Stoelwinder: How Sullivan Became Speedier
2008-03-26
Craig Lord
Just as Denis Auguin, coach to Alain Bernard, had some things to say about how his pupil has become so sharp and how there is more t come, so too has the mentor to the Australian speedster a fingernail away

Just as Denis Auguin, coach to Alain Bernard, had some things to say about how his pupil is getting down to the amazing 50m and 100m world freestyle records, so too has the mentor to the Australian speedster a fingernail away explained the pathway to a new era in sprinting.

Grant Stoelwinder tells Nicole Jeffery at The Australian, that Sullivan's sickness in January presented an opportunity to slow him down and sort a few things out that had been going wrong. Conscious of the fact that Sullivan was tightening in the last 20-15m of a 100m races and losing international tussles as a result, Stoelwinder tried to trace the root of the problem.

He told the paper: 'We were at the camp (altitude training at Thredbo) and we got the whiteboard out and we went to the start of the race to find the finish of the race. He was using too much energy in his first few strokes and that meant he didn't have enough left for the end. So instead of a stroke rate of 56 or 57 (per minute), we brought him down to 52 and now his velocity is even higher, he's got much more in reserve and he holds his stroke length better. He's taking two less strokes on the way back and one less on the way out.'

All that since January. Four months to go until Beijing. Imagine the progress that could be made. More areas of improvements have been identified by the coach. Like Bernard, there is more speed to be had at the start, according to Stoelwinder, who says that Sullivan starts to dolphin kick too soon after breaking the surface and needs to streamline into his stroke more.

Stoelwinder played down the effect of the Speedo suit and said a bigger cause of fast times and world records was Olympic year. 'We would be expecting that this is going to happen,' said the coach, in what amounts to an over-emphasis of the point: five is the average world record count at the past five Olympiads at this time of year (an everage boosted by the seven world records broken by Inge de Bruijn in the northern spring before Sydney 2000). So far, with much fun yet to come, 14 new global marks have fallen and the rate of progress goes much deeper than those ready to break world records. At Australian trials between 1988 and 2004, four world records were broken. Four have gone so far up to half-way through the 2008 trials (those counts include non-Olympic events.

There is no denying that 2008 has been an extraordinary year so far, in Australia and globally. Stoelwinder also put the new speed in Australia down to the inspiration provided by Ian Thorpe and Susie O'Neill as far as Sullivan and Rice are concerned. 'They were their idols and now they are emulating their idols. These kids are realising that dream,' he told Jeffery.