Training Sets From the Past: The Stunning Work of 17-Year-Old Ian Thorpe

Training Sets From the Past: The Stunning Work of 17-Year-Old Ian Thorpe

In the late 1990s, the name of Australian teenager Ian Thorpe became known around the world. He first captured a world title in the 400-meter freestyle at the 1998 World Championships. In the years that followed, world records and Olympic titles were added to his resume.

More, he produced times that were previously thought to be out of reach – at least for a long while. Heck, his best of 3:40.08 in the 400 freestyle still sits No. 2 all-time, .01 off the world record of Germany’s Paul Biedermann from the 2009 World Championships. Biedermann’s mark was recorded while wearing a fully polyurethane suit, which was eventually banned.

From the Swimming World archive, here is a look at some of the training sets logged by Thorpe as a 17-year-old phenom.

1. 12 x 100m pull on 1:00. He averaged 57-58 seconds.

2. 5 x 100m kick (with a kick board) on 4:00. All five were done at 1:01.

3. 7 x 200m swim on 5:00. He averaged 1:51. The last one was sub-1:50.

4. 20 x 400m swim done as 5 x (4 x 400):

4 on 4:50. He swam all under 4:40
4 on 4:40. He swam all under 4:30
4 on 4:30. He swam all under 4:20
4 on 4:20. He swam all under 4:10
4 on 4:10. He averaged 4:02

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Name*

Email*

11 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Peter Hall

8 months ago

Working backwards, from a 3:40 400M LC, you’d have to be able to do those sets.
Incredible is an understatement.

Swifter

8 months ago

Sick

Chris h

8 months ago

Was this lcm?

Nick the biased Aussie

8 months ago

Reply to Chris h

No it was scy…OF COURSE IT WAS LCM, HE’S AUSTRALIAN!

thezwimmer

8 months ago

Reply to Chris h

I think it could’ve been SCM

Hank

8 months ago

Why was Thorpe wearing a full body suit when no one else was back then, and what kind of time advantage did it give him based on what we know now?

Joel

8 months ago

Reply to Hank

It was a disadvantage if anything. Plus he did 3.41 in training suit at 16

ArtVanDeLegh10

8 months ago

Reply to Hank

He may have had an advantage in the full body suit but he also went 3:41.0 in a brief so it’s not like the suit made a huge difference for him.

Swimmmmmm

8 months ago

Reply to Hank

None. It was made of different materials, and everyone was wearing body suits and full bodysuits back then.

Aquaman

8 months ago

According to Hawkes podcast those 7x200m tests he did he would sometimes push 1:46 on the last one

Push meaning without a dive he swam 1:46 which was the world record back then

Michael

6 months ago

Had a guy who use to train at my pool in the early 1990s.
One Saturday morning did 5x400FS on 5.
Descended the lot from about 4:10 down. Last one was sub 4:00 ( I timed the set).
No coach present. Just him and a couple of training buddies.
The coach on Monday morning said , “ No one in the world can do that”