Many of you may have never heard of Laura Val. Let us tell you just a little about her, and her phenomenal accomplishments:
- 402 FINA World Records
- 17 Straight years the “World Masters Swimmer of the Year”
- 6 World Records in a single race.
- An Inductee into “The International Swimming Hall of Fame”
- Also inducted into the “Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame”
No man or woman in history has had more success, more World Records, and been more dominant in swimming than Laura Val.
402 FINA Masters World Records says it all. That is nearly 4 times more than ANY man has ever set, and almost 2 times the next highest woman.
Every Year Swimming World Magazine awards a “Female World Masters’ Swimmer of the Year”. Laura has won that distinction for 17 straight years! To fully understand how difficult that is you have to understand the award is based primarily on World Records set each year. That means one must continue to lower their times each year within each 5-year Master's age group. Breaking records the year you age up is one thing. But swimming faster each year, effectively breaking many of your own World Records as you get older each year, means you are often literally swimming faster each year. For any 50+ year old to do that is unheard of. But for Laura, now 70 years of age, it makes the unbelievable-believable.
Laura has accomplished that, year after year, for 17 straight years. A testimony to what the human body can accomplish when you feed it correctly, maximizing one’s health and well-being, and with it-performance.
Continuing with Laura’s astonishing accomplishments. Just imagine this. What are the chances that, in a single 1500m race, someone would break the World Record in the 50m sprint free, and continuing, break the WR in the 1500 as well. Impossible you say- well in 2012 Laura did exactly that. In fact, she did even better, breaking every freestyle record that exists, that is 6 in total, in a single race. Yes, Laura broke the 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 WR on her way to the 1500 WRs. Laura is the only swimmer in history, man or woman, to ever accomplish that.
You can now understand Why Laura is a two-time inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF). First in 2001 into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and again in 2003 when she was inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame (MISHOF).
Adding up all the above, to call Laura amazing, one of a kind would be a gross understatement.
We believe Laura has earned the right to be considered as the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.)
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