Perception is that male distance swimmers peak in their early 20s. (women, it's usually in their late teens) Hackett's fastest swims were when he was 21-22. He's been plagued by illness in the last couple years and hasn't been close to his 14:34 in a while.
Jensen was 18 in Athens, still a relative kid for his event and sport. The idea is that if he keeps the work up over the next couple of years, he should be under 14:40 and could challenge Hackett's record, which seemed to be one of those records that would be there for a good long time when he set it in 2001.
Hackett's looking to also be strongly challenged by England's David Davies (age 19, 14:45 in Athens) and Russian Yuri Prilikov (age 20, 14:52 in Athens). Will Hackett regain his magic form of 2001 next year? He just might have to in order to keep ahead of the young wolves- Jensen, Davies, and Prilikov who have all in the past years have looked like they've still got room to improve and knock the king off his throne.
Between here and Beijing, there should be some great men's distance racing on the world stage.
Jensen was 18 in Athens, still a relative kid for his event and sport. The idea is that if he keeps the work up over the next couple of years, he should be under 14:40 and could challenge Hackett's record, which seemed to be one of those records that would be there for a good long time when he set it in 2001.
Hackett's looking to also be strongly challenged by England's David Davies (age 19, 14:45 in Athens) and Russian Yuri Prilikov (age 20, 14:52 in Athens). Will Hackett regain his magic form of 2001 next year? He just might have to in order to keep ahead of the young wolves- Jensen, Davies, and Prilikov who have all in the past years have looked like they've still got room to improve and knock the king off his throne.
Between here and Beijing, there should be some great men's distance racing on the world stage.