August Swimmers of the Month

The month of August featured three of the highest profile meets of 2010: U.S. Nationals, the European Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships. So for August, Swimmers of the Month will correspond to the top swimmers from each region at their respective championship meets. I will also give awards for the top race of each competition, both men and women.

European Championships
Female Performer: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
Won four medals at the European Champs, three gold and one silver, and moved to second in the world in two events (200 fly, 200 IM)

Female Performance: Hannah Miley, Great Britain – 400 IM (4:33.09)
Defeated World Champ Hosszu with the fastest time in the world by a second

Male Performer: Camille Lacourt, France
Came up just short of world records in the 50 (24.07) and 100 back (52.11)

Male Performance: Camille Lacourt, France – 100 Back (52.11)
Status as an Olympic event gives the 100 the edge over the shorter race

Pan Pacific Championships
Pac Rim Female Performer: Emily Seebohm, Australia
Won six medals, two gold in the 100 back and 200 IM, as well as four relays

American Female Performer: Rebecca Soni, USA
Posted world-dominating times in the 100 and 200 breast for wins, as well as winning gold in the medley relay and the B-final in the 50 breast

Female Performance: Rebecca Soni, USA – 100 Breast (1:04.93)
Equaled the third-fastest performance in history, becoming the first woman to swim sub-1:05 in textile

Pan Rim Male Performer: Kosuke Kitajima, Japan
Posted textile best and world best times to win the 100 (59.35, 59.04 in prelims) and 200 (2:08.36)

American Male Performer: Ryan Lochte, USA
Won six gold medals at the meet and posted world best times in four individual events: 200 free (1:45.30), 400 IM (4:07.59), 200 back (1:54.12), and 200 IM (1:54.43)

Male Performance: Ryan Lochte, USA – 200 IM (1:54.43)
Capped off an outstanding meet with a near-world record in this event

Special Awards
Perseverance Award: TIE – Katie Hoff, USA and Kate Ziegler, USA
Both fought back from disappointing Olympics and terrible 2009s to make a splash and set themselves up well for 2011 Worlds - Hoff with her eye-watering victory in the 400 free at Nationals, while Ziegler suddenly bouncing back to her old self when she pulled away from the field in the 800 free at Pan Pacs

Relay Performance: France (Camille Lacourt, Hugues Duboscq, Fred Bousquet, Fabien Gilot) - Men’s 400 Medley Relay at European Champs (3:31.32)
Put together a dominant performance with all outstanding splits to beat the top American time by more than a second

Favorite Swim: Nathan Adrian, USA – Men’s 100 Free at Pan Pacs (48.15)
Got it done and proved he is the best sprinter in the world. Amazing.

Junior Pan Pacs finished up yesterday in Maui. Check out full results as well as on-demand finals video at Swimnetwork.com.

Swimming World.com re-launched just a few hours ago, taking on the layout of what has all summer been Swimming World TV. The new site is much better organized and makes specific pages much easier to find and interconnected. Reaction Time will eventually disappear to be replaced by the powerful new Disqus comment system, which you can log in through social networking accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. Still some work to be done, which Swimming World CEO Brent Rutemiller outlines in his column in the September issue of the Magazine. Highly recommend checking it out; the site will continue to be the best source for any swimming news and reports from across the world.

Past Pan Pacs

For the top American swimmers, the swim season has come to an end. Nationals is complete, Pan Pacs is complete, and the World Championship rosters for both short course and long course are unofficially set. Ryan Lochte has surpassed Michael Phelps as the best swimmer in the world (for the time being), while Rebecca Soni has emerged as the most dominant female swimmer in the world, untouchable in both Olympic breaststroke events. Missy Franklin has officially arrived on the world stage, while Amanda Beard has returned once again and has made another Worlds team, seven years after her last appearance at such a meet. Jason Lezak has completed his tenth year on the National "A" team after missing last year, while Chad LaTourette has emerged as the new Larsen Jensen/Erik Vendt. Internationally, Emily Seebohm has been called the next Natalie Coughlin (who is back as well), while Camile Lacourt has dominated the men's sprint backstrokes all year. Australia and France have each seen young superstars jump on to the world stage, Yolane Kukla and Yannick Agnel, respectively. Kosuke Kitajima continues to prove why he is the best breaststroker in history.

Starting on the pool deck at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center in May, I watched the entire season unfold and attempted to predict and analyze it. I have reported on every Grand Prix meet this year for Swimming World and become the biggest Swim Geek known to man. Swimming has been my life this summer, obvious from the 41 blogs I have posted this month alone. I hope this will continue, on pool decks around the country (eventually) and from my room and laptop.

Tomorrow morning, I enter my junior year of high school. The entire cycle starts all over for me, as it soon will for the nation's top swimmers. I am THE Swim Geek, and I will remain involved with the sport big time, particularly through my Twitter and Facebook pages. But for now, this blog will be dormant. I will post predictions and some analysis from meets around the world and continue my virtual World Championships for 2010, but for now, this summer's blogging season has come to an end. (Hopefully,) see you on deck!

Pan Pacs: Day 5

The pool competition at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine is complete. Final prediction contest scores for the pool and the unofficial World Championships teams (Short Course 2010 and Long Course 2011) are complete. The Open Water 10k for Pan Pacs begins in under a half hour in Long Beach, and you can watch it live on Swimnetwork.com and follow tweets from Steve Munatones and/or USA Swimming.

Post-pool competition official prediction contest scores. And the winner is...

1. David "The Swim Geek" Rieder 336
2. Tom 316
3. Jerry 315
4. John 313
5. Matt 292
6. Priyant 275
7. G. John 268
8. The Viking 262
9. Braden 261
10. Katie 218

Unofficial world champs team(s)(relay swimmers include those in individual events):

Women:
50 Free - Jessica Hardy, Amanda Weir
100 Free - Natalie Coughlin, Dana Vollmer
4x100 Free Relay - Jessica Hardy, Amanda Weir, Kara Lynn Joyce, Missy Franklin
200 Free - Allison Schmitt, Dana Vollmer
4x200 Free Relay - Morgan Scroggy, Katie Hoff, Dagny Knutson, Jasmine Tosky
400 Free - Chloe Sutton, Katie Hoff
800 Free - Kate Ziegler, Chloe Sutton
100 Back - Natalie Coughlin, Liz Pelton
200 Back - Elizabeth Beisel, Missy Franklin
100 Breast - Rebecca Soni, Amanda Beard
200 Breast - Rebecca Soni, Amanda Beard
100 Fly - Christine Magnuson, Dana Vollmer
200 Fly - Teresa Crippen, Kathleen Hersey
200 IM - Ariana Kukors, Caitlin Leverenz
400 IM - Elizabeth Beisel, Caitlin Leverenz

Men:
50 Free - Nathan Adrian, Cullen Jones
100 Free - Nathan Adrian, Jason Lezak
4x100 Free Relay - (Michael Phelps,) Garrett Weber-Gale, Ryan Lochte, Dave Walters, Scot Robison
200 Free - Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps
4x200 Free Relay - Peter Vanderkaay, Ricky Berens, Conor Dwyer, Dave Walters
400 Free - Peter Vanderkaay, Charlie Houchin
1,500 Free - Chad LaTourette, Peter Vanderkaay
100 Back - Aaron Peirsol, David Plummer
200 Back - Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary
100 Breast - Mark Gangloff, Mike Alexandrov
200 Breast - Eric Shanteau, Scott Spann
100 Fly - Michael Phelps, Tyler McGill
200 Fly - Michael Phelps, Tyler Clary
200 IM - Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps
400 IM - Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary

Pan Pacs: Day 4

The final pool session of Pan Pacs is about to get underway from the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine. The Americans have dominated all seven sessions of the meet thus far, and nothing should change in the final one. The big storyline going into tonight: world records. Ryan Lochte has a strong chance in the men's 200 IM, as does Rebecca Soni in the women's 200 breast. John Lohn put up a notebook on Swimming World.com with some nice thoughts headed into tonight.

Final predictions:

Men's 800 Free

1. Ryan Cochrane

2. Chad LaTourette

3. Takeshi Matsuda

Women's 200 IM

1. Ariana Kukors

2. Emily Seebohm

3. Caitlin Leverenz

Men's 200 IM

1. Ryan Lochte

2. Tyler Clary

3. Thiago Pereira

Women's 50 Free

1. Jessica Hardy

2. Yolane Kukla

3. Amanda Weir

Men's 50 Free

1. Cesar Cielo

2. Nathan Adrian

3. Gideon Louw

Women's 200 Breast

1. Rebecca Soni

2. Leisel Jones

3. Amanda Beard

Men's 200 Breast

1. Kosuke Kitajima

2. Eric Shanteau

3. Brenton Rickard

Women's 1,500 Free

1. Kate Ziegler

2. Melissa Gorman

3. Kristel Kobrich

Women's 4x100 Medley Relay

1. United States (Coughlin, Soni, Vollmer, Hardy)

2. Australia (Seebohm, Jones, Coutts, Kukla)

3. Japan (Terakawa, Suzuki, Kato, Ueda)

Men's 4x100 Medley Relay

1. United States (Peirsol, Gangloff, Phelps, Adrian)

2. Japan (Koga, Kitajima, Kishida, Fujii)

3. Australia (Delaney, Sprenger, Huegill, Richardson)

Official prediction contest results headed into the final night of pool racing:

1. David "The Swim Geek" Rieder 264
2. John 251
3. Jerry 245
4. Matt 241
5. Tom 231
6. The Viking 213
7. G. John 196
8. Braden 189
9. Priyant 171
10. Katie 162

This should be the world champs team so far:

Women

100 Free - Natalie Coughlin, Dana Vollmer

200 Free - Allison Schmitt, Dana Vollmer

400 Free - Chloe Sutton, Katie Hoff

800 Free - Kate Ziegler, Chloe Sutton

100 Back - Natalie Coughlin, Liz Pelton

200 Back - Elizabeth Beisel, Missy Franklin

100 Breast - Rebecca Soni, Amanda Beard

100 Fly - Christine Magnuson, Dana Vollmer

200 Fly - Teresa Crippen, Kathleen Hersey

400 IM - Elizabeth Beisel, Caitlin Leverenz

Men

100 Free - Nathan Adrian, Jason Lezak

200 Free - Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps

400 Free - Peter Vanderkaay, Charlie Houchin

1,500 Free - Chad LaTourette, Peter Vanderkaay

100 Back - Aaron Peirsol, David Plummer

200 Back - Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary

100 Breast - Mark Gangloff, Mike Alexandrov

100 Fly - Michael Phelps, Tyler McGill

200 Fly - Michael Phelps, Tyler Clary

400 IM - Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary

Pan Pacs: Day 3

The second night of finals and third morning of prelims both featured outstanding American performances. Out of the ten events last night, Americans won seven, including all but one of the Olympic events contested. Nathan Adrian and Rebecca Soni proved themselves against their toughest rivals on the international stage, while Ryan Lochte continued to show why he is the best swimmer in the world today. Elizabeth Beisel re-bounded from a disappointing Nationals to dominate the women's 400 IM. Natalie Coughlin continued her comeback with her first international victory in two years, while Mark Gangloff showed he can hang on through a full 100 breast, winning a bronze medal.

Americans proceeded to take the top qualifying time in six out of this morning's eight events, with 1-2 finishes in four of them. Many swimmers who didn't swim up to their potential at Nationals stepped up big time. For example, Liz Pelton posted a personal-best time of 2:07.48 in the 200 back, four seconds quicker than her Nationals performance where she took fourth. Already on the World Champs team in the 100 back (by 0.01), Pelton needs to step up again this evening to try and make the team for Shanghai, where she could be a medal contender. She and Elizabeth Beisel could finish 1-2 in the event, after posting the only two sub-2:08 swims this morning.

In the men's 200 back, Aaron Peirsol missed another A-final, taking third but behind Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary. All beat their times from Nationals, but Clary will go for medals in the finals rather than the man who has won four world titles, two Olympic titles, and two Pan Pacs titles, and holds the world record. Peirsol still has a chance to make the Worlds team for next year, but Clary continues his outstanding meet, continually dropping large amounts of time from Nationals. After a poor NCAA meet in which he failed to defend his 200 back title and added significant time in all of his events, Clary's summer training with Jon Urbanchek at FAST has been hugely successful. Already on the World Champs team in the 200 fly and the 400 IM, don't be surprised if he makes two more events. In addition to the 200 back, he has a chance to knock out Phelps from the 200 IM tomorrow.

Michael Phelps has put his stamp on the men's 100 fly over the past three years. However, since the retirement of Ian Crocker, the Americans have struggled to find a second swimmer capable of medaling on the world stage. Tyler McGill made finals at Worlds last summer, finishing seventh and dipping under 51 in prelims (in a Jaked), but he did not have a stellar NCAA season, and it looked feasible for the U.S. to not have a second swimmer in the Pan Pacs finals. This morning in Irvine, Phelps qualified first in an easy 51.48, while McGill dropped more than a half second from his Nationals' peformance of 52.20 to finish second in 51.69. Especially with Olympic bronze medalist Andrew Lauterstein missing the final (due to the two-per-country rule), McGill could win his first international individual medal in the final. This means making the jump to the biggest stage, just two years out from 2012.

Only Phelps and McGill broke 52 in prelims, with Japan's Takuro Fujii third in 52.20 and Australia's Geoff Huegill fourth in 52.21. 31-year-old Huegill finished just a quarter second off his personal best time set ten years ago. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he set an Olympic record of 51.96 in the semi-finals, before finishing third in the finals, although no one beat his semi-final time. After retiring in 2004, he returned in late 2008 and made the Australian team in the 50 fly at Nationals. In that event on Wednesday, he posted a first-place time of 23.27, a personal best time, ahead of his then-world record of 23.44 from 2001. In the finals, he ended up faltering to fourth, but he returned to be his country's top man in the 100 fly. After finishing fifth at their Nationals, he did not have a National team spot in the event, but he now has a strong chance to return to an Olympic event on the Aussie team. Only continued success in the longer 100 fly will give Huegill a shot as his third Olympics in 2012.

Updates finals predictions (which DO NOT COUNT in the prediction contest):

Women's 400 Free

1. Allison Schmitt

2. Chloe Sutton

3. Katie Goldman

Men's 400 Free

1. Zhang Lin

2. Park Tae Hwan

3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women's 100 Fly

1. Dana Vollmer

2. Christine Magnuson

3. Yolane Kukla

Men's 100 Fly

1. Michael Phelps

2. Geoff Huegill

3. Tyler McGill

Women's 200 Back

1. Elizabeth Beisel

2. Liz Pelton

3. Belinda Hocking

Men's 200 Back

1. Ryan Lochte

2. Ryosuke Irie

3. Tyler Clary

Women's 50 Breast

1. Jessica Hardy

2. Leisel Jones

3. Leiston Pickett

Men's 50 Breast

1. Felipe Silva

2. Kosuke Kitajima

3. Mark Gangloff

Women's 4x100 Free Relay

1. USA (Coughlin, Hardy, Weir, Vollmer)

2. Australia (Seebohm, Coutts, Galvez, Kukla)

3. Canada (Poon, Morningstar, Samur, Wilkinson)

Men's 4x100 Free Relay

1. USA (Phelps, Lochte, Adrian, Lezak)

2. Australia (Sullivan, Magnussen, Prosser, Richardson)

3. Brazil (Cielo, Oliveira, Rodrigues, Santos)

Not too many changes to the official prediction scores after day 2. But look who's in the lead!

1. David "The Swim Geek" Rieder 169
2. Jerry 167
3. Matt 162
4. John 157
4. Tom 157
6. G. John 149
7. Shawn 145
8. Braden 125
9. Priyant 115
10. Katie 101

I will NOT be able to post unofficial scores tonight, so scores will be available before prelims tomorrow morning.

Based on the qualifying procedures, this should be the line-up for World Champs next year in the individual Olympic events contested thus far.

Women:
100 Free - Natalie Coughlin, Dana Vollmer

200 Free - Allison Schmitt, Dana Vollmer
800 Free - Kate Ziegler, Chloe Sutton

100 Back - Natalie Coughlin, Liz Pelton
100 Breast - Rebecca Soni, Amanda Beard

200 Fly - Teresa Crippen, Kathleen Hersey

400 IM - Elizabeth Beisel, Caitlin Leverenz

Men:
100 Free - Nathan Adrian, Jason Lezak

200 Free - Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps
1,500 Free - Chad LaTourette, Peter Vanderkaay
100 Back - Aaron Peirsol, David Plummer

100 Breast - Mark Gangloff, Mike Alexandrov
200 Fly - Michael Phelps, Tyler Clary

400 IM - Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary

Pan Pacs: Day 2

Garrett McCaffrey described this morning's prelims session as "a pretty exciting prelim session, as prelim sessions go." More fast racing in hopes of earning a finals spot. Here is Swimming World's written recap of the session, as well as a video recap and finals preview. A lot of phenomenal swims by Americans and foreigners alike, but the men's 400 IM captured most of the excitement this morning.

In that 400 IM, Michael Phelps would compete in his first race at the distance since the Beijing Olympics. Many highly anticipated his return. However, things did not go Phelps' way. In the first heat, teammates Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary posted the two fastest times in the world in the event, 4:08.77 and 4:09.20. Phelps could only muster a 4:15.38, leaving him fourth overall (Brazil's Thiago Pereira posted a 4:15.35), but third-best American and out of the championship final. Phelps went onto scratch the B-final to focus on swimming the 4x200 free relay tonight, allowing Robert Margalis a chance to swim a second time. Before the race, Swimnetwork's Mike Gustafson talked up the prospects for the Phelps-Lochte race in the final, while Casey Barrett of Swimnetwork and John Lohn of Swimming World both wrote columns about Phelps' failure to final and attempted to explain the circumstances.

On the other side of the coin, awesome swims from both Lochte and Clary. Lochte dropped more than a second from his Nationals swim (4:09.98), looking fairly easy in his swim, while Clary demolished his 4:14.12 at Nationals, where he completely fell apart the last 150. Should be an awesome finals race tonight, with possibly Pereira challenging the Americans.

After the prelim race Phelps spoke to the media, once again talking about his poor physical shape and the amount of pain the race caused.



In the ladies' 400 IM, Elizabeth Beisel dropped the hammer. After finishing fourth at Nationals in 4:39.08, Beisel demolished that time with a 4:34.04 in prelims. (She must have known I picked her to win!) Going into finals, she sits more then five seconds ahead of fellow American Caitlin Leverenz, with the pair a good bet to finish 1-2 in the finale. Look for another great swim from Beisel tonight, possibly near her personal-best time of 4:32.87 (from Olympic Trials), as well as in tomorrow's 200 back.

I screwed up the prediction scores big time yesterday. After being awake since 5am, I calculated the scores at midnight (eastern). For some reason, if someone picked Dana Vollmer or Allison Schmitt to win the 200 free, they got full points. Scores have been adjusted.

1. Jerry 84

2. Matt 81

3. Me 76

3. Tom 76

5. G. John 71

6. John 68

7. Priyant 67

8. Shawn 64

9. Braden 55

10. Katie 43

Some updated predictions for tonight's finals:

Women's 100 Free

1. Dana Vollmer

2. Natalie Coughlin

3. Yolane Kukla

Men's 100 Free

1. Nathan Adrian

2. Cesar Cielo

3. Brent Hayden

Women's 100 Breast

1. Rebecca Soni

2. Leisel Jones

3. Satomi Suzuki

Men's 100 Breast

1. Kosuke Kitajima

2. Ryo Tateishi

3. Mark Gangloff

Women's 400 IM

1. Elizabeth Beisel

2. Caitlin Leverenz

3. Samantha Hamill

Men's 400 IM

1. Ryan Lochte

2. Tyler Clary

3. Thiago Pereira

Women's 4x200 Free Relay

1. USA (Vollmer, Scroggy, Hoff, Schmitt)

2. Australia (Evans, Barratt, Nay, Palmer)

3. Canada (Wilkinson, Samur, Cheverton, Jardin)

Men's 4x200 Free Relay

1. USA (Phelps, Vanderkaay, Berens, Lochte)

2. Australia (Ffrost, D'Orsogna, Monk, Fraser-Holmes)

3. Japan (Matsuda, Okimura, Uchida, Kobori)

Finals get underway at 6pm (pacific). Once again, live video will be available at Swimnetwork.com. Omega Timing has live results and full results. Also keep an eye on my Twitter and Facebook pages for updates throughout the meet. In addition, Swimming World TV has TONS of video interviews and recaps from the meet, highly recommend checking it out.

Pan Pacs: Kate Ziegler, Aaron Peirsol, and Home Pool Advantage

One night of awesome racing at the Pan Pacs is complete. Big highlights for the Americans and the Aussies, which you can hear all about on Swimming World TV's recap or read about on Swimming World.com. I wanted to highlight a few top storylines from last night's finals.

Kate Ziegler is back. She put together an 8:21.59 for an easy victory, and she negative split the race, according to her for the first time ever. After not being ranked anywhere near the top in the world before last year, Ziegler finds herself second in the world and well ahead of the 8:23.37 posted by World Champ Lotte Friis at the European Championships. Moreover, it is her second best time EVER, behind the 8:18.52 she won World Champs in in 2007. After only two months under her new coach Jon Urbanchek, she is suddenly dominating the way she did back in 2007 and before. Watching her shift into overdrive on the final 50 and leave the field behind brings back memories of her big victory over Laure Manaudou in the 800 free at the Worlds in 2007. She is back and ready to contend for the big stage once again.

Aaron Peirsol had a stroke of luck yesterday. Ryan Lochte scratched the 100 back after qualifying second, originally leaving Peirsol the fourth qualifier and third American, so out of the A-final. With the new opportunity, Peirsol reminded everyone why he has never lost an international final in the event. (He has missed finals twice and lost Nationals before, such as two weeks ago.) Winning in 53.31, he dominated the field like he so often does. But he has more than Ryan Lochte to thank for what happened last night.

David Plummer (A-final) and Nick Thoman (B-final) both led their respective final heats at the 50. Both were on track to post times faster than Peirsol's. Both crashed into the lane line and practically stopped. Peirsol, meanwhile, who swam in the Woollett Aquatic Center for many years as an age grouper, swam straight down the middle to victory. But if not for that lane line, he would not be representing the U.S. in the 100 back at Worlds next year, despite winning three of the last four world titles in the event. Talk about home pool advantage!

Gonna be another exciting day of racing today in Irvine, which gets underway in a few short minutes with prelims, live on Swimnetwork.com. The racing will be interesting among the international teams, as well as between the Americans fighting for World Championships spots. Caitlin Leverenz, Ariana Kukors, and Elizabeth Beisel will duel for finals spots and eventually World Champs spots in the women's 400 IM, as will Mike Alexandrov, Mark Gangloff, Eric Shanteau, and possibly Scott Spann in the men's 100 breast.

Today will also mark the return of Michael Phelps to the 400 IM, the event in which he set a world record of 4:03.84 in Beijing. After a dominating 1:45.30 200 free win last night and sweeping the IMs at Nationals with the top times in the world in both, Ryan Lochte is the clear favorite to win, while Phelps will duel with Tyler Clary to claim a spot in the A-final. Clary dropped a second and a half from Nationals in his 200 fly prelim yesterday, posting a fast 1:55.72. If he makes the final, Phelps has to hold off Thiago Pereira just to get the silver. It will be two tough battles for Phelps, especially considering his poor physical shape, evidenced by his mediocre 1:54.11 200 fly yesterday.

Meanwhile, the 2011 U.S. Long Course World Championships team is now set in some event. The following swimmers have qualified to represent Team USA next summer in Shanghai. The two swimmers in each event come from combining FINALS results from Nationals and Pan Pacs.

Women:

200 Free - Allison Schmitt, Dana Vollmer

800 Free - Kate Ziegler, Chloe Sutton

100 Back - Natalie Coughlin, Liz Pelton

200 Fly - Teresa Crippen, Kathleen Hersey

Men:

200 Free - Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps

1,500 Free - Chad LaTourette, Peter Vanderkaay

100 Back - Aaron Peirsol, David Plummer

200 Fly - Michael Phelps, Tyler Clary

Pan Pacs: Day 1

The first morning of prelims featured some interesting racing, but the big topic of discussion was the two swimmers per country rule. Only two can make finals from one country, which becomes an issue when the U.S. goes 1-2-3-8 in the women's 200 free. On top of that, only one other swimmer can make the B-final, so eighth-ranked Katie Hoff doesn't get a second swim in the event. Because I don't want to be repetitive and they did such a good job, you can listen to Garrett McCaffrey and Jeff Comming's prelim recap/finals preview. Swimming World TV is the place to go for any and all media coverage of the meet; they already got 14 athlete interviews this morning, with much more to come.



However, Garrett and Jeff forgot to talk about the men's 100 back, so I'll do it now. David Plummer proved every single swimming analyst wrong, and he did have more in the tank from his awesome swim at Nationals. He dropped his 53.60 down to 53.33, just one one-hundredth off of Aaron Peirsol's meet record of 53.32 from 2006. Peirsol had a big scare for finals, finishing fourth and third-best American, but Ryan Lochte's scratch puts Peirsol in the A-final and Thoman in the B-final, and both have chances to redeem themselves from poor swims at U.S. Nationals (possibly to make next year's Worlds team). Team USA could go 1-2 in the event, but Australia's Ashley Delaney swam a fast 53.78 in prelims, and the Japanese pair of Ryosuke Irie and Junya Koga, the third and fourth-fastest all time performers all-time (behind Peirsol and Camille Lacourt), are looming. It will be a close one. Thoman's B-final swim, however, won't be close. He will dominate the field and try to get close to or surpass the winning time in the A-final, in an attempt to make the Worlds team. He has a lot left in the tank after posting a 53.96 in prelims today.

Meanwhile, Lochte's 100 back show's us this meet's theme: "Hurricane Ryan," as Craig Lord put it. Lochte will swim as many races as he can and probably do well in all of them. He put down the top 200 free time (1:46.10) maybe 20 minutes before his 53.68 second-place finish in the 100 back. For those of you keeping track, that's not far off his best time ever, 53.37 from Olympic Trials (in a LZR). Look for a string of amazing performances this week, maybe even a world record.

I will be running a Swimming World virtual meet this week, with the top eight times from combining European Champs and Pan Pacs. This will lead into the 2010 Virtual World Championships, which will also include Commonwealth Games (and possibly Asian Games). I will try to have each night's virtual results on Swimming World a half hour after the swimming finishes.

Updated Predictions:

Women's 50 Fly

1. Marieke Guehrer

2. Emily Seebohm

3. Jessica Hardy

Men's 50 Fly

1. Geoff Huegill

2. Roland Schoeman

3. Cesar Cielo

Women's 200 Free

1. Allison Schmitt

2. Morgan Scroggy

3. Blair Evans

Men's 200 Free

1. Ryan Lochte

2. Peter Vanderkaay

3. Park Tae Hwan

Women's 100 Back

1. Emily Seebohm

2. Natalie Coughlin

3. Aya Terakawa

Men's 100 Back

1. Aaron Peirsol

2. David Plummer

3. Junya Koga

Women's 200 Fly

1. Teresa Crippen

2. Jessicah Schipper

3. Kathleen Hersey

Men's 200 Fly

1. Michael Phelps

2. Nick D'arcy

3. Takeshi Matsuda

Women's 800 Free

1. Katie Goldman

2. Chloe Sutton

3. Kate Ziegler

Men's 1,500 Free

1. Ryan Cochrane

2. Chad LaTourette

3. Ous Mellouli

Finals begin tonight at 6pm pacific (9pm eastern). You can watch live on Universal Sports (TV and internet) and Swimnetwork.com. At Omega Timing you can follow live results and find full results after each event. Additionally, both Chris DFLSantis and myself will be posting some commentary on Facebook (and Twitter for me) during the competition. Less than one hour to go!

Pan Pacs Predictions: Katie Kearbey

"Shawn Klosterman AKA swimviking gave me your link and I'm always ready to take on a challenge!

"I'm Katie Kearbey I'm 16 and a former swimmer of his but I have beat him in a few throw downs before. For my predictions I went with some obvious, some who's personality will always guarantee a good race, a few guesses and some I just liked their names."

Editor's note: I am rooting for Katie to beat Shawn, partially because Shawn said he wanted Chris DFLSantis to beat me in my Nationals prediction contest and take away my title of THE Swim Geek. Also because I think it's cool when swimmers know more than their coach. Take that Viking!

Katie sees Ryan Lochte getting a win in the men's 100 back, along with George Du Rand in the 50 and 200 back. She also predicts Sarah Katsoulis to take the women's 50 breast and Natalie Coughlin to emerge the victor in her signature 100 back, ahead of young challengers Liz Pelton and Emily Seebohm. Everyone in the prediction contest has picked Rebecca Soni to win the women's 200 breast, but Katie is predicting that Soni will take the world record down with her.

W 50 fly
1. Marieke Guehrer
2. Christine Magnuson
3. Daynara Paula

M 50 fly
1. Nicholas Santos
2. Roland Schoeman
3. Glauber Silva

W 200 free
1. Allison Schmitt
2. Blair Evans
3. Dana Vollmer

M 200 free
1. Tae Hwan Park
2. Ryan Lochte
3. Sho Uchida

W 100 back
1. Natalie Coughlin
2. Liz Pelton
3. Emily Seebohm

M 100 back
1. Ryan Lochte
2. George du Rand
3. David Plummer

W 200 fly
1. Liu Zige
2. Jessicah Schipper
3. Kathleen Hersey

M 200 fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Takeshi Matsuda
3. Kaio Almeida

W 800 free
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Katie Goldman
3. Kate Ziegler

M 1,500 free
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Ryan Cochrane
3. Peter Vanderkaay

W 100 free
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Sally Foster
3. Natalie Coughlin

M 100 free
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Eamon Sullivan

W 100 breast
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Leisel Jones
3. Rebecca Soni

M 100 breast
1. Brenton Rickard
2. Kosuke Kitajima
3. Eric Shanteau

W 400 IM
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Tanya Hunks
3. Elizabeth Beisel

M 400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michal Phelps
3. Ous Mellouli

W 50 back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Sophie Edington
3. Fabiola Molina

M 50 back
1. George du Rand
2. Guido Guilherme
3. Nick Thoman

W 4x200 free relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Canada

M 4x200 free relay
1. USA
2. Japan
3. Australia

W 400 free
1. Katie Hoff
2. Allison Schmitt
3. Bronte Barratt

M 400 free
1. Tae Hwan Park
2. Ous Mellouli
3. Takeshi Matsudi

W 100 fly
1. Liu Zige
2. Christine Magnuson
3. Gabrielle Silva

M 100 fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Gabriel Mangabeira
3. AndreW Lauterstein

W 200 back
1. Meagen Nay
2. Elizabeth Beisel
3. Belinda Hocking

M 200 back
1. George du Rand
2. Ryan Lochte
3. Nick Thoman

W 50 breast
1. Sarah Katsoulis
2. Leisel Jones
3. Rebecca Soni

M 50 breast
1. Felipe Silva
2. Brenton Rickard
3. Kosuke Kitajima

W 4x100 free relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Brazil

M 4x100 free relay
1. USA
2. Brazil
3. Australia

M 800 free
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Ryan Cochrane
3. Takeshi Matsuda

W 200 IM
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Tomoyo Fukuda
3. Katie Hoff

M 200 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Leith Brodie

W 50 free
1. Kara Lynn Joyce
2. Sally Foster
3. Jessica Hardy

M 50 free
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Roland Schoeman

W 200 breast
1. Rebecca Soni *new WR
2. Annamay Pierse
3. Leisel Jones

M 200 breast
1. Eric Shanteau
2. Kosuke Kitijima
3. Christian Sprenger

W 1,500 free
1. Kate Ziegler
2. Kristal Kobrich
3. Chloe Sutton

W 4x100 medley relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Brazil

M 4x100 medley relay
1. USA
2. Brazil
3. Australia

W Open Water 10k
1. Melissa Gorman
2. Chloe Sutton
3. Yumi Kida

Men’s Open Water 10k
1. Chad LaTourette
2. Fran Crippen
3. Ous Mellouli

Pan Pacs Predictions: G. John Mullen

G. John Mullen took time out from his vacation in Asia to return to the predicting fray. Along with his picks, all he had time to say was, "I just got done hiking Mt. Fuji."

Among his predictions: Liu Zige winning the 100 and 200 fly, Shiko Sakai taking the women's 50 back, Sarah Katsoulis the women's 50 breast, and Marieke Guehrer the women's 50 free. He thinks Brazilian Gulherme Guido will take the men's 50 back. He sees Aussies Brenton Rickard and Christian Sprenger going 1-2 in the men's 50 breast, with Kosuke Kitajima splitting the pair. He predicts that Melissa Gorman will do the pool-open water double, winning both the 1,500 and 10k races.

Women’s 50 fly
Marieke Guehrer
Yolane Kukla
Christine Magnuson

Men’s 50 fly
Roland Schoeman
Nicholas Santos
Geoff Huegill

Women’s 200 free
Dana Vollmer
Allison Schmitt
Blair Evans

Men’s 200 free
Ryan Lochte
Tae Hwan Park
Kendrick Monk

Women’s 100 back
Emily Seebohm
Shiho Sakai
Natalie Coughlin

Men’s 100 back
Aaron Peirsol
Nick Thoman
Ryosuke Irie

Women’s 200 fly
Liu Zige
Jessica Schipper
Kathleen Hersey

Men’s 200 fly
Michael Phelps
Takeshi Matsuda
Nick D’Arcy

Women’s 800 free
Chloe Sutton
Katie Goldman
Blair Evans

Men’s 1,500 free
Ous Mellouli
Tae Hwan Park
Ryan Cochrane

Women’s 100 free
Dana Vollmer
Marieke Guehrer
Natalie Coughlin

Men’s 100 free
Cesar Cielo
Nathan Adrian
Jason Lezak

Women’s 100 breast
Rebecca Soni
Leisel Jones
Jessica Hardy

Men’s 100 breast
Kosuke Kitajima
Herique Barbosa
Brenton Rickard

Women’s 400 IM
Ariana Kukors
Samantha Hamill
Elizabeth Beisel

Men’s 400 IM
Ryan Lochte
Thiago Pereira
Tyler Clary

Women’s 50 back
Shiho Sakai
Emily Seebohm
Sophie Eddington

Men’s 50 back
Guilherme Guido
Nick Thoman
Daniel Arnamnart

Women’s 800 free relay
USA
Australia
Canada

Men’s 800 free relay
USA
Japan
Australia

Women’s 400 free
Katie Hoff
Bronte Barratt
Chloe Sutton

Men’s 400 free
Tae Hwan Park
Ous Mellouli
Zhang Lin

Women’s 100 fly
Liu Zige
Jessicah Schipper
Christine Magnuson

Men’s 100 fly
Michael Phelps
Andrew Lauterstein
Takuro Fujii

Women’s 200 back
Belinda Hocking
Elizabeth Beisel
Emily Seebohm

Men’s 200 back
Aaron Peirsol
Ryan Lochte
Ryosuke Irie

Women’s 50 breast
Sarah Katsoulis
Jessica Hardy
Leisel Jones

Men’s 50 breast
Brenton Rickard
Kosuke Kitajima
Christian Sprenger

Women’s 4x100 free relay
Australia
USA
Japan

Men’s 4x100 free relay
USA
Australia
Brazil

Men’s 800 free
Ous Mellouli
Robert Hurley
Ryan Cochrane

Women’s 200 IM
Ariana Kukors
Emily Seebohm
Tomoyo Fuyada

Men’s 200 IM
Ryan Lochte
Michael Phelps
Thiago Pereira

Women’s 50 free
Marieke Guehrer
Kara Lynn Joyce
Sally Foster

Men’s 50 free
Cesar Cielo
Nathan Adrian
Cullen Jones

Women’s 200 breast
Rebecca Soni
Leisel Jones
Annamay Pierse

Men’s 200 breast
Brenton Rickard
Kosuke Kitajima
Eric Shanteau

Women’s 1,500 free
Melissa Gorman
Maiko Fuijno
Emily Brunemann

Women’s 400 medley relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Men’s 400 medley relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Women’s 10k
Melissa Gorman
Poliana Okimoto
Chloe Sutton

Men’s 10k
Fran Crippen
Ous Mellouli
George O'brien

Pan Pacs Predictions: John Lohn

Swimming World senior writer John Lohn submitted his picks for Pan Pacs shortly after arriving in Irvine for the meet. John has Jessicah Schipper beating Liu Zige in the women's 200 fly and Aaron Peirsol reclaiming his 100 back title. He sees Chloe Sutton taking the women's 800 free and Eric Shanteau the men's 200 breast. He thinks Elizabeth Beisel will take two individual events for women, the 400 IM and 200 back. He also has Dana Vollmer winning three individual titles at the meet, thought he doesn't predict a golden sweep for Vollmer, as he picked the Aussies to take the women's medley relay.

50 Butterfly (Women)
1. Marieke Guehrer
2. Christine Magnuson
3. Yolane Kukla
Note: Have to go with the reigning world champion.

50 Butterfly (Men)
1. Roland Schoeman
2. Andrew Lauterstein
3. Geoff Huegill
Note: Schoeman has long been a force in the sprint fly

200 Freestyle (Women)
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Allison Schmitt
3. Bronte Barratt
Note: We'll go with a reversal of the finish at Nationals

200 Freestyle (Men)
1. Tae Hwan Park
2. Ryan Lochte
3. Peter Vanderkaay
Note: Two of three Olympic medalists reach podium

100 Backstroke (Women)
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Natalie Coughlin
3. Liz Pelton
Note: Aussie youngster has had terrific season

100 Backstroke (Men)
1. Aaron Peirsol
2. Ryosuke Irie
3. Nick Thoman
Note: The King prevails

200 Butterfly (Women)
1. Jessicah Schipper
2. Liu Zige
3. Kathleen Hersey
Note: Former world champ clips reigning Olympic titlist

200 Butterfly (Men)
1. Michael Phelps
2. Nick D'Arcy
3. Takeshi Matsuda
Note: Phelps will be much better here than he was at Nationals

800 Freestyle (Women)
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Kate Ziegler
3. Katie Goldman
Note: One of the tougher events to call

1500 Freestyle
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Ryan Cochrane
3. Chad LaTourette
Note: Mellouli gets best of excellent field

100 Freestyle (Women)
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Emily Seebohm
3. Natalie Coughlin
Note: A tough one to predict without clear favorite

100 Freestyle (Men)
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Brent Hayden
Note: Although Adrian is surging, Cielo is best sprinter in the world

100 Breaststroke (Women)
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Leisel Jones
3. Annamay Pierse
Note: Flip-flop the first two if you wish

100 Breaststroke (Men)
1. Kosuke Kitajima
2. Brenton Rickard
3. Ryo Tateishi
Note: Have a feeling the Olympic champ will prevail

400 Individual Medley (Women)
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Ariana Kukors
3. Samantha Hamill
Note: Look for a shakeup among the American women

400 Individual Medley (Men)
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Ous Mellouli
Note: Great to see Phelps back in the distance medley

50 Backstroke (Women)
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Sophie Edington
3. Shiho Sakai
Note: Seebohm wins second medal of night

50 Backstroke (Men)
1. Junya Koga
2. Ashley Delaney
3. Nick Thoman
Note: Who knows

800 Freestyle Relay (Women)
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Japan
Note: Schmitt and Vollmer put U.S. on top

800 Freestyle Relay (Men)
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Japan
Note: Easy win for United States

400 Freestyle (Women)
1. Katie Hoff
2. Allison Schmitt
3. Bronte Barratt
Note: Hoff's comeback continues

400 Freestyle (Men)
1. Tae Hwan Park
2. Ous Mellouli
3. Peter Vanderkaay
Note: South Korean completes middle-distance double

100 Butterfly (Women)
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Christine Magnuson
3. Jessicah Schipper
Note: Americans reverse finish from Nationals

100 Butterfly (Men)
1. Michael Phelps
2. Andrew Lauterstein
3. Takuro Fujii
Note: Phelps pushes the 50-second mark

200 Backstroke (Women)
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Meagen Nay
3. Liz Pelton
Note: Look for Pelton to have much better meet than Nationals

200 Backstroke (Men)
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Aaron Peirsol
3. Ryosuke Irie
Note: Blanket finish is one of best of competition

50 Breaststroke (Women)
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Leisel Jones
3. Rebecca Soni
Note: This event is designed for Hardy

50 Breaststroke (Men)
1. Brenton Rickard
2. Mark Gangloff
3. Kosuke Kitajima
Note: Gangloff has strong track record in event

400 Freestyle Relay (Women)
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Japan
Note: Another tight one

400 Freestyle Relay (Men)
1. United States
2. Brazil
3. Australia
Note: Let's see what Americans can put together to rival Russia's time (3:12.46) from Euros

800 Freestyle (Men)
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Ryan Cochrane
3. Chad LaTourette
Note: Repeat of 1500 finish

200 Individual Medley (Women)
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Emily Seebohm
3. Katie Hoff
Note: Kukors goes 2:09 and change for win

200 Individual Medley (Men)
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Thiago Pereira
Note: One of best chances to see world record

50 Freestyle (Women)
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Kara Lynn Joyce
3. Yolane Kukla
Note: Honestly, one of weaker fields on global level

50 Freestyle (Men)
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Roland Schoeman
Note: Cielo wraps up sprint double

200 Breaststroke (Women)
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Leisel Jones
3. Annamay Pierse
Note: Loaded event should dazzle on final night

200 Breaststroke (Men)
1. Eric Shanteau
2. Kosuke Kitajima
3. Brenton Rickard
Note: Shanteau fends off two-time defending Olympic titlist

1500 Freestyle (Women)
1. Kate Ziegler
2. Melissa Gorman
3. Chloe Sutton
Note: This is where Ziegler shines brightest

400 Medley Relay (Women)
1. Australia
2. United States
3. Japan
Note: Probably closest relay between Aussies and Americans

400 Medley Relay (Men)
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Japan
Note: Tight battle opened up by Adrian on anchor leg

10k Open Water (Women)
1. Melissa Gorman
2. Chloe Sutton
3. Eva Fabian
Note: Gorman earned bronze at World Champs

10k Open Water (Men)
1. Fran Crippen
2. Andrew Gemmell
3. Chris Ashwood

Pan Pacs Predictions: Matt Salzberg

Another predictor from Nationals, Matt Salzberg, has submitted some picks for Pan Pacs. Matt's big pick is Nathan Adrian beating Cesar Cielo to win the men's 100 free. He also has Emily Seebohm taking the 200 back and world record-holder Kate Ziegler making a successful comeback to win the 1,500 free. At Pan Pacs four years ago she joined Janet Evans as the second woman under 16:00. Matt predicts an all-around successful meet for the U.S., including relay wins in all but the women's medley.

Women’s 50 Fly
Marieke Guehrer - AUS
Christine Magnuson - USA
Daynara Paula - BRA

Men’s 50 Fly
Roland Schoeman – RSA
Andrew Lauterstein - AUS
Tim Phillips – USA

Women’s 200 Freestyle
Allison Schmitt – USA
Dana Vollmer – USA
Bronte Barrett – AUS

Men’s 200 Freestyle
Park Tae Hwan – KOR
Ryan Lochte – USA
Peter Vanderkaay – USA

Women’s 100 Backstroke
Emily Seebohm – AUS
Aya Terakawa – JPN
Natalie Coughlin – USA

Men’s 100 Backstroke
Aaron Peirsol – USA
Junya Koga – JPN
Nick Thoman – USA

Women’s 200 Butterfly
Liu Zige – CHN
Jessich Schipper – AUS
Kathleen Hersey – USA

Men’s 200 Butterfly
Michael Phelps – USA
Nick D’Arcy – AUS
Takeshi Matsuda – JPN

Women’s 800 Freestyle
Katie Goldman – AUS
Chloe Sutton – USA
Kate Ziegler – USA

Men’s 1500 Freestyle
Ous Mellouli – TUN
Peter Vanderkaay – USA
Ryan Cochrane – CAN

Women’s 100 Freestyle
Dana Vollmer – USA
Jessica Hardy – USA
Maricke Guehrer – AUS

Men’s 100 Freestyle
Nathan Adrian – USA
Cesar Cielo – BRA
Eamon Sullivan – AUS

Women’s 100 Breaststroke
Rebecca Soni – USA
Leisel Jones – AUS
Samantha Marshall – AUS

Men’s 100 Breaststroke
Kosuke Kitajima – JPN
Ryo Tateishi – JPN
Brenton Rickard – AUS

Women’s 400 IM
Caitlin Leverenz – USA
Ariana Kukors – USA

Miho Takahashi - JPN

Men’s 400 IM
Ryan Lochte – USA
Michael Phelps – USA
Thiago Pereira – BRA

Women’s 50 Backstroke
Emily Seebohm – AUS
Liz Pelton – USA
Aya Terakawa – JPN

Men’s 50 Backstroke
Junya Koga – JPN
Guiherme Guido – BRA
Hayden Stoeckel – AUS

Women’s 800 FR Relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Men’s 800 FR Relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Women’s 400 Freestyle
Katie Hoff – USA
Bronte Barratt – AUS
Allison Schmitt – USA

Men’s 400 Freestyle
Park Tae Hwan – KOR
Zhang Lin – CHN
Peter Vanderkaay – USA

Women’s 100 Butterfly
Dana Vollmer – USA
Christine Magnuson – USA
Liu Zige – CHN

Men’s 100 Butterfly
Michael Phelps – USA
Andrew Lauterstein – AUS
Masayuki Kishida – JPN

Women’s 200 Backstroke
Emily Seebohm – AUS
Elizabeth Beisel – USA
Belinda Hocking – AUS

Men’s 200 Backstroke
Ryosuke Irie – JPN
Aaron Peirsol – USA
Ryan Lochte – USA

Women’s 50 Breaststroke
Jessica Hardy – USA
Rebecca Soni – USA
Sarah Katsoulis – AUS

Men’s 50 Breaststroke
Kosuke Kitajima – JPN
Brenton Rickard – AUS
Michael Alexendrov – USA

Women’s 400 Free Relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Men’s 400 Free Relay
USA
Australia
Brazil

Men’s 800 Freestyle
Ous Mellouli – TUN
Peter Vanderkaay – USA
Ryan Cochrane – CAN

Women’s 200 IM
Ariana Kukors – USA
Caitlin Leverenz – USA

Emily Seebohm - AUS

Men’s 200 IM
Ryan Lochte – USA
Michael Phelps – USA
Thiago Pereria – BRA

Women’s 50 Freestyle
Kara Lynn Joyce – USA
Marieke Guehrer – AUS
Daynara Paula – BRA

Men’s 50 Freestyle
Cesar Cielo – BRA
Nathan Adrian – USA
Roland Schoeman – RSA

Women’s 200 Breaststroke
Rebecca Soni – USA
Leisel Jones – AUS
Annamay Pierse – CAN

Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Ryo Tateishi – JPN
Eric Shanteau – USA
Kosuke Kitajima – JPN

Women’s 1500 Freestyle
Kate Ziegler – USA
Emily Brunemann – USA
Melissa Gorman – AUS

Women’s 400 MR
Australia
USA
Japan

Men’s 400 MR
USA
Australia
Japan

Women’s 10K
Chloe Sutton – USA
Melissa Gorman – AUS
Emily Brunemann – USA

Men’s 10K
Chip Peterson – USA
Chad LaTourette – USA
Fran Crippen – USA

Pan Pacs: Day Zero

The Pan Pacific Championships gets underway in just fifteen hours from the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine. No need to go over the storylines, when Split Time and The Swim Brief have me covered. During the meet, be sure to check out the awesome video content at Swimming World.TV, and go to Swimming World.com for full recaps and analysis from senior writer John Lohn. I'll try and keep the blog going here as well!

Meanwhile, MY predictions! The way I see it, all but two of the nations sending full teams to this meet are also looking forward to other meets (notably the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games), so I am assuming the United States and Brazil will be the most prepared to swim fast in Irvine. I have Elizabeth Beisel taking wins in both the 400 IM and 200 back, with her teammate Liz Pelton rebounding from a disappointing U.S. Nationals with two podiums. I have Nick Thoman taking the men's 100 back and Eric Shanteau the men's 200 breast. I have Felipe Silva taking the men's 50 breast, with Mark Gangloff taking second, as well as third in the 100 breast. One of my personal favorite picks is Graeme Moore slipping into third in the men's 50 fly. Enjoy!

Women’s 50 Fly
1. Marieke Guehrer, Australia
2. Yolane Kukla, Australia
3. Christine Magnuson, USA

Men’s 50 Fly
1. Geoff Huegill, Australia
2. Roland Schoeman, South Africa
3. Graeme Moore, South Africa

Women’s 200 Free
1. Allison Schmitt, USA
2. Dana Vollmer, USA
3. Kylie Palmer, Australia

Men’s 200 Free
1. Park Tae Hwan, South Korea
2. Ryan Lochte, USA
3. Peter Vanderkaay, USA

Women’s 100 Back
1. Emily Seebohm, Australia
2. Natalie Coughlin, USA
3. Liz Pelton, USA

Men’s 100 Back
1. Nick Thoman, USA
2. Junya Koga, Japan
3. Aaron Peirsol, USA

Women’s 200 Fly
1. Liu Zige, China
2. Jessicah Schipper, Australia
3. Kathleen Hersey, USA

Men’s 200 Fly
1. Michael Phelps, USA
2. Takeshi Matsuda, Japan
3. Nick D’arcy, Australia

Women’s 800 Free
1. Katie Goldman, Australia
2. Chloe Sutton, USA
3. Kate Ziegler, USA

Men’s 1,500 Free
1. Ryan Cochrane, Canada
2. Chad LaTourette, USA

3. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia

Women’s 100 Free
1. Dana Vollmer, USA
2. Natalie Coughlin, USA
3. Emily Seebohm, Australia

Men’s 100 Free
1. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
2. Nathan Adrian, USA
3. Brent Hayden, Canada

Women’s 100 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni, USA
2. Leisel Jones, Australia
3. Satomi Suzuki, Japan

Men’s 100 Breast
1. Kosuke Kitajima, Japan
2. Brenton Rickard, Australia
3. Mark Gangloff, USA

Women’s 400 IM
1. Elizabeth Beisel, USA
2. Caitlin Leverenz, USA
3. Samantha Hamill, Australia

Men’s 400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte, USA
2. Michael Phelps, USA

3. Thiago Pereira, Brazil

Women’s 50 Back
1. Emily Seebohm, Australia
2. Sophie Edington, Australia
3. Fabiola Molina, Brazil

Men’s 50 Back
1. Junya Koga, Japan
2. Guilherme Guido, Brazil
3. Ben Treffers, Australia

Women’s 4x200 Free Relay
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Canada

Men’s 4x200 Free Relay
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Japan

Women’s 400 Free
1. Katie Hoff, USA
2. Allison Schmitt, USA
3. Bronte Barratt, Australia

Men’s 400 Free
1. Zhang Lin, China
2. Park Tae Hwan, Korea
3. Peter Vanderkaay, USA

Women’s 100 Fly
1. Dana Vollmer, USA

2. Liu Zige, China

3. Christine Magnuson, USA

Men’s 100 Fly
1. Michael Phelps, USA
2. Andrew Lauterstein, Australia
3. Takuro Fujii, Japan

Women’s 200 Back
1. Elizabeth Beisel, USA
2. Liz Pelton, USA
3. Belinda Hocking, Australia

Men’s 200 Back
1. Ryosuke Irie, Japan
2. Ryan Lochte, USA
3. Aaron Peirsol, USA

Women’s 50 Breast
1. Jessica Hardy, USA
2. Leisel Jones, Australia
3. Rebecca Soni, USA

Men’s 50 Breast
1. Felipe Silva, Brazil
2. Mark Gangloff, USA
3. Kosuke Kitajima, Japan

Women’s 4x100 Free Relay
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Canada

Men’s 4x100 Free Relay
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Brazil

Men’s 800 Free
1. Ryan Cochrane, Canada

2. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia
3. Chad LaTourette, USA

Women’s 200 IM
1. Ariana Kukors, USA
2. Emily Seebohm, Australia
3. Katie Hoff, USA

Men’s 200 IM
1. Ryan Lochte, USA
2. Michael Phelps, USA
3. Thiago Pereira, Brazil

Women’s 50 Free
1. Jessica Hardy, USA
2. Kara Lynn Joyce, USA
3. Yolane Kukla, Australia

Men’s 50 Free
1. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
2. Nathan Adrian, USA
3. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago

Women’s 200 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni, USA
2. Annamay Pierse, Canada
3. Leisel Jones, Australia

Men’s 200 Breast
1. Eric Shanteau, USA
2. Kosuke Kitajima, Japan
3. Brenton Rickard, Australia

Women’s 1,500 Free
1. Melissa Gorman, Australia
2. Emily Brunemann, USA
3. Kristel Kobrich, Chile

Women’s 4x100 Medley Relay
1. Australia
2. United States
3. Brazil

Men’s 4x100 Medley Relay
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Japan

Women’s 10k Open Water
1. Poliana Okimoto, Brazil
2. Eva Fabian, USA
3. Melissa Gorman, Australia

Men’s 10k Open Water
1. Fran Crippen, USA
2. Andrew Gemmell, USA
3. Chip Peterson, USA

Pan Pacs Predictions: Jerry Shandrew

Jerry Shandrew, also known as "socaladvracer," returns from the Nationals competition for another round of predictions. Jerry sees Emily Seebohm and Kosuke Kitajima sweeping the women's backstrokes and men's breaststrokes, respectively. He has Asian swimmers Liu Zige (women's 100-200 fly) and Park Tae Hwan (men's 200-400 free) sweeping their events. He has Christine Magnuson taking the women's 200 fly, Ariana Kukors both the 200 and 400 IM, and Kate Ziegler the 800 and 1,500 free. Finally, he has rising U.S. open water star Eva Fabian taking her first major 10k title at Pan Pacs.

Women’s 50 Fly
1. Christine Magnuson
2. Yolane Kukla
3. Marieke Guehrer

Men’s 50 Fly
1. Geoff Huegill
2. Roland Schoeman
3. Tim Phillips

Women’s 200 Free
1. Allison Schmitt
2. Dana Vollmer
3. Blair Evans

Men’s 200 Free
1. Park Tae Hwan
2. Ryan Lochte
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women’s 100 Back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Aya Terakawa
3. Natalie Coughlin

Men’s 100 Back
1. Aaron Peirsol
2. Nick Thoman
3. Ryosuke Irie

Women’s 200 Fly
1. Liu Zige
2. Jessicah Schipper
3. Kathleen Hersey

Men’s 200 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Nick D’arcy
3. Takeshi Matsuda

Women’s 800 Free
1. Kate Ziegler
2. Katie Goldman
3. Chloe Sutton

Men’s 1,500 Free
1. Ryan Cochrane
2. Zhang Lin
3. Chad LaTourette

Women’s 100 Free
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Natalie Coughlin
3. Emily Seebohm

Men’s 100 Free
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Eamon Sullivan

Women’s 100 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Leisel Jones
3. Satomi Suzuki

Men’s 100 Breast
1. Kosuke Kitajima
2. Mike Alexandrov
3. Ryo Tateishi

Women’s 400 IM
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Caitlin Leverenz
3. Miho Takahashi

Men’s 400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Thiago Pereira

Women’s 50 Back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Aya Terakawa
3. Liz Pelton

Men’s 50 Back
1. Junya Koga
2. Nick Thoman
3. Guilherme Guido

Women’s 4x200 Free Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Canada

Men’s 4x200 Free Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Women’s 400 Free
1. Allison Schmitt
2. Katie Hoff
3. Bronte Barratt

Men’s 400 Free
1. Park Tae Hwan
2. Zhang Lin
3. Ous Mellouli

Women’s 100 Fly
1. Liu Zige
2. Dana Vollmer
3. Christine Magnuson

Men’s 100 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Andrew Lauterstein
3. Masayuki Kishida

Women’s 200 Back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Elizabeth Beisel
3. Belinda Hocking

Men’s 200 Back
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Aaron Peirsol
3. Ryosuke Irie

Women’s 50 Breast
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Rebecca Soni
3. Leisel Jones

Men’s 50 Breast
1. Kosuke Kitajima
2. Brenton Rickard
3. Mike Alexandrov

Women’s 4x100 Free Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Men’s 4x100 Free Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Brazil

Men’s 800 Free
1. Ryan Cochrane
2. Ous Mellouli
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women’s 200 IM
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Katie Hoff
3. Emily Seebohm

Men’s 200 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Thiago Pereira

Women’s 50 Free
1. Kara Lynn Joyce
2. Alice Mills
3. Jessica Hardy

Men’s 50 Free
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Eamon Sullivan

Women’s 200 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Leisel Jones
3. Satomi Suzuki

Men’s 200 Breast
1. Ryo Tateishi
2. Eric Shanteau
3. Brenton Rickard

Women’s 1,500 Free
1. Kate Ziegler
2. Melissa Gorman
3. Emily Brunemann

Women’s 400 Medley Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Men’s 400 Medley Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Women’s 10k Open Water
1. Eva Fabian
2. Melissa Gorman
3. Chloe Sutton

Men’s 10k Open Water
1. Fran Crippen
2. Chip Peterson
3. Allan Do Carmo

Pan Pacs Predictions: The Screaming Viking!

Shawn Klosterman, better known as The Screaming Viking, has thrown his hat in the ring for the Pan Pacs prediction contest. He picks Olympic champs Natalie Coughlin (100 back) and Michael Phelps (200 IM) to beat out their challengers (Emily Seebohm and Ryan Lochte, respectively). He has Liu Zige winning the women's 100-200 fly double, and Kosuke Kitajima doing the same in the men's breastrokes, while finishing second to Felipe Silva in the 50 breast. He has Sally Foster winning the women's 50 free and her teammate Marieke Guehrer winning the women's 50 fly, along with podium finishes in the 50 and 100 free. Additionally, he has Ariana Kukors sweeping the women's IMs and Belinda Hocking beating Seebohm and Elizabeth Beisel in the women's 200 back. In his own words:

"I didn't have time to put much thought into it. It is almost like I threw darts at the psyche sheet and then added a few USA's because I just like to make my predictions USA heavy. I have Captain America's shield tattooed on my back. It is hard to not favor the red white and blue a little too much. as you'll notice, I didn't give them full benefit of the doubt though.

"My mom is pretty darn lucky at guessing, so I hope some of that rubbed off on me. She caught like a 45 pound salmon on the first day of her first derby. If I win, I demand that all of the losers pitch in a few bucks and buy me a kick ass Viking helmet to wear as my crown.

"I also have to say that the fact that some of the times in the psych sheet are suited and some of the times are bare skin, it makes predictions for this meet really challenging and I think that's a lot of fun.

"Congrats by the way on keeping the "swim geek" name as your own."

Women’s 50 Fly
1. Marieke Guehrer
2. Christine Magnuson
3. Yolane Kukla

Men’s 50 Fly
1. Roland Schoeman
2. Nicholas Santos
3. Geoff Huegill

Women’s 200 Free
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Allison Schmitt
3. Blair Evans

Men’s 200 Free
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Park Tae Hwan
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women’s 100 Back
1. Natalie Coughlin
2. Emily Seebohm
3. Missy Franklin

Men’s 100 Back
1. Aaron Peirsol
2. Ashley Delaney
3. Nick Thoman

Women’s 200 Fly
1. Liu Zige
2. Jessicah Schipper
3. Kathleen Hersey

Men’s 200 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Takeshi Matsuda
3. Wu Peng

Women’s 800 Free
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Katie Goldman
3. Kate Ziegler

Men’s 1,500 Free
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Park Tae Hwan
3. Chad LaTourette

Women’s 100 Free
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Jessica Hardy
3. Marieke Guehrer

Men’s 100 Free
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Brent Hayden

Women’s 100 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Jessica Hardy
3. Leisel Jones

Men’s 100 Breast
1. Kosuke Kitajima
2. Mike Alexandrov
3. Brenton Rickard

Women’s 400 IM
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Caitlin Leverenz
3. Samantha Hamill

Men’s 400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Thiago Pereira

Women's 50 Back

1. Sophie Edington

2. Emily Seebohm

3. Shiho Sakai

Men's 50 Back

1. Junya Koga

2. Hayden Stoeckel

3. Nick Thoman

Women’s 4x200 Free Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Men’s 4x200 Free Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Women’s 400 Free
1. Katie Hoff
2. Bronte Barratt
3. Chloe Sutton

Men’s 400 Free
1. Park Tae Hwan
2. Ous Mellouli
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women’s 100 Fly
1. Liu Zige
2. Christine Magnuson
3. Gabriela Silva

Men’s 100 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Andrew Lauterstein
3. Geoff Huegill

Women’s 200 Back
1. Belinda Hocking
2. Emily Seebohm
3. Elizabeth Beisel

Men’s 200 Back
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Aaron Peirsol
3. Ryosuke Irie

Women’s 4x100 Free Relay
1. Australia
2. USA
3. Japan

Men’s 4x100 Free Relay
1. USA
2. Brazil
3. Australia

Men’s 800 Free
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Takeshi Matsuda
3. Ryan Cochrane

Women’s 200 IM
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Emily Seebohm
3. Caitlin Leverenz

Men’s 200 IM
1. Michael Phelps
2. Ryan Lochte
3. Thiago Pereira

Women’s 50 Free
1. Sally Foster
2. Kara Lynn Joyce
3. Marieke Guehre

Men’s 50 Free
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Gideon Louw

Women’s 200 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Rie Kaneto
3. Annamay Pierse

Men’s 200 Breast
1. Kosuke Kitajima
2. Eric Shanteau
3. Brenton Rickard

Women’s 1,500 Free
1. Kate Ziegler
2. Kristel Kobrich
3. Emily Brunemann

Women’s 4x100 Medley Relay
1. Australia
2. USA
3. Japan

Men’s 4x100 Medley Relay
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Brazil

Women's Open Water 10k

1. Chloe Sutton

2. Christine Jennings

3. Stacey Hansford

Men's Open Water 10k

1. Fran Crippen

2. Chip Peterson

3. Allan Do Carmo

Pan Pacs Predictions: Tom Willdridge

Tom enters the Pan Pacs prediction contest as the highest returning competitor from the Nationals prediction contest. He finished second, but Reed Shimberg will not be returning for this round two contest. He predicts a strong showing from the Japanese, such as Aya Terakawa winning the 50 back and Ryo Tateishi the 200 breast. He has Kosuke Kitajima winning the 50 and 100 breast but missing out on a medal in the 200. One of his more interesting predictions is the women's 200 back, where he picks Belinda Hocking to win ahead of Elizabeth Beisel and Shiho Sakai. He also picked Josh Schneider in the 50 free as a "protest pick," along with a possible third-place candidate, Roland Schoeman. In his own words:

"During the last prediction contest for US Nationals I steered Speed Endurance to a second placed finish, this time I'm looking to go one better and take the top spot.

"Those just missing out on a spot in the top 3 were... Zhang Lin - 200m Free, Nick Thoman - 100m Back, Eamon Sullivan Brent Hayden - 100m Free, Chang Gao - 100m Back, Satomi Suzuki - 100m Breast & Takuro Fujii - 100m Fly. On second thoughts, I can't leave Eamon Sullivan out of the 100m Free. Brent Hayden is arguably more consistent, but Sullivan has the talent to win this thing if he hooks it up right on the day.

"Jessica Hardy is down to swim both the 100m Free and 100m Breast on Day Two. Swimming multiple finals didn't work out too well for her at Nationals so I am taking a leap of faith and assuming she qualifies for the 100m Free and decides to swim that as she has a better shot at Gold.

"Hard to know what to make of the Chinese contingent. I'm picking Liu Zige to turn up and have a strong meet, despite spending 2010 under the radar. I don't care if she was wearing a rocket propelled suit, I'm picking the lady that's been 2:01.81 for 200m Fly."

Women's 50 Fly
1. Yolane Kukla
2. Marieke Guehrer
3. Christine Magnuson

Men's 50 Fly
1. Roland Schoeman
2. Geoff Huegill
3. Cesar Cielo

Women's 200 Free
1. Allison Schmitt
2. Dana Vollmer
3. Bronte Barratt

Men's 200 Free
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Tae Hwan Park
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women's 100 Back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Natalie Coughlin
3. Aya Terakawa

Men's 100 Back
1. Aaron Peirsol
2. Junya Koga
3. Ryosuke Irie

Women's 200 Fly
1. Liu Zige
2. Jessicah Schipper
3. Kathleen Hersey

Men's 200 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Nick D'Arcy
3. Takeshi Matsuda

Women's 800 Free
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Katie Goldman
3. Kate Ziegler

Men's 1500 Free
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Ryan Cochrane
3. Chad LaTourette

Women's 100 Free
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Jessica Hardy
3. Haruka Ueda

Men's 100 Free
1. Cesar Cielo Filho
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Eamon Sullivan

Women's 100 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Leisel Jones
3. Ann Chandler

Men's 100 Breast
1. Kosuke Kitajima
2. Brenton Rickard
3. Ryo Tateishi

Women's 400 IM
1. Caitlin Leverenz
2. Ariana Kukors
3. Miho Takahashi

Men's 400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Yuya Horihata

Women's 50 Back
1. Aya Terakawa
2. Emily Seebohm
3. Sophie Edington

Men's 50 Back
1. Junya Koga
2. Guilherme Guido
3. Nick Thoman

Women's 4x200 Free
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Canada

Men's 4x200 Free
1. USA
2. Japan
3. Australia

Women's 400 Free
1. Katie Hoff
2. Bronte Barratt
3. Chloe Sutton

Men's 400 Free
1. Tae Hwan Park
2. Zhang Lin
3. Ous Mellouli

Women's 100 Fly
1. Jessicah Schipper
2. Liu Zige
3. Christine Magnuson

Men's 100 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Andrew Lauterstein
3. Tyler McGill

Women's 200 Back
1. Belinda Hocking
2. Elizabeth Beisel
3. Shiho Sakai

Men's 200 Back
1. Ryosuke Irie
2. Ryan Lochte
3. Aaron Peirsol

Women's 50 Breast
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Rebecca Soni
3. Leisel Jones

Men's 50 Breast
1. Kosuke Kitajima
2. Felipe Silva
3. Brenton Rickard

Women's 4x100 Free
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Canada

Men's 4x100 Free
1. USA
2. Australia
3. South Africa

Men's 800 Free
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Ryan Cochrane
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women's 200 IM
1. Ariana Kukors
2. Emily Seebohm
3. Caitlin Leverenz

Men's 200 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Thiago Pereira

Women's 50 Free
1. Kara Lynn Joyce
2. Yolane Kukla
3. Jessica Hardy

Men's 50 Free
1. Cesar Cielo Filho
2. Nathan Adrian
3a. Josh Schneider protest pick
3b. Roland Schoeman

Women's 200 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Leisel Jones
3. Annamay Pierse

Men's 200 Breast
1. Ryo Tateishi
2. Brenton Rickard
3. Eric Shanteau

Women's 1500 Free
1. Melissa Gorman
2. Kristel Kobrich
3. Kate Ziegler

Women's 4x100 Medley
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Men's 4x100 Medley
1. USA
2. Japan
3. Australia

Women's OW 10km
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Eva Fabian
3. Melissa Gorman

Men's OW 10km
1. Fran Crippen
2. Ous Mellouli
3. Allan Carmon

Pan Pacs Predictions: Braden Keith

Braden Keith of The Swimmer's Circle has returned to post some Pan Pacs picks. In his own words: "Braden's picking the Pan-Pacs to be more predictable than USA-Nationals were. He's got the USA sweeping the relays, and Australia winning all of the silvers except for the men's 800 free. He's also looking for a big rebound from Dana Vollmer, who he has winning 3 events (100 fly, 200 fly, 100 free). He also has Phelps getting upset in the 200 fly by Nick D'arcy from Australia."

He also sees Yolane Kukla winning her first ever international race (50 fly), while other notable winners include Kathleen Hersey (women's 200 fly), Peter Vanderkaay (men's 400 free), Guilherme Guido (men's 50 back), and Belinda Hocking (women's 200 back), while he has Brenton Rickard and Rebecca Soni sweeping the men's and women's breaststrokes, respectively, while he predicts the USA to sweep the relays.

Women’s 50 fly
Yolane Kukla
Christine Magnuson
Marieke Guehrer

Men’s 50 fly
Roland Schoeman
Geoff Huegill
Cesar Cielo

Women’s 200 free
Dana Vollmer
Blair Evans
Allison Schmitt

Men’s 200 free
Ryan Lochte
Peter Vanderkaay
Tae Hwan Park

Women’s 100 back
Emily Seebhom
Aya Terakawa
Liz Pelton

Men’s 100 back
Aaron Peirsol
Nick Thoman
Ryosuke Irie

Women’s 200 fly
Kathleen Hersey
Natsumi Hoshi
Jessica Schipper

Men’s 200 fly
Nick D’Arcy
Michael Phelps
Takeshi Matsuda

Women’s 800 free
Katie Goldman
Chloe Sutton
Kate Ziegler

Men’s 1500 free
Chad La Tourette
Ryan Cochrane
Peter Vanderkaay

Women’s 100 free
Dana Vollmer
Natalie Coughlin
Emily Seebhom

Men’s 100 free
Cesar Cielo
Nathan Adrian
Brent Hayden

Women’s 100 breast
Rebecca Soni
Leisel Jones
Jessica Hardy

Men’s 100 breast
Brenton Rickard
Kosuke Kitajima
Eric Shanteau

Women’s 400 IM
Ariana Kukors
Caitlin Leverenz
Miko Takahashi

Men’s 400 IM
Ryan Lochte
Michael Phelps
Thiago Pereira

Women’s 50 back
Emily Seebhom
Sophie Eddington
Rachel Bootsma

Men’s 50 back
Guilherme Guido
Junya Koga
Hayden Stoeckel

Women’s 800 free relay
USA
Australia
Canada

Men’s 800 free relay
USA
Japan
Australia

Women’s 400 free
Katie Hoff
Bronte Barratt
Chloe Sutton

Men’s 400 free
Peter Vanderkaay
Tae Hwan Park
Ous Mellouli

Women’s 100 fly
Dana Vollmer
Christine Magnuson
Liu Zige

Men’s 100 fly
Michael Phelps
Andrew Lauterstein
Takuro Fujii

Women’s 200 back
Belinda Hocking
Shiho Sakai
Elizabeth Beisel

Men’s 200 back
Ryosuke Irie
Aaron Peirsol
Tyler Clary

Women’s 50 breast
Rebecca Soni
Jessica Hardy
Leisel Jones

Men’s 50 breast
Brenton Rickard
Felipe Silva
Mark Gangloff

Women’s 4x100 free relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Men’s 4x100 free relay
USA
Australia
Brazil

Men’s 800 free
Robert Hurley
Peter Vanderkaay
Chad la Tourette

Women’s 200 IM
Ariana Kukors
Emily Seebhom
Caitlin Leverenz

Men’s 200 IM
Ryan Lochte
Michael Phelps
Thiago Pereira

Women’s 50 free
Yolane Kukla
Kara Lynn Joyce
Jessica Hardy

Men’s 50 free
Cesar Cielo
Nathan Adrian
Roland Schoeman

Women’s 200 breast
Rebecca Soni
Leisel Jones
Satomi Suzuki

Men’s 200 breast
Brenton Rickard
Eric Shanteau
Ryo Tateishi

Women’s 1500 free
Melissa Gorman
Emily Brunneman
Kate Ziegler

Women’s 400 medley relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Men’s 400 medley relay
USA
Australia
Japan

Women’s 10k
Melissa Gorman
Poliana Okimoto
Emily Brunemann

Men’s 10k
Fran Crippen
Chip Peterson
Allan Do Carmo

Priyant's Predictions

Priyant Pratap from Behind the Blocks was the first to send in his predictions for Pan Pacs. Some very interesting picks. For the men, he expects Nick D'arcy to beat Michael Phelps in the 200 fly, Chad LaTourette to win the men's 1,500, and Brenton Rickard to sweep the men's breaststroke events. On the women's side, he has Jessicah Schipper taking down Liu Zige in the 200 fly, Jessica Hardy winning the 100 breast and 50 free, and Emily Seebohm sweeping the backstrokes. Despite picking against her, he also wrote: "I seriously think Emily (Seebohm) will win the 200 IM. But anyway..."

Women's 50 Fly
1. Marieke Guehrer
2. Christine Magnuson
3. Emily Seebohm

Men's 50 Fly
1. Geoff Huegill
2. Roland Schoeman
3. Nicholas Santos

Women's 200 Free
1. Allison Schmitt
2. Dana Vollmer
3. Kylie Palmer

Men's 200 Free
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Jean Basson
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women's 100 Back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Shiho Sakai
3. Natalie Coughlin

Men's 100 Back
1. Nick Thoman
2. Junya Koga
3. Hayden Stoeckel

Women's 200 Fly
1. Jessicah Schipper
2. Liu Zige
3. Kathleen Hersey

Men's 200 Fly
1. Nick D'Arcy
2. Michael Phelps
3. Takeshi Matsuda

Women's 800 Free
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Blair Evans
3. Kylie Palmer

Men's 1500 Free
1. Chad LaTourette
2. Ous Mellouli
3. Ryan Cochrane

Women's 100 Free
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Jessica Hardy
3. Emily Seebohm

Men's 100 Free
1. Cesar Cielo Filho
2. Nathan Adrian
3. Tommaso D'orsogna

Women's 100 Breast
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Leisel Jones
3. Rebecca Soni

Men's 100 Breast
1. Brenton Rickard
2. Kosuke Kitajima
3. Henrique Barbosa

Women's 400 IM
1. Stephanie Rice
2. Caitlin Leverenz
3. Samantha Hamill

Men's 400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Thiago Pereira
3. Ous Mellouli

Women's 50 Back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Shiho Sakai
3. Aya Terakawa

Men's 50 Back
1. Junya Koga
2. Daniel Arnamnart
3. Ashley Delaney

Women's 4x200 Free
1. Australia
2. USA
3. Japan

Men's 4x200 Free
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Women's 400 Free
1. Allison Schmitt
2. Katie Hoff
3. Kylie Palmer

Men's 400 Free
1. Zhang Lin
2. Ous Mellouli
3. Peter Vanderkaay

Women's 100 Fly
1. Jessicah Schipper
2. Dana Vollmer
3. Stephanie Rice

Men's 100 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Nick D'Arcy
3. Andrew Lauterstein

Women's 200 Back
1. Emily Seebohm
2. Meagen Nay
3. Elizabeth Beisel

Men's 200 Back
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Aaron Peirsol
3. Hayden Stoeckel

Women's 50 Breast
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Leisel Jones
3. Rebecca Soni

Men's 50 Breast
1. Brenton Rickard
2. Felipe Silva
3. Ryo Tateishi

Women's 4x100 Free
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Men's 4x100 Free
1. USA
2. Brazil
3. Australia

Men's 800 Free
1. Ous Mellouli
2. Chad LaTourette
3. Ryan Cochrane

Women's 200 IM
1. Stephanie Rice
2. Ariana Kukors
3. Emily Seebohm

Men's 200 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Thiago Pereira

Women's 50 Free
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Amanda Weir
3. Yolane Kukla

Men's 50 Free
1. Ash Callus
2. Cesar Cielo Filho
3. Nathan Adrian

Women's 200 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Leisel Jones
3. Annamay Pierse

Men's 200 Breast
1. Brenton Rickard
2. Eric Shanteau
3. Kosuke Kitajima

Women's 1500 Free
1. Melissa Gorman
2. Emily Brunemann
3. Kate Ziegler

Women's 4x100 Free
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Japan

Men's 4x100 Free
1. USA
2. Japan
3. Australia

Women's OW 10km
1. Melissa Gorman
2. Danielle DeFrancesco
3. Chloe Sutton

Men's OW 10km
1. Christopher Ashwood
2. Fran Crippen
3. Chad LaTourette

Predictions Round Two

After I finished a disappointing third in the Nationals Predictions contest, I have decided to host another Predictions contest for Pan Pacs! Same format as Nationals, just pick the top three finishers in each event, including relays and the open water 10k. Make sure you get those predictions to me by Wednesday, August 18 at 12 midnight pacific time. You can email them to me (drieder@comcast.net), or contact me via blog comment, Twitter, or Facebook. I need a first name to go with the predictions, as well as a short blurb to go along with them. Scoring will be the same as Nationals: 9-5-2 points for correctly picking the top three places, with one point if you pick a swimmer to finish in the top three, but wrong place. Don't forget to use the psych sheet to help, and remember that only two individual swimmers (and one relay) per country can swim in finals in each event.

I'll post my predictions on Tuesday night, along with some of the strategies I used to make them. I'll be coming back with more preview and analysis, before and during the meet.

Camille Lacourt and a World Record?

In 2008 and 2009, the revolutionary high tech swimsuits produced over 250 world records. Legendary names such as Krisztina Egerszegi and Alex Popov suddenly found themselves out of the record books. On average, the world record fell more than once in every event at the Worlds in Rome. Since they have been banned at the start of the year, not one has fallen. The big question: how long until another does?

Some, such as Rowdy Gaines, continue to believe that no global standard will fall in 2010. Others believe that the women's 200 breast world record is vunerable, with Rebecca Soni swimming lights-out. Many felt that Michael Phelps could challenge his 200 fly world record set in a LZR last year, but talk of that has died down due to Phelps' recent lack of stellar form. Still others thought the men's and women's mile records could go down, since those were the only two long course marks to survive "the suits." Recently, Ryan Lochte has shown he might be capable to track down his 200 IM world record from last year.

No one would have guessed the men's 100 back. In 2009, Aaron Peirsol set the world record of 51.94 at the U.S. Nationals, after losing the record for just a week to Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer. At Worlds, Peirsol made a tactical error in the semi-final, finishing 9th, but he made up for it with a dominant win in the 200 back and a strong medley relay lead-off split. Junya Koga won the race in 52.26, with Peirsol supplying the fastest time of the meet from the medley relay (52.19).

France has not traditionally been a 100 back powerhouse. In 2008, their best backstroker couldn't break 55, which kept France from having a medal-contending (or even finalist) medley relay. Things began to look up in 2009, when four men broke 54 (most with the Jaked suit) in the 100 back final. Jeremy Stravius won the race, and he ended up making the semi-final in Rome and swimming the backstroke leg on France's medley relay, which finished fifth. Still, the backstroke leg proved a weak point.

Camille Lacourt did not swim the 100 back final in Rome. In fact, he didn't make the French team in the event, finishing third at their Nationals, although he did swim and make the final of the 50 back in Rome. At the 2010 French Nationals, Lacourt did get on the team in the 100 back, posting a personal-best time of 53.29, well ahead of his 53.57 from one year prior and just off of Stravius' suit-aided French record of 53.19 from 2009 Nationals. He continued his string of successful races throughout the year. At the Mare Nostrum stop in Monaco, he crushed Peirsol in the 100 back by more than a second. He busted a 53.73 100 back unrested to win at Paris Open.

Come European Championships, many saw two favorites for the 100 back. Liam Tancock had swum a 52.85 at British Nationals, the fastest time in a textile suit. Since Tancock did not plan to fully taper for the meet, in preparation for the Commonwealth Games in October, the race shaped up to be tight between those two. Everything changed in the semi-final, when Lacourt blasted a 52.58 in the 100 back. He beat second-place Stravius by nearly a second. Tancock finished ninth, out of the final, although he would have some luck when Markus Rogan withdrew to concentrate on the 200 IM. Despite being the fastest time ever in a textile suit and just off Peirsol's Olympic winning time of 52.54. Still, the swim could not be considered too surprising after his strong swims at other meets. The finals swim, though, broke through expectations.

Lacourt won the final in 52.11, just 0.17 off of Peirsol's stunning techsuit-aided world record. Stravius finished second in 53.44, 1.33 behind, while Tancock ended up third in 53.86, more than a second and a half behind. Suddenly, Lacourt has gone from not on the French team in the event, to world beater. For all but a week over the last six years, Aaron Peirsol has held the world record in the 100 back, but Lacourt finds himself less than two tenths away, and more than a second and a half ahead of Peirsol's best this year (53.63).

Now, Lacourt has as good a chance as anyone to get past a global standard. In the 50 back today, he swam a 24.30 in the 50 back semi-final, crushing his personal best time of 24.46 from last year's World Champs final, as well as Tancock's textile best time of 24.52. He has a shot at another world record in the final, Tancock's 24.04 from Rome, while he will once again take a run at Peirsol's 51.94 when he leads off France's favored 400 medley relay on Sunday. The world of swimming, including Peirsol and Tancock, could only be happy to see a swimmer getting by one of the magical, untouchable marks set last year. But for now, this is the best swim of 2010.

European Championships

The European Swimming Championships get underway tomorrow in the pool in Budapest, Hungary. Much of Europe's top talent is expected to compete, including Alain Bernard, Fred Bousquet, Paul Biedermann, Federica Pellegrini, Rebecca Adlington, Markus Rogan, Laszlo Cseh, and Katinka Hosszu. (Notable absentees include Milorad Cavic and Britta Steffen.) Competition and races will be fierce, but equally interesting will be to see how these times stack up against those that will be posted at the upcoming Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games. More on that in a later blog. Meanwhile, I put together some predictions. Admittedly, these probably suck. I don't know as much about the smaller names in swimming in Europe, so these picks are heavily biased towards the big names and American-based swimmers. (Honestly, Barry Murphy and Damir Dugonjic probably won't medal in the 50 breast.) Full start lists and results are available at Omega Timing, and you can follow the races live with Omega Live Timing. Full recaps will be available after each day at SwimmingWorld.com.

Women:

50 Free
1. Therese Alshammar, Sweden
2. Hinkelien Schreuder, Netherlands
3. Francesca Halsall, Great Britain

100 Free
1. Femke Heemskerk, Netherlands
2. Francesca Halsall, Great Britain
3. Sarah Sjoestrum, Sweden

200 Free
1. Federica Pellegrini, Italy
2. Femke Heemskerk, Netherlands
3. Camille Muffat, France

400 Free
1. Federica Pellegrini, Italy
2. Rebecca Adlington, Great Britain
3. Joanne Jackson, Great Britain

800 Free
1. Rebecca Adlington, Great Britain
2. Lotte Friis, Denmark
3. Camelia Potec, Romania

1,500 Free
1. Lotte Friis, Denmark
2. Camelia Potec, Romania
3. Erika Villecija Garcia, Spain

50 Back
1. Anastasia Zueva, Russia
2. Daniela Samulski, Germany
3. Mercedes Peris Minguet, Spain

100 Back
1. Gemma Spofforth, Great Britain
2. Elizabeth Simmonds, Great Britain
3. Daniela Samulski, Germany

200 Back
1. Elizabeth Simmonds, Great Britain
2. Gemma Spofforth, Great Britain
3. Henriette Stenkvist, Sweden

50 Breast
1. Yuliya Efimova, Russia
2. Rebecca Ajulu-Bushell, Great Britain
3. Valentina Artemyeva, Russia

100 Breast
1. Yuliya Efimova, Russia
2. Rikke Moeller Pederson, Denmark
3. Sarah Poewe, Germany

200 Breast
1. Nadja Higl, Serbia
2. Rikke Moeller Pederson, Denmark
3. Sara Nordenstam, Norway

50 Fly
1. Therese Alshammar, Sweden
2. Hinkelien Schreuder, Netherlands
3. Ingvild Snildal, Norway

100 Fly
1. Sarah Sjoestroem, Sweden
2. Francesca Halsall, Great Britain
3. Aurore Mongel, France

200 Fly
1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
2. Aurore Mongel, France
3. Ellen Gandy, Great Britain

200 IM
1. Camille Muffat, France
2. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
3. Hannah Miley, Great Britain

400 IM
1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
2. Hannah Miley, Great Britain
3. Mireia Belmonte Garcia, Spain

4x100 Free Relay
1. Germany
2. France
3. Great Britain

4x200 Free Relay
1. Great Britain
2. France
3. Hungary

4x100 Medley Relay
1. Great Britain
2. Germany
3. France

Men:

50 Free
1. Fred Bousquet, France
2. Fabien Gilot, France
3. Orsi/Draganja/Deibler

100 Free
1. Alain Bernard, France
2. Filippo Magnini, Italy
3. Paul Biedermann, Germany

200 Free
1. Paul Biedermann, Germany
2. Danila Izotov, Russia
3. Sebastiaan Verschuren, Netherlands

400 Free
1. Paul Biedermann, Germany
2. Yannick Agnel, France
3. Mads Glaesner, Denmark

800 Free
1. Federico Colbertaldo, Italy
2. Mads Glaesner, Denmark
3. Sebastian Rouault, France

1,500 Free
1. Mateusz Sawrymowicz, Poland
2. Federico Colbertaldo, Italy
3. Mads Glaesner, Denmark

50 Back
1. Liam Tancock, Great Britain
2. Camille Lacourt, France
3. Guy Barnea, Israel

100 Back
1. Camille Lacourt, France
2. Liam Tancock, Great Britain
3. Aschwin Wildeboer Faber, Spain

200 Back
1. Markus Rogan, Austria
2. Radoslaw Kawecki, Poland
3. Sebastiano Ranfagni, Italy

50 Breast
1. Hendrik Feldwehr, Germany
2. Barry Murphy, Ireland
3. Damir Dugonjic, Slovenia

100 Breast
1. Alexander Dale Oen, Norway
2. Igor Borysik, Ukraine
3. Hugues Duboscq, France

200 Breast
1. Daniel Gyurta, Hungary
2. Edoardo Giorgetti, Italy
3. Michael Jamieson, Great Britain

50 Fly
1. Steffen Deibler, Germany
2. Rafael Munoz Perez, Spain
3. Fred Bousquet, France

100 Fly
1. Evgeny Korotyskhin, Russia
2. Steffen Deiber, Germany
3. Konrad Czerniak, Poland

200 Fly
1. Pawel Korzeniowski, Poland
2. Nikolay Skvortsov, Russia
3. Dinko Jukic, Austria

200 IM
1. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary
2. Markus Rogan, Austria
3. Markus Deibler, Germany

400 IM
1. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary
2. Gal Nevo, Israel
3. Gergo Kis, Hungary

4x100 Free Relay
1. France
2. Russia
3. Italy

4x200 Free Relay
1. Italy
2. Russia
3. France

4x100 Medley Relay
1. Russia
2. France
3. Germany

U.S. Nationals: On to Pan Pacs

Nationals wrapped up last night in Irvine with a strong team selected for the Pan Pacs in just a week and a half. Usually, after a selection meet, the roster for each event is set, and the picture becomes much clearer for an international meet. Not this time. With up to four swimmers making the team in an event and the fact that swimmers on the team can swim any event they want at Pan Pacs, the meet's picture is even more confusing than it was before Nationals. The Pan Pacs will give swimmers a second chance to make next year's World Championship team, if they didn't have the best meet at Nationals.

Up until Nationals, Liz Pelton had been having an awesome year. 59 and 2:08 were awesome times in the 100 and 200 back in the lead-up to Nationals. Come the big meet though, she didn't swim her best, and she could only manage fourth-place finishes in both events. It looked like all of her major meet plans for the next two years had to be cancelled. In a stroke of luck, there was a spot open for her on the Pan Pacs team, and she will be back in a few weeks to try her luck a second time.


Nick Thoman was another who fell short of his own expectations at Nationals. After a strong season, where he posted a 53.70 in the 100 back in Charlotte, Thoman could only manage a third-place finish in that event in 53.78, which made his spot on the Pan Pacs team questionable. Shortly after swimming the 200 back final last night, Thoman officially became a member of the Pan Pacs team, walking out on deck with the team. But he wasn't finished. Minutes later, he led off SwimMAC's 400 medley relay in 53.78, the same time as he had swam earlier in the week, and this came just after a painful 200 back and team march. He will be ready to go at Pan Pacs to try to make the World Championships team and chase the top time in the world (52.85).

Many of the more established swimmers on Team USA took the risk (or mistake) of not fully resting for the meet, hoping that they could focus on success at Pan Pacs. Swimmers from North Baltimore (Michael Phelps, Scott Spann, Allison Schmitt, and Pelton), Texas (Aaron Peirsol, Eric Shanteau, and Ricky Berens), FAST (Katie Hoff, Ariana Kukors) and other training centers all appear to have much more in the tank with another week of rest and recovery to get down to the necessary times required to hold off some of the best swimmers in the world, such as those from Japan and Australia.

My big highlight from finals last night was the men’s mile. Chad LaTourette looked like a man on mission. After his typically slow start, LaTourette hit to GO button and kept going. After a third-place finish at the Olympic Trials, LaTourette has flown under the radar, swimming at the World University Games last summer instead of World Championships. Last night, he came out and told the world that he is the next Larsen Jensen or Erik Vendt, the tough American distance swimmer to fear in the years to come.

I watched LaTourette race the mile in the prelims at the L.A. Grand Prix, right next to Olympic champ Ous Mellouli. Mellouli took the race out fast, but LaTourette stayed close and passed the Tunisian around the 1,000 mark, and it became a real race coming home. In the end, Mellouli outtouched LaTourette by just one one-hundredth of a second, with respective times of 15:11.21 and 15:11.22. Look for a re-match at Pan Pacs in just a week and a half, with guys such as Canada’s Ryan Cochrane (also at the L.A. Grand Prix, but in a different heat) and China’s Zhang Lin and Sun Yang also in the field. Should be a great race, but for now, LaTourette is the top miler in the world.

Finally, I want to explain a statement I made on my Facebook page earlier this week. “Memo to Michael Phelps: you are no longer the best swimmer in the world. The new king is Ryan Lochte!” This week, Lochte easily deposed of Phelps in the 200 IM and cruised to victory in both the 200 back and 400 IM in solid times. He almost beat Phelps in the 200 free (where his lifetime best is nearly two seconds slower) and second to sprint star Nathan Adrian in the 100 free. His butterfly is better than it ever has been, as is his freestyle. His backstroke is just a tick off, but it’s coming back. His breaststroke is phenomenal as always, especially considering he has suffered through knee and groin injuries all year long.

I wrote the statement after he took down Phelps in the 200 IM. As the world record-holder in that Phelps, simply beating Phelps is not shocking. That win came just a half hour after his 48.83 100 free. He proceeded to use his final turn to seal the deal and double his lead. That is using Phelps’ own tools against him. With Phelps currently unable to complete any race over 100 without significantly fading, Lochte has overtaken him as the best in the world. Not sure how long that will last, through Pan Pacs, World Championships next year, the London Olympics, or through the end of Phelps’ career. In fact, Lochte’s new dominance will motivate Phelps more than anything over the next two years. But this meet was all Ryan Lochte.