Australia's Michael Larkin improved on his backstroke mark twice this week with his Abu Dhabi effort in 52.11 seconds better than Doha earlier. Francois Nel / Getty Images
Australia's Michael Larkin improved on his backstroke mark twice this week with his Abu Dhabi effort in 52.11 seconds better than Doha earlier. Francois Nel / Getty Images

Sport

Mitch Larkin’s personal best in Abu Dhabi falls short of 100m backstroke world record

Effort of 52.11 sec was the fastest time of 2015 and the third-best in the event’s history, behind Aaron Peirsol’s 2009 world record of 51.94 and Matt Grevers’ 52.08.

Ahmed Rizvi

November 06, 2015

DUBAI // Australia’s Mitch Larkin is confident he can get the 100-metre backstroke world record in the coming months after narrowly missing the mark at the Hamdan Sports Complex last night.

Winner of the men’s 100m and 200m backstroke double at the World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, clocked 52.11 seconds in the final leg of the Fina Swimming World Cup last night to break his Australian and Commonwealth record of 52.26 set in Doha this week.

It was the fastest time of 2015 and the third-best in the event’s history, behind Aaron Peirsol’s 2009 world record of 51.94 and Matt Grevers’ 52.08. “I am really happy with my results this year,” said Larkin, who is also the Commonwealth Games 200m backstroke champion.

“Tonight was a personal best and now we will go home and work on some things, the skills, and see where I can improve to hopefully crack 52 next year and see what happens after that.”

Talking about his performances in 2015, Larkin, 22, credited a youthful support team for his improvements and said: “I am really happy with everything - life outside of swimming as well.

“My coach and I have sort of developed a team around me, which I really like. They are quite young.

“There were worries that they aren’t quite experienced enough, but they have a great attitude and real passion about what I do, my gym coach, my physio and I do yoga as well.

“So I am really happy with the support cast around me and I think that’s probably one of the biggest things that I found has really helped me a lot this year.”

Larkin’s Australian teammate Emily Seebohm, the reigning women’s 100m and 200m backstroke world champion, has also shown progress in 2015 and she believes her rivalry with Hungary’s four-time World Cup winner Katinka Hosszu has a played some part in that.

Seebohm and Hosszu were involved in two tense finishes in the 50m and 200m backstrokes, with the Aussie edging Hosszu in both to finish day one with two gold medals.

“It’s been really tough and she has been keeping me on my toes,” said Seebohm, 23. “She has been really good, but that helps me out heaps.”

The men’s 50m breaststroke was won by South Africa’s Cameron Van Der Burgh, who edged out world record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain for the gold medal.

Peaty had clocked 26.42 in the 50m breaststroke final at the World Championships in Kazan to erase Van der Burgh’s world mark of 26.62, set a few hours earlier in the heats, and the Briton is really excited about this burgeoning rivalry with the South African.

“It’s good for the sport and it’s good for other people that are coming up,” Peaty said yesterday. “You don’t want it too easy because it gets a bit boring. So that mixes it up a bit and I am just glad we can race each other.”

arizvi@thenational.ae

RESULTS

MEN

Freestyle 100m: Jeremy Stravius (FRA) 48.34; Chad Le Clos (RSA) 48.38; Velimir Stjepanovic (SRB) 48.86

Breaststroke 50m: Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) 26.77; Adam Peaty (GBR) 27.16; Giulio Zorzi (RSA) 27.45

Backstroke 100m: Mitch Larkin (AUS) 51.11; David Plummer (USA) 52.51; Masaki Kaneko (JPN) 54.37

Butterfly 200m: Viktor Bregner Bromer (DEN) 1:55.98; Chad Le Clos (RSA) 1:56.03; Zheng Wen Quah (SIN) 1:56.26

Freestyle 400m: Guy James (GBR) 3:46.91; Velimir Stjepanovic (SRB) 3:47.75; Stephen Milne (GBR) 3:48.61

Breaststroke 200m: Daniel Gyurta (HUN) 2:10.43; Craig Benson (GBR) 2:11.34; Kevin Cordes (USA) 2:11.51

Butterfly 50m: Chad Le Clos (RSA) 23.31; Giles Smith (USA) 23.67; Ivan Lendjer (SRB) 23.74

Medley 400m: David Verrastzo (HUN) 4:16.71; Keita Sunama (JPN) 4:17.58; Michael Meyer (RSA) 4:18.58

WOMEN

Freestyle 200m: Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 1:55.41; Federica Pellegrini (ITA) 1:57.42; Jazmin Carlin (GBR) 1:58.45

Breaststroke 100m: Alia Shanee Atkinson (JAM) 1:05.93; Molly Hannis (USA) 1:06.60; Zeynep Viktoria Gunes (TUR) 1:06.96

Butterfly 100m: Felicia Lee (USA) 58.57; Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN) 58.75; Cassidy Bayer (USA) 59.09

Backstroke 50m: Emily Seebhom (AUS) 27.57; Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 27.99; Lee Felicia (USA) 28.32

Medley 200m: Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 2:08.61; Caitlin Leverenz (USA) 2:10.35; Sakiko Shimizu (JPN) 2:10.76

Freestyle 50m: Melanie Renee Wright (AUS) 24.72; Marta Ciesla (USA) 25.31; Anna Kolarova (CZE) 25.35

Backstroke 200m: Emily Seebhom (AUS) 2:06.94; Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 2:07.13; Daryna Zevina (UKR) 2:11.07

Freestyle 800m: Lauren Boyle (NZL) 8:25.96; Jazmin Carlin (GBR) 8:30.79; Sarah Koehler (GER) 8:35.16

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”