On This Day, June 27...

World records set throughout history include the moment Germany's Michael Gross swam 400m free faster than Vladimir Salnikov ever had. It was all part of the work he put in to eight World records and a pantheon of Olympic, World & European prizes over 200 free and 200 'fly:

Michael Gross, The Albatross With Wings Almost As Wide As The Lanes He Graced

Today marks the 41st anniversary of the moment Germany’s Michael Gross swam 400m free faster than Vladimir Salnikov ever had. It was all part of the work he put in to eight World records and a pantheon of Olympic, World & European prizes over 200 free and 200 ’fly…

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

On This Day ... June 26

Among the world records set this day throughout history is the moment 66 years ago when American Lance Larson clocked 59.0 to take the pace of 100m butterfly below the minute for the first time in history.

Lance Larson – Sub-Minute ’Fly Pioneer Who Triggered The Birth Of The Timepad

Into our SOS Hall of Fame goes Lance Larson, as we add the profiles of the pioneers, the American’s role including a pioneering 59.0 100 ’fly sub-minute debut, the Olympic judgement of the naked eye & a role in butterfly’s breakout from its breaststroke cocoon - a rich thread of swim history…

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Larson is part of a thread of history we celebrated through two other men in the past few days:

Olympic Day, June 23...

The 40th Birthday Of Moment Morales Took 100 'Fly Below 53sec ...

On this day... June 25

Mark Spitz Opens His World Record Account

Today, we're just a year shy of the 60th anniversary of the first World record set by Mark Spitz. The American's rapid rise to great promise on the way to his Olympic debut at Mexico City 1968 included his move up to the pioneering-pace league of elite swimmers. It unfolded at a relatively minor meet in Haywood over a distance that spoke the development work that would feed into a record seven Olympic golds at Munich 1972 four years after a challenging but ultimately fruitful experience at altitude in Mexico.

Mark Spitz’s Seventh Heaven Immortalised On Olympic Heights

For 36 years, Spitz’s 7 golds in 7 WRs at Munich 1972 was the high bar of all Olympic sport. And when Michael Phelps made it 8, with 7 WRs in 2008, Spitz said: “Bob [Coach Bowman] & Michael... what you did tonight was epic, and it was epic for the whole world to see how great you really are... ”

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

(subscribers have access to the full Timeline content in our daily trawl of pioneering moments in swimming history - and the accompanying profiles in our SOS Hall of Fame as we build the library).