Paul Biederman finished Phelps Era: Biederman profile

Paul Biedermann (born August 7, 1986) is a German swimmer from Halle. He currently holds 200m freestyle (short course and long course), 400m and 1500m freestyle (short course) national records. He won the 200 m freestyle long course in the European LC Championships 2008 final, finishing in a time of 1.46.59 seconds. With the times over 400m freestyle (3'47.69) and 200m freestyle (NR in 1'46.37) Paul managed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing. On July 26th, he broke the 400m freestyle record on the finals of 2009 World Championships (3'40.07); bettering Ian Thorpe's 2002 world record by one hundredth of a second.

Personal bests, Alltime

Event Course Time Pts. Date City (Nation) Meet

50m Freestyle 50m 23.41 774 11 Mar 2006 Halle 6. Einladungsschwimmfest

50m Freestyle 25m 22.95 777 29 Jan 2006 Uster (SUI) 15th International Meet - IMU

100m Freestyle 50m 48.39 949 27 Jun 2009 Berlin German Championships

100m Freestyle 25m 47.80 918 12 Dec 2008 Rijeka (CRO) LEN: European Short Course ...

200m Freestyle 50m 1:44.71 1010 28 Jun 2009 Berlin German Championships

200m Freestyle 25m 1:40.83 1050 16 Nov 2008 Berlin FINA: World Cup No 7 - 2008 Series

400m Freestyle 50m 3:46.67 948 27 Jun 2009 Berlin German Championships

400m Freestyle 25m 3:34.98 1041 30 Nov 2008 Essen German Short Course Championships

800m Freestyle 50m 8:00.38 911 24 Nov 2006 Hannover German Championships

800m Freestyle 25m 7:35.23 1011 27 Nov 2008 Essen German Short Course Championships

1500m Freestyle 50m 15:17.46 891 25 Jun 2006 Berlin German Championships

1500m Freestyle 25m 14:36.70 967 22 Jan 2006 Berlin FINA: World Cup No 5 - 2005/2006 ...

50m Backstroke 50m 27.65 727 16 Dec 2006 Magdeburg 2. Internationaler Pokal der ...

50m Breaststroke 50m 30.48 728 21 Jul 2007 Magdeburg Pokale der Gothaer Versicherung

50m Breaststroke 25m 29.53 728 1 Nov 2008 Oldenburg DMS

100m Breaststroke 25m 1:03.70 748 1 Nov 2008 Oldenburg DMS

50m Fly 50m 25.66 752 26 Feb 2005 Halle 5th Invitational Meet

100m Fly 50m 53.66 860 7 Jun 2009 Magdeburg Landesmeisterschaften ...

100m Fly 25m 55.44 742 11 Nov 2006 Berlin DMS 2. Bundesliga Nord - Endkampf

200m Fly 50m 2:01.17 828 4 Feb 2008 Beijing (CHN) China Open

200m Fly 25m 1:58.39 833 12 Nov 2005 Mainz DMS Qualifikation 1. Bundesliga

100m Medley 25m 57.45 751 3 Nov 2007 Oldenburg DMS 2. Bundesliga Vorkampf Gruppe ...

50m Freestyle Laps 50m 23.63 - 23 Nov 2006 Hannover German Championships

100m Freestyle Laps 50m 49.15 - 10 Aug 2008 Beijing (CHN) XXIX Olympic Games

200m Freestyle Laps 50m 1:49.30 - 16 Jul 2004 Lisbon (POR) LEN: European Junior ...

50m Fly Laps 25m 24.69 - 29 Jan 2006 Uster (SUI) 15th International Meet - IMU

Paul Biedermann site: http://www.paul-biedermann.de

Rugby World Cup England 2015 and Japan 2019 confirmed

The IRB and Rugby World Cup Limited have announced that the 2015 Rugby World cup will be hosted by England.

Japan was also named as the host of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

England, Japan, Italy and South Africa submitted bids to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup with the latter three also submitting bids for the 2019 Rugby World cup.

The Rugby World Cup Limited Board recommended that England host Rugby World Cup 2015 and Japan to host Rugby World Cup 2019.

The IRB council voted on whether or not to accept the Rugby World Cup Limited Board recommendation on the Host Unions for Rugby World Cup 2015 and Rugby World Cup 2019.

The decision means that South Africa who hosted the Rugby world cup in 1995 will have to wait until at least 2023 (28 years) to host another rugby world cup.

England last hosted the rugby world cup in 1991 and had to wait 24 years.

Coincidentally it was announced earlier in the day that the Rugby League World Cup would be held in the UK in 2013.

Source: www.worldcupweb.com

Milorad Cavic wins 50 fly and warns Phelps for 100

Michael Phelps already has a strong contender to deal with in Germany's Paul Biedermann. Now, Milorad Cavic is lurking, too.

Biedermann soundly beat Phelps in the 200-meter freestyle heats and semifinals Monday, and Cavic won the gold medal in the 50 butterfly, which Phelps did not enter.

"It's great to be the world champion in the 50 fly, but I'm so completely focused on the 100 fly, it's tough to get excited about this right now," Cavic said. "I have to keep going but this is a great confidence booster"

At last year's Beijing Olympics, Cavic came closer to beating Phelps than anyone.

The American-born Serb lost by a mere one-hundredth of a second, a finish so close that the Serbs filed a protest. Swimming's governing body had to review the tape down to the 10-thousandth of a second.

Phelps won because he applied the necessary 6.6 pounds of pressure to activate the finish touchpad, while Cavic didn't.

"He thought it was enough to win, but now he knows that you need three kilograms of pressure," said Andrea Di Nino, Cavic's new coach. "That's where he lost, but you can't really work just on that. He can't put all his focus on the finish. Milorad has to win in the first 50."

The 100 fly heats and semifinals are scheduled for Friday. The final will be Saturday.

After the Olympics, Cavic ended a seven-year stretch of working with coach Mike Bottom in California, deciding he wanted to move to Serbia.

"I needed a change of environment. I was planning on training in Belgrade but the roof of our pool caved in," Cavic said.

Cavic then looked for the closest option to Serbia, and ended up with Di Nino in San Marino. Butterfly specialists from Slovenia, Russia and Venezuela also work with Di Nino.

"It's a little different than what I'm used to, but it's working," Cavic said. "There's more than one way to do something correctly, and I think I've been doing something positive."

Cavic joined Di Nino's program in October and won the 100 fly at the European short-course championships two months later.

"It doesn't take him long to get in form," Di Nino said. "But he can't go into the race thinking only about Phelps. This is one of the most competitive races in the pool."

Olympic bronze medalist Andrew Lauterstein is also in Rome, and both he and Cavic wear the new 100-percent polyurethane bodysuits that have been responsible for 11 world records in the first two days of pool events.

"I'm really looking forward to it. Cavic shows that he's swimming well at the moment," Lauterstein said. "That's my main event in this meet."

Cavic dons the Arena X-Glide, Lauterstein has the Jaked 01, and Phelps is sticking with last year's LZR Racer from Speedo.

"Last year it was me and a lot of people blaming Omega for not having a better technology because I did touch the wall first," Cavic said. "Now if I was to beat Phelps, they would say, 'Cavic beat Phelps because of the suit."'

Phelps broke Ian Crocker's four-year-old world record at the U.S. Championships in Indianapolis earlier this month, clocking 50.22 seconds.

"I thought he was going to go under 50 seconds. He didn't, but I know that he will here," Cavic said. "But it's not about what he's going to do. I'm going to do what I need to do, and hopefully it will be better.

"I'm not afraid of him. I've proven that I'm not someone who stands down. A lot of people have this mental block that Michael Phelps cannot be beat. I think he can be beat."

Source: AP

Federica Pellegrini World Champion: she clears 4:00 in 400 Free Victory

The reigning world record holder Federica Pellegrini blasted the 4:00 barrier in the women's 400 free in front of a roaring home crowd at the FINA World Championships.


Pellegrini produced a stellar final 100 meters en route to capturing the record and the world record with an astounding 3:59.15. The swim bettered her previous mark of 4:00.41 set in Pescara, Italy earlier this year.

Great Britain went 2-3 to complete the podium. Joanne Jackson placed second in 4:00.60 to break her previous best of 4:00.66, which stood as a world record before Pellegrini broke it. Rebecca Adlington also went 4:00 with a third-place time of 4:00.79.

Allison Schmitt missed the American record in the event with a fourth-place 4:02.51. Katie Hoff's 4:02.20 from 2008 survived the attempt.

France's Coralie Balmy (4:03.29), Romania's Camelia Potec (4:03.41), France's Ophelie-Cyrielle Etienne (4:04.54) and Denmark's Lotte Friis (4:07.62) completed the race.

Tom Daley goes for London 2012

Tom Daley put his Olympic heartache behind him last night by claiming Britain’s first individual world diving title just two months after his 15th birthday.

After a dramatic final here, Daley, who switched schools last month after being taunted by bullies, was left open-mouthed in disbelief.

He said later: ‘Getting into the final, I just thought, “Go out there and do your best and see what happens”. I thought I was going to come fourth and I would have been really happy with that. But then to come away with a medal was going to be great, then a gold medal was just insane.’

Fourth place would have been a reasonable return for a diver who is still on a learning curve. He had, after all, to put behind him a disappointing Beijing Olympics, when he finished seventh in the individual 10m event and last in the 10m synchro following a messy disagreement with his diving partner, Blake Aldridge.

But Daley dived beautifully in his semi-final here to qualify in third place then produced a stunning performance in the final.

While he was calm in the news conference afterwards, his father Rob was so excited he posed as a member of the press and asked his son the all-important question: ‘Tom, can I give you a cuddle?’

Daley reluctantly left his seat in front of the cameras and went to hug his father at the back of the room, before returning to the microphones and muttering: ‘How embarrassing!’
Tom Daley

Golden boy: The 15-year-old now wants to win the London Olympics in 2012

His mother, Debbie, who stayed at home in Plymouth with the rest of the family, said: ‘I haven’t stopped shaking. He is just so focused on what he is doing and just seems to get better and better.’

Daley managed one perfect mark of 10 in the first four rounds.

In an ordinary year, that may have been enough, but this was no ordinary contest. Competing against him were Olympic champion Matt Mitcham from Australia, silver medallist Zhou Luxin and his Chinese team-mate Qui Bo, who claimed bronze.
Simply perfect: Tom Daley becomes Britain¿s first individual world diving champion

Simply perfect: Tom Daley becomes Britain's first individual world diving champion

For those first four rounds, Daley was clear of the other eight who made the final, but then slipped behind the leading trio.

With two rounds to go, Bo had a narrow lead from Mitcham, with Zhou third and Daley fourth.
Tom Daley

Teen idol: A superb tuck helped Daley to glory

To have any chance, he had to raise his game and the others had to lower theirs. Remarkably, both happened.

As Daley stood on the board for his penultimate dive, a phone rang in the crowd. If he heard it — and everyone else did — he didn’t show it.

Four perfect marks put him ahead of Zhou, who missed his entry, and closer to Mitcham, who did much the same. There was still Bo, though.

Daley was diving ahead of both Mitcham and Bo, so needed another sensational effort in the final round to keep the pressure on. His dive, a reverse three-and-a-half somersault, was almost as clean as you can get and four 10s appeared on the board.

Mitcham and Bo could still have stolen gold, but both crumbled and Daley stood there, his mouth open in disbelief.

Daley said: ‘For them not to get it is really crazy. I just can’t believe it. It’s been a lot of hard work; lots of ups and lots of downs.

‘Everything I’ve put into it has now become worth it.’

'I had a flashback of his life and I looked up and thought he's a world champion and he's 15. It's an unbelievable feeling.'

Source: excellent Daily Mail coverage from Rome