Mitch Larkin’s personal best in Abu Dhabi falls short of 100m backstroke world record

Effort of 52.11 sec was the fastest time of 2015 and the third-best in the event’s history, behind Aaron Peirsol’s 2009 world record of 51.94 and Matt Grevers’ 52.08.

Australia's Michael Larkin improved on his backstroke mark twice this week with his Abu Dhabi effort in 52.11 seconds better than Doha earlier. Francois Nel / Getty Images

DUBAI // Australia’s Mitch Larkin is confident he can get the 100-metre backstroke world record in the coming months after narrowly missing the mark at the Hamdan Sports Complex last night.

Winner of the men’s 100m and 200m backstroke double at the World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, clocked 52.11 seconds in the final leg of the Fina Swimming World Cup last night to break his Australian and Commonwealth record of 52.26 set in Doha this week.

It was the fastest time of 2015 and the third-best in the event’s history, behind Aaron Peirsol’s 2009 world record of 51.94 and Matt Grevers’ 52.08. “I am really happy with my results this year,” said Larkin, who is also the Commonwealth Games 200m backstroke champion.

“Tonight was a personal best and now we will go home and work on some things, the skills, and see where I can improve to hopefully crack 52 next year and see what happens after that.”

Talking about his performances in 2015, Larkin, 22, credited a youthful support team for his improvements and said: “I am really happy with everything - life outside of swimming as well.

“My coach and I have sort of developed a team around me, which I really like. They are quite young.

“There were worries that they aren’t quite experienced enough, but they have a great attitude and real passion about what I do, my gym coach, my physio and I do yoga as well.

“So I am really happy with the support cast around me and I think that’s probably one of the biggest things that I found has really helped me a lot this year.”

Larkin’s Australian teammate Emily Seebohm, the reigning women’s 100m and 200m backstroke world champion, has also shown progress in 2015 and she believes her rivalry with Hungary’s four-time World Cup winner Katinka Hosszu has a played some part in that.

Seebohm and Hosszu were involved in two tense finishes in the 50m and 200m backstrokes, with the Aussie edging Hosszu in both to finish day one with two gold medals.

“It’s been really tough and she has been keeping me on my toes,” said Seebohm, 23. “She has been really good, but that helps me out heaps.”

The men’s 50m breaststroke was won by South Africa’s Cameron Van Der Burgh, who edged out world record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain for the gold medal.

Peaty had clocked 26.42 in the 50m breaststroke final at the World Championships in Kazan to erase Van der Burgh’s world mark of 26.62, set a few hours earlier in the heats, and the Briton is really excited about this burgeoning rivalry with the South African.

“It’s good for the sport and it’s good for other people that are coming up,” Peaty said yesterday. “You don’t want it too easy because it gets a bit boring. So that mixes it up a bit and I am just glad we can race each other.”

RESULTS

MEN

Freestyle 100m: Jeremy Stravius (FRA) 48.34; Chad Le Clos (RSA) 48.38; Velimir Stjepanovic (SRB) 48.86

Breaststroke 50m: Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) 26.77; Adam Peaty (GBR) 27.16; Giulio Zorzi (RSA) 27.45

Backstroke 100m: Mitch Larkin (AUS) 51.11; David Plummer (USA) 52.51; Masaki Kaneko (JPN) 54.37

Butterfly 200m: Viktor Bregner Bromer (DEN) 1:55.98; Chad Le Clos (RSA) 1:56.03; Zheng Wen Quah (SIN) 1:56.26

Freestyle 400m: Guy James (GBR) 3:46.91; Velimir Stjepanovic (SRB) 3:47.75; Stephen Milne (GBR) 3:48.61

Breaststroke 200m: Daniel Gyurta (HUN) 2:10.43; Craig Benson (GBR) 2:11.34; Kevin Cordes (USA) 2:11.51

Butterfly 50m: Chad Le Clos (RSA) 23.31; Giles Smith (USA) 23.67; Ivan Lendjer (SRB) 23.74

Medley 400m: David Verrastzo (HUN) 4:16.71; Keita Sunama (JPN) 4:17.58; Michael Meyer (RSA) 4:18.58

WOMEN

Freestyle 200m: Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 1:55.41; Federica Pellegrini (ITA) 1:57.42; Jazmin Carlin (GBR) 1:58.45

Breaststroke 100m: Alia Shanee Atkinson (JAM) 1:05.93; Molly Hannis (USA) 1:06.60; Zeynep Viktoria Gunes (TUR) 1:06.96

Butterfly 100m: Felicia Lee (USA) 58.57; Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN) 58.75; Cassidy Bayer (USA) 59.09

Backstroke 50m: Emily Seebhom (AUS) 27.57; Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 27.99; Lee Felicia (USA) 28.32

Medley 200m: Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 2:08.61; Caitlin Leverenz (USA) 2:10.35; Sakiko Shimizu (JPN) 2:10.76

Freestyle 50m: Melanie Renee Wright (AUS) 24.72; Marta Ciesla (USA) 25.31; Anna Kolarova (CZE) 25.35

Backstroke 200m: Emily Seebhom (AUS) 2:06.94; Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 2:07.13; Daryna Zevina (UKR) 2:11.07

Freestyle 800m: Lauren Boyle (NZL) 8:25.96; Jazmin Carlin (GBR) 8:30.79; Sarah Koehler (GER) 8:35.16

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