Spectators on the 1st day of the 2021 Great Barrier Reef Masters Games being held in Cairns, Australia would have watched a fascinating and intriguing contest in the 400 Individual Medley (IM) between Mark Smedley from South Australia and Rod Lawrie From Victoria.
At stake was of course a win, bragging rights, and the possibility of Australian and State records for this event in the 60–64-year age group.
A 400 IM is a perfect showcase of the relative skills and strengths of the individual competitors in the four strokes . The eventual margin between them was just over two seconds, a margin of just less than 1% of the elapsed race time. So, let us see how the race evolved.
Rod Laurie is a strong butterfly swimmer, and this was immediately evident in the race. Rod’s 100 fly time was 1min 14.72 secs and he gained an advantage over Mark of nearly 8 seconds on the 1st leg. This then left Mark with an enormous amount of serious work to overcame the advantage Rod has established in the 1st leg.
On the backstroke leg, Mark recorded a time of 1 min 35.65 seconds and at the half-way point of the event had managed to wind back Rod’s advantage by 2.73 secs down to 5.21 secs. Rod’s time for his 100 Back. was 1 min 38.38 Mark’s closing of the gap was turning the event into a much closer race than it appeared to be after the 1st 100.
Mark Smedley is an exceptional breaststroker, and this was evident in the 3rd 100m. Mark stormed to the lead, and at the turn for the last 100m he had managed to convert that original 8 sec deficit after the butterfly into nearly a 4 second lead.
So now the race became even more intriguing. Could Mark hold onto his lead, or even increase it, or did Rod have something extra in the tank to whittle back or even overcome the lead Mark had established.
And so, the ebb and flow of the race gradually resolved over the last 100m. Mark Smedley has started with nearly a 4 second advantage. At the swimming speed over the last 100m that was about a 5m lead.
That is precisely where Rod struck back in dramatic fashion swimming the final leg in a time of 1 min 16.17 sec. Rod managed to convert a near 4 second deficit with 100m to go into a 2.83 second advantage at the end of the 400m.
Rod’s time was a new Australian 400m IM record, and the Victorian one as well. The respective times for Rod and Mark were 5:57.68 and 6:00.51. Mark’s time was also a South Australian record for this event.
Fantastic and intriguing racing, showcasing the best of this the event. Congratulations to Rod for the win and the Australian and Victorian records, and to both Mark and Rod Laurie for the incredible race.
Here are the splits and breakdown of the 400m IM.
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