AMERICAN WOMEN SWIMMERS

Evening Star, Issue 22274, 27 February 1936, Page 4

AMERICAN WOMEN SWIMMERS

STILL AHEAD OF JAPANESE MR L DE B. HANDLEY'S BUDGET In a bulletin, dated January 12, Mr L. De B. Handley, the New York swimming coach, makes interesting comparisons between the performances of American and Japanese women swimmers in view of the approaching Olympic Games. The belief that Japan’s girl swimmers will be dangerous rivals at the approaching Olympiad somehow has gained ground in America, but if their performances of last summer may be taken as a criterion, the belief is totally unwarranted (writes Mr Handley). Undoubtedly, Miss Hideko Maehata is the logical favourite for the 200metro breast-stroke test, inasmuch as she covered the distance in 3niiu 4 2- in a 50-metre bath. No other Nippon naiad, however, showed rating speed throughout the outdoor season. Miss Kojima Kazue topped the sprinters with a new national long-course record of Imin 14 3-ssec for 100 metres free style. Miss Hatuko Morioka led at 400 metres (437.44yd5), with a swim in smin 55sec, in a 50-metre pool, and Miss Yuriko Idumi took precedence at 100 metres back stroke with a mark of Imin 28 2-ssec. It is a far cry from the foregoing figures to the fastest times made by American girls in 1935. Miss Betty Lea, of Seattle, sprinted 100 metres free style in 1 min 8 4-ssec; Miss Lenore Kight, of Homestead, Pa., now Mrs Cleon Wingard, of Cincinnati, 0., covered 440yds in 5.32 - over a 55-yard route; and Mrs Eleanor Holm Jarrett, of New York, lowered the world’s record for 100 metres back stroke to 76 3-osec. It may be added that the respective times of the leading sprinters show a wide margin in favour of our mermaids where the 440 metre relay is concerned, and that the Japanese fair devotees of fancy diving do not begin to compare with the American in either springboard or high platform work. , The noted men and women swimmers who reaped so bountiful a harvest of new records at the Yuletide carnival of the Miami Biltmore in Coral Gables, Fla., proceeded from there to a. meet at Orlando, where more iconoclastic exploits were expected of them, but rain, unseasonably cold weather, and an unfavourable course, combined to defeat the efforts of most of them. In fact the Lilly marks shattered were unrepresentative long-course standards, some dating back many years. Adolph Kiefer, 17-year-old marvel of the Lakeshore A.C., of Chicago, clipped the hack stroke records for 75yds from 46 3- to 43 3-ssec for 500 metres from 7min 22 l-ssec to 7min 15J- sec, and 550yds from 7.18 3-5 to 7.17 3-5. Albert Vande Weghe, of the Newark (N.J.), A.C., brought down the dorsal time for 50yds from 30 4-ssec to 281 sec, and Mrs Lenore Kight Wingard, of Cincinnati, 0., cut the figures for 700yds free style from 9min 51 4-ssec to 9min 38sec. In a 200-yard back stroke match between the famous Kompa sisters, of New York. Miss Elizabeth, consistently defeated by Mi ss Erna at the Coral Gables carnival, surprised by turning the tables and securing the decision in 2niin 44 John Leitt, of De Witt Clinton High School, New York, last week thrashed 50yds free style in 23 -4-ssec in a 25yds pool, equalling the N.Y.P.S.A.L. record, set in 1930 by Eugene Jennings, of Stuyvesant H.S., and narrowly missing the national iuterscholastic standard of 23 4-ssec, hung up last winter by Matthew Chrostowaki, of Central H.S., Providence, R.l. Bob Kiphuth, Yale coach, has introduced an interesting innovation to tutor swimmers. A few days ago he donned a diving helmet and a weighted vest, then dropped to the bottom of the pool to gaze up at his practising wards. He says it is the only way to accurately study a swimmer’s action, and he plans to make his submerged observations a regular feature of his coaching activities. Peter Fick, famous winged-foot swimming charaxnon and recordbreaker, had the distinction of outscoring all Now York A.C. athletes during the year 1935. He won 52 first and four second places in open competition, for a total of 272 points. Joseph M'Cluskcy, track and field star, next in line, was far back, earning 141 points.