The Commonwealth Games have been exciting to watch. No person has been more exciting to watch than young Englishman, Ben Proud. Nearly two months short of his 20th birthday, Proud is currently the fastest swimmer in the world in the 50 LCM Fly.
In 2013, only 5 men on Earth broke :23.00 in the 50 Fly. None of them were teenagers. He’s the only man, let alone teenager, to do so in 2014.
Notably, Proud went faster in each of his 3 x 50’s. He’s done the same, thus far, in the 50 Free. The same can’t be said for his 100’s — he couldn’t break :50 in the 100 Free and didn’t earn a spot in the 100 Fly.
Crazy, right? The fastest dude on planet Earth in the 50 Fly didn’t get to compete in the 100.
No need to fret — he has plenty of time to get his 100’s on par with his 50’s before the 2016 Olympics in Rio. I’m sure his coach, the famous Jon Rudd (coach of Olympic Gold Medalist Ruta Meilutyte) will continue to properly guide this young stud. As he says in his bio:
“There is an old saying in swimming that “the race is not won by the fastest swimmer, but by the one who slows down the least”. In one sense that neatly encapsulates Plymouth Leander’s approach to coaching. Any competent coach can increase a swimmers speed. What we do best at Plymouth Leander is increase the distance over which that speed is maintained.“