among the Aussie stars skipping Pan Pacs were Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Leisel Jones and Libby Lenton.

``We believed we could win a certain number of medals, and we exceeded that,'' Australian head coach Alan Thompson said. ``It's really served us well and it's going to hold us in good stead in the future.''

American Aaron Peirsol handed Phelps his only defeat in six races with a world-record time in the 200 backstroke.

For the first time in three years, Phelps lowered his world marks in the 200 fly and 200 individual medley. He led off the U.S. 400 free relay, which won in record time. His other victories were the 400 IM and 800 free relay.

``Just getting back to a world record is really special,'' Phelps said Sunday after his last race. ``It gives me something to get excited for getting back in the water (to train).''

The meet stoked the ongoing rivalry between Hansen and Kosuke Kitajima of Japan.

Hansen lowered his own world record in the 200 breaststroke Sunday for the second time in two weeks, while Kitajima finished second. Hansen won the 100 event, with Kitajima third.

``It's a good thing that I have a target to chase,'' Kitajima said through an interpreter. ``I would like to challenge him in a world championship once again.''

Bring it on, Hansen said.

``I'm glad he's not just rolling over and going back to bed, but the thing is, I'm not slowing down,'' he said.

Hansen has carried an admitted chip on his shoulder since Kitajima beat him twice at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where the American settled for bronze in both breaststroke events.

Coughlin showed she's retained her form from the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she won five medals.

In Victoria, she won three relays, and finished first in the 100 free, second in the 50 free and second in the 100 back.

``I'm a little bit disappointed with my backstroke, but fortunately, my freestyle was really on, so I can leave this meet with some excitement,'' she said.

Rising U.S. star Cullen Jones won the 50 freestyle Sunday in 21.84 seconds, a Pan Pac record, and in the process gained a new rival _ Olympic bronze medalist Roland Schoeman of South Africa, who was second.

``Cullen who?'' Schoeman said dismissively after the 50 preliminaries.

Jones was part of the Phelps-led U.S. team that broke South Africa's 2-year-old world record in the 400 freestyle relay.

Schoeman was ticked at U.S. relay swimmer Neil Walker's comment about the record being back where it belongs.

``They've got some of the best swimmers in the world and for them to take two years to break our record, come on. Catch up, you guys,'' Schoeman said.

Asked if he was on Schoeman's radar now, Jones said, ``Roland didn't really know who I was coming into this meet. He was asking around about me. Hopefully, it's a good thing because it's just competition and he and I can still be civil.''

South Korean teenager Tae Hwan Park emerged as a contender, winning his country's only gold medals in the 400 and 1,500 freestyles.

Y'all know I'm a Roland fan but come on, that was kinda unnecessary.