As anyone who regularly reads this blog knows, I don’t write about my own personal swimming experiences a lot. I am passionate about all levels of swimming, but here I like to focus on the top tier of competition and the build-up to next summer’s Olympics. Today, with not much news coming out of the swimming world right now, I am changing gears to discuss a meet I competed in last weekend, the Palmetto Thanksgiving Turkey Invite at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. I came home with a mixed bag of results and some fond memories, including meeting Gamecock star Michael Flach, who is redshirting to train for Olympic Trials. However, five moments stood out as truly amazing.
First, I want to give some context on my swimming career. I swim for the newly-formed LTP Racing Club in Charleston, SC, and I specialize in mid-distance free and backstroke. I have been dropping time consistently for years, but I feel like I had a breakout at my high school State meet two months ago, where I swam 4:57.11 to cut almost 15 seconds off my 500 best time. Last year, I won that race in a 5:11, defeating an extremely talented teammate who was sick at the time. This year, I took a surprising lead at the 100 and held it through the 450, but I ended up second as both my teammate and I broke the previous state record. Another big moment came this summer at my Long Course State Championships, when I made consolation finals in both backstroke races, the first time I had ever earned a second swim at State meet.
Palmetto used an interesting format for a three-day meet, with finals on Saturday only. With my 4:57, I had been seeded into the top heat of the 500 (which would swim with finals), and I also qualified for the A-final in the 100 back. I am a pretty big swim geek (obviously), and I have watched a lot of meets where top athletes get to walk out with music for their championship finals. Never have I gotten such an experience. That is, never until this weekend. When Palmetto’s coach told me that I would get to walk out, I literally went nuts. To use a cliché expression, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. Definitely not behavior that one would normally associate with a 17 year old senior in high school, but for someone who has thus far had a relatively modest career in the pool, it meant a lot to walk out for those finals.
Like with most committed swimmers, I try to be at as many practices as possible, but that doesn’t always pan out. I missed at least a day or two of club practice per week during high school season, and I occasionally have school commitments that don’t allow me to swim. One teammate, however, has literally had perfect attendance the last four months since August 1, when we started back to practice following a week break after our Long Course State Championships. This particular teammate is not the most talented, but he works hard every day, and he is chopping huge chunks in practice and meets. He just aged up to the 13-14 age group, and he did not yet have any State qualifying times when we left for Columbia.
He swam the 1000 free on Friday night, and I was at the end of his lane counting for him and watching splits come up on the scoreboard. I checked the State cut just before the race, and I saw 11:36.49. As the race progressed, he was holding consistent and fast splits, 34-mid to 35-flat per 50, but as he turned for his last 50, I thought he would be just a bit shy of the cut. However, he came home in 32.16 for a final time of 11:36.17. At that point, I screamed so loud that my voice was hoarse for the next couple days. Simply put, that was hard work paying off, and I know how much he deserved that.
Another of my teammates has had a rough road the past few months. She struggled during high school season to do get to a lot of club practices, and she did not drop time in any of her events at a meet two weeks ago in Greenville, SC. Meanwhile, she was struggling outside of the pool and contemplated a break from swimming. At this meet, she had swum some alright races along with others she didn’t want to remember. On Sunday, she swam the 200 free first. From our team’s seating area, I was getting ready for my 200 and watching the scoreboard. I saw her splits, and it was obvious that she was going to go a best time. But she didn’t cut off a couple tenths or even a second. 4.48 seconds. I ran over to the end of the pool, and she had a huge smile from ear-to-ear and gave me a big hug. She no longer has doubts about swimming.
I have two more favorite moments from this weekend, and both involve a friend from Columbia that I met last year through high school swimming. When I won the 500 then, he finished third in 5:13.82. He then played basketball during short course season, spending less time in the water and swimming at only one meet. During long course, he kept coming up short of State qualifying times, but he assumed that he would be able to use a qualifying time for the 1500 before realizing just two weeks before that the cut had expired. He did not swim at Long Course State, and he had a rough high school season as well, finishing third again in the 500 but going as slow as 5:15.
He also swam at the meet this weekend, and, as he was not in my heat for the 500, I watched. As always, he took the race out hard, and I kept a close eye on his splits. His best time was still that 5:13.82 from high school State more than a year earlier. As he was about to finish, I ran behind his lane, watching the scoreboard closely. His time: 5:13.75. A year of struggling and forced patience finally behind, he finally cleared the barrier of going a best time in the 500 free, and I couldn’t have been happier for him. He still does not have his State cut, but he is tapering for a meet in Greensboro next month, and I’m confident he will get it there.
The final event of the meet was the 400 IM, and this same friend and I were both up to swim. Before that, I had only swum one 400 IM, when I went 4:51 last month. The State cut was a 4:47.99, and, despite throwing away my chance at a cut in the 200 free minutes before, I was very confident I could get down to that mark. My friend, meanwhile, was going for his first State cut in more than two years. I swam first, and he joined my teammates in rooting hard for me. I touched the wall in 4:45.15 and pumped my fists. I then dealt with a mob of excited teammates and my friend attacking me.
Two heats later, my friend was on the blocks. Having not swum this race short course in years, he easily disposed of his competitors, and I had my eyes glued to the scoreboard. He and I are at about the same level in butterfly and freestyle, and I am faster in backstroke, but I am truly awful at breaststroke, and he is far better. He took the race out fast and outsplit me on every 50 for the first 300. Usually, I don’t like losing to him, but I was so excited. He touched in 4:40.09, and I was congratulating him before he could look at the scoreboard. He will be at State meet, and that moment was just awesome.
Obviously, for some people, these moments from a small swim meet would seem insignificant, and even in the grand scheme of this season, they probably are. However, swimming for me is about more than personal improvement or goals; rather, I live for those memories of watching my friends go best times and get their first State cuts and overcome their frustrations. Each season in swimming is a journey, and those moments are little reminders interspliced throughout months of training that make everything worth it. I love swimming, and I love when other people love swimming too.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
The Ian Thorpe Comeback Begins
Next weekend, Ian Thorpe will make his long-awaited comeback at the Singapore stop of the World Cup. The swimming community has awaited this moment since whispers of a Thorpe comeback started popping up in the spring of 2010. Thorpe quickly denied such rumors, but the publicity never went away, and Thorpe stepped up to announce his intentions on February 2, 2011. However, due to FINA rules, Thorpe had to wait nine months before he could race once more, and that waiting period expires this week, just before Thorpe steps up once again. Supposedly focusing on the 100 and 200 free in his comeback, abandoning his former “baby” the 400 free, Thorpe surprised many when he announced his entries for the Singapore meet – the 100 IM and 100 fly!
In his previous incarnation as a mid-distance legend, Thorpe simply dominated freestyle races. This blog won’t list all of medals he’s won; check out his accomplishments on his Wikipedia page. In short, Thorpe burst out onto the international scene at age 15 with his win in the 400 free at the 1998 World Championships, eating away Grant Hackett’s huge lead to record a narrow triumph at the finish. From that point, Thorpe dominated world swimming and remained the undisputed best swimmer in the world for five years. No one dreamed of matching his accomplishments.
When Thorpe swam at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, however, he found himself overshadowed. An 18 year old from Baltimore had stolen the limelight, setting world records in each of the individual events he swam. For that meet, Thorpe elected to add the 200 IM to his regular program of events. Weeks before Barcelona, Phelps had lowered an eight year old world record of 1:58.16 to 1:57.94 at the Santa Clara Grand Prix. In the second of two semi-final heats, Phelps swam from lane four and lowered the record again, this time to 1:57.52, while Thorpe swam out in lane eight and snuck into the final as the fifth qualifier. The next day, Phelps stepped up, having just set a new world record in the 100 fly semi-finals, to race Thorpe for the first time head-to-head in a major final.
Saying that Phelps owned this race is an understatement. Thorpe won silver, 3.5 seconds behind, setting an Australian record that would last until the 2009 World Championships, where Leith Brodie destroyed that mark in a polyurethane suit. Thorpe would never swim this race again in a major competition, focusing on the freestyle events at the 2004 Olympics and retiring a couple years later, having never again swum in a major competition. Now, he returns to the World Cup to swim events he has never even swum on the major stage!
When I read about Thorpe’s Singapore surprise, I assumed that he was merely using the two off-events to tune up and get back into racing without much pressure. He would then build off those performances when he swam the same two events at the Beijing stop before adding the 100 free for the final stop in Tokyo, taking baby steps towards his goal of qualifying in the freestyle events, at least in relays, for the London Olympics. However, an article written by Geoff Huegill, he explored for the first time the possibility that Thorpe might be preparing to take the 100 fly seriously. In this article posted by the Herald Sun, Huegill noted that Gennadi Touretski, the man responsible for Alexander Popov and now training Thorpe, has a tendency to train swimmers for fly and shows a bit of anxiety at the prospect of taking on Thorpe in that event at Australia’s Olympic Trials.
Huegill’s words reminded me of Thorpe’s one excursion into the butterfly and IM, his race with Phelps in Barcelona. In that race, he stayed surprisingly close to Phelps on the fly, especially considering that Phelps set world records in both butterfly events at that meet. His backstroke was solid (Thorpe did win silver in the Commonwealth Games in the 100 back in 2002), and breaststroke lost him a lot of ground to the other silver medal contenders, such as Massi Rosolino. A 1:59 is no longer a competitive time on the world stage, but a 100 IM in short course will do a better job hiding his weakness on breaststroke. In the 100 fly, he could challenge Huegill’s times from the World Cup stops last week in Europe, which would legitimately open the door for him in the 100 fly down the line.
My expectations for Thorpe in the 100 fly and 100 IM have risen, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles the world stage. His 100 fly could get to the point where he steps up with a legitimate shot at London, and the Australian Olympic Trials would feature three legends in Thorpe, Huegill, and Michael Klim (though by no means do I think Thorpe or Klim will have an easy time getting past Australia’s new generation of flyers). However, if Thorpe falls flat in his 100 fly and 100 IM, fans have nothing to worry; Thorpe came back to race freestyle, and I believe that in freestyle, he will qualify to swim in the London Olympics.
In his previous incarnation as a mid-distance legend, Thorpe simply dominated freestyle races. This blog won’t list all of medals he’s won; check out his accomplishments on his Wikipedia page. In short, Thorpe burst out onto the international scene at age 15 with his win in the 400 free at the 1998 World Championships, eating away Grant Hackett’s huge lead to record a narrow triumph at the finish. From that point, Thorpe dominated world swimming and remained the undisputed best swimmer in the world for five years. No one dreamed of matching his accomplishments.
When Thorpe swam at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, however, he found himself overshadowed. An 18 year old from Baltimore had stolen the limelight, setting world records in each of the individual events he swam. For that meet, Thorpe elected to add the 200 IM to his regular program of events. Weeks before Barcelona, Phelps had lowered an eight year old world record of 1:58.16 to 1:57.94 at the Santa Clara Grand Prix. In the second of two semi-final heats, Phelps swam from lane four and lowered the record again, this time to 1:57.52, while Thorpe swam out in lane eight and snuck into the final as the fifth qualifier. The next day, Phelps stepped up, having just set a new world record in the 100 fly semi-finals, to race Thorpe for the first time head-to-head in a major final.
Saying that Phelps owned this race is an understatement. Thorpe won silver, 3.5 seconds behind, setting an Australian record that would last until the 2009 World Championships, where Leith Brodie destroyed that mark in a polyurethane suit. Thorpe would never swim this race again in a major competition, focusing on the freestyle events at the 2004 Olympics and retiring a couple years later, having never again swum in a major competition. Now, he returns to the World Cup to swim events he has never even swum on the major stage!
When I read about Thorpe’s Singapore surprise, I assumed that he was merely using the two off-events to tune up and get back into racing without much pressure. He would then build off those performances when he swam the same two events at the Beijing stop before adding the 100 free for the final stop in Tokyo, taking baby steps towards his goal of qualifying in the freestyle events, at least in relays, for the London Olympics. However, an article written by Geoff Huegill, he explored for the first time the possibility that Thorpe might be preparing to take the 100 fly seriously. In this article posted by the Herald Sun, Huegill noted that Gennadi Touretski, the man responsible for Alexander Popov and now training Thorpe, has a tendency to train swimmers for fly and shows a bit of anxiety at the prospect of taking on Thorpe in that event at Australia’s Olympic Trials.
Huegill’s words reminded me of Thorpe’s one excursion into the butterfly and IM, his race with Phelps in Barcelona. In that race, he stayed surprisingly close to Phelps on the fly, especially considering that Phelps set world records in both butterfly events at that meet. His backstroke was solid (Thorpe did win silver in the Commonwealth Games in the 100 back in 2002), and breaststroke lost him a lot of ground to the other silver medal contenders, such as Massi Rosolino. A 1:59 is no longer a competitive time on the world stage, but a 100 IM in short course will do a better job hiding his weakness on breaststroke. In the 100 fly, he could challenge Huegill’s times from the World Cup stops last week in Europe, which would legitimately open the door for him in the 100 fly down the line.
My expectations for Thorpe in the 100 fly and 100 IM have risen, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles the world stage. His 100 fly could get to the point where he steps up with a legitimate shot at London, and the Australian Olympic Trials would feature three legends in Thorpe, Huegill, and Michael Klim (though by no means do I think Thorpe or Klim will have an easy time getting past Australia’s new generation of flyers). However, if Thorpe falls flat in his 100 fly and 100 IM, fans have nothing to worry; Thorpe came back to race freestyle, and I believe that in freestyle, he will qualify to swim in the London Olympics.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Fran Crippen: One Year Later
On January 3, I posted a blog discussing the long-lasting mark Fran Crippen left on our sport. The world remembers Crippen as an amazing swimmer and caring man, as his sister Claire discussed on Friday’s edition of the Morning Swim Show. He was a fierce competitor and a favorite to make the U.S. Olympic team in Open Water for 2012. When the top Open Water swimmers arrived in Fort Lauderdale for the National Championships this June, Crippen’s absence created a major hole in the competition. The top two finishers at that meet would earn berths for the World Championships in Shanghai and a chance to make the London Olympics, as the top ten from that meet automatically qualified.
In Fort Lauderdale, Eva Fabian and Christine Jennings earned the women’s spots bound for Shanghai. Both swam in that same race in Dubai in which Crippen lost his life, and neither finished the race, as both ended up in the hospital suffering from dehydration. On the men’s side, Alex Meyer and Sean Ryan qualified for the World Championships. Meyer, especially, had a connection to Crippen. Months after Crippen turned around to help Meyer to shore when the latter became ill during the 10k at Pan Pacs, Meyer led the search for Crippen’s body when his friend failed to finish in Dubai.
In Shanghai, Fabian and Jennings both failed to make the cut for the Olympic team, but the next day, Meyer finished in fourth place in the men’s race, earning himself a ticket to London. Afterwards, Meyer stated that while he would have liked Ryan to qualify to make it two Americans headed to London, he believed the second spot needed to remain open for Crippen, demonstrating the impact Crippen made on American Open Water swimming. That impact spread to the pool; at both the 2010 Short Course and 2011 Long Course World Championships, the American team wore the letters “FC” on their warm-up jackets.
When I last wrote about Fran Crippen, I discussed the impact Fran had on the formation of my new swim team, the LTP Racing Club. My coach swam with Fran at the University of Virginia and stayed in contact in the years following. He used a quote from Fran on the back of our first team t-shirts. Fran’s connection with the team goes deeper; he died the very same day as the team swam its very first meet. Since then, he has been our inspiration, our inspiration to keep dreaming and keep pushing towards new heights in and out of the pool, and our inspiration to honor him on the one-year anniversary of his death.
In Claire Crippen’s interview on Friday, she spoke of the week after Fran died. At that point, she swam for Virginia, while Teresa continues to swim at Florida. Back at home almost immediately, both realized just two days later that Fran would have wanted them back in the pool, and Tuesday morning, a mere 72 hours following Fran’s death, the two went to practice at Germantown Academy with their old coach Richard Shoulberg. After Fran’s death, the two had expressed doubts about continuing their swimming careers, but Fran’s passion and excitement for swimming encouraged them to get back in the water and keep striving towards their goals, Claire towards her final ACC Championships and NCAA Champions and Teresa towards the World Championships, where she made the semi-finals of the 200 fly.
Thus, the memory of Fran Crippen exemplifies the true nature of swimming: passion. This includes the passion to get up at 4:45 in the morning every day all summer to swim; the passion to push passed preconceived limits with sights set on becoming the best swimmer one can be; and the passion to support your friends and teammates after tough races or rough patches in life with the promise of improvement down the road. Whenever passion for swimming may dwindle, look no further for inspiration than Fran Crippen. Fran left behind hopes of a safer sport, one where no athlete will ever again lose his life in competition, and he provides the fuel for Alex Meyer, Teresa Crippen, the LTP Racing Club, and swimmers around the world to live their dreams.
In Fort Lauderdale, Eva Fabian and Christine Jennings earned the women’s spots bound for Shanghai. Both swam in that same race in Dubai in which Crippen lost his life, and neither finished the race, as both ended up in the hospital suffering from dehydration. On the men’s side, Alex Meyer and Sean Ryan qualified for the World Championships. Meyer, especially, had a connection to Crippen. Months after Crippen turned around to help Meyer to shore when the latter became ill during the 10k at Pan Pacs, Meyer led the search for Crippen’s body when his friend failed to finish in Dubai.
In Shanghai, Fabian and Jennings both failed to make the cut for the Olympic team, but the next day, Meyer finished in fourth place in the men’s race, earning himself a ticket to London. Afterwards, Meyer stated that while he would have liked Ryan to qualify to make it two Americans headed to London, he believed the second spot needed to remain open for Crippen, demonstrating the impact Crippen made on American Open Water swimming. That impact spread to the pool; at both the 2010 Short Course and 2011 Long Course World Championships, the American team wore the letters “FC” on their warm-up jackets.
When I last wrote about Fran Crippen, I discussed the impact Fran had on the formation of my new swim team, the LTP Racing Club. My coach swam with Fran at the University of Virginia and stayed in contact in the years following. He used a quote from Fran on the back of our first team t-shirts. Fran’s connection with the team goes deeper; he died the very same day as the team swam its very first meet. Since then, he has been our inspiration, our inspiration to keep dreaming and keep pushing towards new heights in and out of the pool, and our inspiration to honor him on the one-year anniversary of his death.
In Claire Crippen’s interview on Friday, she spoke of the week after Fran died. At that point, she swam for Virginia, while Teresa continues to swim at Florida. Back at home almost immediately, both realized just two days later that Fran would have wanted them back in the pool, and Tuesday morning, a mere 72 hours following Fran’s death, the two went to practice at Germantown Academy with their old coach Richard Shoulberg. After Fran’s death, the two had expressed doubts about continuing their swimming careers, but Fran’s passion and excitement for swimming encouraged them to get back in the water and keep striving towards their goals, Claire towards her final ACC Championships and NCAA Champions and Teresa towards the World Championships, where she made the semi-finals of the 200 fly.
Thus, the memory of Fran Crippen exemplifies the true nature of swimming: passion. This includes the passion to get up at 4:45 in the morning every day all summer to swim; the passion to push passed preconceived limits with sights set on becoming the best swimmer one can be; and the passion to support your friends and teammates after tough races or rough patches in life with the promise of improvement down the road. Whenever passion for swimming may dwindle, look no further for inspiration than Fran Crippen. Fran left behind hopes of a safer sport, one where no athlete will ever again lose his life in competition, and he provides the fuel for Alex Meyer, Teresa Crippen, the LTP Racing Club, and swimmers around the world to live their dreams.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Olympic Trials Predictions
More than nine months still remain before the 2012 Olympic Trials, but I have already begun thinking about who will leave that meet and head to London on the Olympic Team. As I like to do, I am sharing my early predictions for that meet. Of course, I cannot predict what young swimmers will breakout in the early part of the new year, so I predict a team full of veterans to cross the Atlantic next summer. Here we go.
Women:
50 Free
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Dara Torres
100 Free
1. Missy Franklin
2. Natalie Coughlin
3. Dana Vollmer
4. Jessica Hardy
5. Amanda Weir
6. Kara Lynn Joyce
200 Free
1. Missy Franklin
2. Allison Schmitt
3. Katie Hoff
4. Dana Vollmer
5. Dagny Knutson
6. Morgan Scroggy
400 Free
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Allison Schmitt
800 Free
1. Kate Ziegler
2. Chloe Sutton
100 Back
1. Missy Franklin
2. Natalie Coughlin
200 Back
1. Missy Franklin
2. Elizabeth Beisel
100 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Jessica Hardy
200 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Amanda Beard
100 Fly
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Christine Magnuson
200 Fly
1. Kathleen Hersey
2. Teresa Crippen
200 IM
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Ariana Kukors
400 IM
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Caitlin Leverenz
Men:
50 Free
1. Nathan Adrian
2. Jimmy Feigen
100 Free
1. Nathan Adrian
2. Garrett Weber-Gale
3. Matt Grevers
4. Jason Lezak
5. Jimmy Feigen
6. Dave Walters
200 Free
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Peter Vanderkaay
4. Ricky Berens
5. Matt McLean
6. Conor Dwyer
400 Free
1. Peter Vanderkaay
2. Matt McLean
1500 Free
1. Chad La Tourette
2. Peter Vanderkaay
100 Back
1. Matt Grevers
2. Nick Thoman
200 Back
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Tyler Clary
100 Breast
1. Brendan Hansen
2. Eric Shanteau
200 Breast
1. Eric Shanteau
2. Brendan Hansen
100 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Tyler McGill
200 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Tyler Clary
200 IM
1. Michael Phelps
2. Ryan Lochte
400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Tyler Clary
Women:
50 Free
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Dara Torres
100 Free
1. Missy Franklin
2. Natalie Coughlin
3. Dana Vollmer
4. Jessica Hardy
5. Amanda Weir
6. Kara Lynn Joyce
200 Free
1. Missy Franklin
2. Allison Schmitt
3. Katie Hoff
4. Dana Vollmer
5. Dagny Knutson
6. Morgan Scroggy
400 Free
1. Chloe Sutton
2. Allison Schmitt
800 Free
1. Kate Ziegler
2. Chloe Sutton
100 Back
1. Missy Franklin
2. Natalie Coughlin
200 Back
1. Missy Franklin
2. Elizabeth Beisel
100 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Jessica Hardy
200 Breast
1. Rebecca Soni
2. Amanda Beard
100 Fly
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Christine Magnuson
200 Fly
1. Kathleen Hersey
2. Teresa Crippen
200 IM
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Ariana Kukors
400 IM
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Caitlin Leverenz
Men:
50 Free
1. Nathan Adrian
2. Jimmy Feigen
100 Free
1. Nathan Adrian
2. Garrett Weber-Gale
3. Matt Grevers
4. Jason Lezak
5. Jimmy Feigen
6. Dave Walters
200 Free
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Michael Phelps
3. Peter Vanderkaay
4. Ricky Berens
5. Matt McLean
6. Conor Dwyer
400 Free
1. Peter Vanderkaay
2. Matt McLean
1500 Free
1. Chad La Tourette
2. Peter Vanderkaay
100 Back
1. Matt Grevers
2. Nick Thoman
200 Back
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Tyler Clary
100 Breast
1. Brendan Hansen
2. Eric Shanteau
200 Breast
1. Eric Shanteau
2. Brendan Hansen
100 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Tyler McGill
200 Fly
1. Michael Phelps
2. Tyler Clary
200 IM
1. Michael Phelps
2. Ryan Lochte
400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte
2. Tyler Clary
Thursday, August 4, 2011
U.S. Nationals: Day Three Predictions
With the third night of competition about to get underway, I wanted to leave my predictions headed into the five finals to be contested tonight.
Women's 100 Breast
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Annie Chandler
3. Ashley Wanland
Men's 100 Fly
1. Tyler McGill
2. Tim Phillips
3. Davis Tarwater
Women's 50 Free
1. Lara Jackson
2. Kara Lynn Joyce
3. Amanda Weir
Men's 50 Free
1. Nathan Adrian
2. Jimmy Feigen
3. Nick Brunelli
Women's 400 IM
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Maya DiRado
3. Teresa Crippen
Women's 100 Breast
1. Jessica Hardy
2. Annie Chandler
3. Ashley Wanland
Men's 100 Fly
1. Tyler McGill
2. Tim Phillips
3. Davis Tarwater
Women's 50 Free
1. Lara Jackson
2. Kara Lynn Joyce
3. Amanda Weir
Men's 50 Free
1. Nathan Adrian
2. Jimmy Feigen
3. Nick Brunelli
Women's 400 IM
1. Elizabeth Beisel
2. Maya DiRado
3. Teresa Crippen
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
U.S. Nationals: Day Two
With the second evening of finals in Palo Alto about to get underway, here are some predictions for the action to come. Look for great racing to be the theme of the night, and I don’t think there is a lock winner in any of the events up for grabs. Without further ado…
The women’s 100 back kicks off the action for the night. Missy Franklin is the world champ in the 200 back and has a best time this year of 59.56. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Pelton made the semi-finals of this event at worlds, while Rachel Bootsma clocked 50.53 in the 100-yard back at NCSA Junior Nationals. And finally, Jenny Connolly upstaged all of them to take the top seed! Should be tight, but Franklin will come out on top.
Prediction:
1. Franklin
2. Pelton
3. Bootsma
Peter Vanderkaay goes into the final of the men’s 200 free as an overwhelming favorite after finishing fourth in the 400 free at Worlds last week and clocking 1:46.07 on the U.S. men’s victorious 800 free relay in Shanghai. Ricky Berens, another member of that relay, is in the field, as is NCAA runner-up Dax Hill and 400 free champ Matt McLean. The final will have some University of Virginia flavor to it, as three swimmers who swam for the Cavaliers this year will take to the blocks: McLean, Scot Robison, and Peter Geissenger.
Prediction:
1. Vanderkaay
2. McLean
3. Berens
Olympic silver medalist Matt Grevers qualified first for the men’s 100 back final in 53.96, but 200 back World and Olympic champ Ryan Lochte is right behind him at 54.00. Grevers touched out Lochte for a spot on the Olympic team in this event three years ago, so Lochte will be out for revenge tonight. Look for both to finish in the low-53 range, perhaps even sub-53. Meanwhile, Nick Thoman and David Plummer finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at Worlds last week. The field is a deep one, as always, with the likes of Eugene Godsoe, Ben Hesen, David Russell, and Kyle Owens as threats.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Grevers
3. Thoman
Allison Schmitt is the class of the field in the women’s 200 free, having finished sixth in the event at Worlds last week. She holds the American record in the event at 1:54.96. Dagny Knutson joined Schmitt on the winning 800 free relay at Worlds last week, while Schmitt’s University of Georgia teammates Megan Romano, Chelsea Nauta, and Shannon Vreeland will challenge from the top three lanes. The surprise of the morning, however, was Lauren Perdue; Perdue cut more than a second from her seed time to qualify second in 1:59.29. Perdue will be the one who goes out fast and tries to hang on, just like she did at NCAAs, where she ended up finishing second to Schmitt.
Prediction:
1. Schmitt
2. Perdue
3. Knutson
The men’s 200 fly is a wide open affair tonight in the absence of World champion Michael Phelps. Tyler Clary finished ninth at World Championships, while Dan Madwed and Davis Tarwater both snuck under 1:58 for the top two seeds. Clary and Tarwater have by far the top two best times in this event of the field, 1:53.64 and 1:54.46, both from the suit era. Meanwhile, Mark Dylla and Bobby Bollier finished second and fourth, respectively, in this race last year. However, I think Clary will take this title and prove that he is one of America’s top two 200 butterflyers, even after his Shanghai disappointment.
Prediction:
1. Clary
2. Tarwater
3. Madwed
The women’s 100 back kicks off the action for the night. Missy Franklin is the world champ in the 200 back and has a best time this year of 59.56. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Pelton made the semi-finals of this event at worlds, while Rachel Bootsma clocked 50.53 in the 100-yard back at NCSA Junior Nationals. And finally, Jenny Connolly upstaged all of them to take the top seed! Should be tight, but Franklin will come out on top.
Prediction:
1. Franklin
2. Pelton
3. Bootsma
Peter Vanderkaay goes into the final of the men’s 200 free as an overwhelming favorite after finishing fourth in the 400 free at Worlds last week and clocking 1:46.07 on the U.S. men’s victorious 800 free relay in Shanghai. Ricky Berens, another member of that relay, is in the field, as is NCAA runner-up Dax Hill and 400 free champ Matt McLean. The final will have some University of Virginia flavor to it, as three swimmers who swam for the Cavaliers this year will take to the blocks: McLean, Scot Robison, and Peter Geissenger.
Prediction:
1. Vanderkaay
2. McLean
3. Berens
Olympic silver medalist Matt Grevers qualified first for the men’s 100 back final in 53.96, but 200 back World and Olympic champ Ryan Lochte is right behind him at 54.00. Grevers touched out Lochte for a spot on the Olympic team in this event three years ago, so Lochte will be out for revenge tonight. Look for both to finish in the low-53 range, perhaps even sub-53. Meanwhile, Nick Thoman and David Plummer finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at Worlds last week. The field is a deep one, as always, with the likes of Eugene Godsoe, Ben Hesen, David Russell, and Kyle Owens as threats.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Grevers
3. Thoman
Allison Schmitt is the class of the field in the women’s 200 free, having finished sixth in the event at Worlds last week. She holds the American record in the event at 1:54.96. Dagny Knutson joined Schmitt on the winning 800 free relay at Worlds last week, while Schmitt’s University of Georgia teammates Megan Romano, Chelsea Nauta, and Shannon Vreeland will challenge from the top three lanes. The surprise of the morning, however, was Lauren Perdue; Perdue cut more than a second from her seed time to qualify second in 1:59.29. Perdue will be the one who goes out fast and tries to hang on, just like she did at NCAAs, where she ended up finishing second to Schmitt.
Prediction:
1. Schmitt
2. Perdue
3. Knutson
The men’s 200 fly is a wide open affair tonight in the absence of World champion Michael Phelps. Tyler Clary finished ninth at World Championships, while Dan Madwed and Davis Tarwater both snuck under 1:58 for the top two seeds. Clary and Tarwater have by far the top two best times in this event of the field, 1:53.64 and 1:54.46, both from the suit era. Meanwhile, Mark Dylla and Bobby Bollier finished second and fourth, respectively, in this race last year. However, I think Clary will take this title and prove that he is one of America’s top two 200 butterflyers, even after his Shanghai disappointment.
Prediction:
1. Clary
2. Tarwater
3. Madwed
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
U.S. Nationals: Day One
The FINA World Championships ended just two days ago in Shanghai, but America’s best swimmers are already assembled at Stanford University for the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships. Five days of prelims/finals racing await the top swimmers in the country, with slots for the Pan American Games and World Junior Championships up for grabs. Right now I will take a look at the six National titles up for grabs tonight and who will be in the mix to earn those titles.
The meet kicks off with the women’s 100 fly, and Dana Vollmer is in the field. Last week, she clocked an American record-time of 56.47 and a relay split of 55.74. She also won the world title. Basically, she’s the overwhelming favorite. She clocked 57.68 in prelims and said on Twitter today that her goal for finals is a sub-57 swim. However, Olympic silver medalist Christine Magnuson is the three-time defending champion and will not go down without a fight. Magnuson did not swim especially well at Worlds or in prelims, so look for Olympian Elaine Breeden to challenge, as well as Western Kentucky’s Claire Donahue, who earned the second seed this morning in 58.91.
Prediction:
1. Vollmer
2. Magnuson
3. Donahue
The men’s 400 free should be a doozy tonight. Peter Vanderkaay has won this title three of the last four years, but he scratched out of this race after finishing fourth at World Champs last week. In his absence, Charlie Houchin led prelims with an impressive 3:48.03, faster than he swam at the World Champs last week. Matt McLean and Matt Patton both broke 3:50 as well, while defending runner-up Michael Klueh looms in fourth place. Look for Klueh to put the burners on tonight and make a run at Houchin. This final has some young blood in it, with the likes of Jackson Wilcox, Michael McBroom, Sean Ryan, Evan Pinion, Andrew Gemmell, and Connor Jaeger.
Prediction:
1. Houchin
2. Klueh
3. McLean
Katie Hoff and Elizabeth Beisel stand well clear of the pack in the women’s 200 IM after prelims, but the star of last week’s Worlds is in the field as well: Missy Franklin. Hoff and Beisel clocked respective times of 2:11.68 and 2:11.85, while Franklin won the slowest of the seeded heats in 2:14.80. I expect all three to be in the 2:10-range tonight, maybe better. Also watch Stanford’s Julia Smit, who put together a fourth-ranked 2:13.33 in prelims, but she has a lifetime best of 2:09.37 from the suit era. Two more World teamers, Morgan Scroggy and Teresa Crippen, qualified for this final, but neither impressed last week in Shanghai or made any championship finals.
Prediction:
1. Beisel
2. Franklin
3. Hoff
For me, the most anticipated race of the night and possibly of the meet is the men’s 100 breast. 2004 Olympic silver medalist Brendan Hansen is back, and he proved it in prelims with a top-ranked time of 1:00.17, the top time by an American since techsuits were banned two years ago. In fact, no American other than Hansen has ever been faster in a jammer. He should win tonight, and anything under 1:00 will set him up very well for next year. Meanwhile, Mike Alexandrov qualified second in 1:00.70, much faster than his 1:01.41 at Worlds which left him 25th, while Marcus Titus finished third in prelims in 1:00.80. American record-holder Eric Shanteau also made this final, while World Champs finals Mark Gangloff scratched.
Prediction:
1. Hansen
2. Shanteau
3. Alexandrov
Four members of the World Championships team made the final in the women’s 400 free: Chloe Sutton, Allison Schmitt, Elizabeth Beisel, and Dagny Knutson. Sutton finished ninth in this event in Shanghai before finishing fourth in the 800 free, while Schmitt took sixth in the 200 free. These two should enter as favorites for tonight. The pair finished third and second, respectively, behind Katie Hoff in last year’s final. Ashley Steenvoorden clocked a lifetime best time of 4:09.16 to lead all qualifiers into the final, but expect Sutton to pick up the pace and win tonight’s final in a 4:06.
Prediction:
1. Sutton
2. Schmitt
3. Beisel
The men’s 400 IM will bring the night to a close. Andrew Gemmell qualified for his second final of the night with a top-ranked time of 4:18.33, followed closely by Conor Dwyer (4:18.75) and Robert Margalis (4:19.01). Jack Brown and Tyler Harris also got under the 4:10 barrier to qualify fourth and fifth, respectively, while NCAA Champion Bill Cregar qualified ninth to earn a berth in the ten-man final. Most of the contenders are known for their back half push in the breaststroke and freestyle legs, so this race won’t be decided until the last 50. Look for Austen Thompson to take the race out hard and try to hang on.
Prediction:
1. Dwyer
2. Margalis
3. Gemmell
Also tonight, the pros from SwimMAC Carolina take to the blocks in the men’s 400 free relay. Line-ups have not yet been released, but look for the likes of Nick Brunelli, Josh Schneider, Cullen Jones, Davis Tarwater, Eugene Godsoe, and Tim Phillips to make a splash. Should be an exciting first night of competition in Palo Alto! Check out live results from the meet here or here, and you can watch live video at USASwimming.org and also at Universal Sports.
The meet kicks off with the women’s 100 fly, and Dana Vollmer is in the field. Last week, she clocked an American record-time of 56.47 and a relay split of 55.74. She also won the world title. Basically, she’s the overwhelming favorite. She clocked 57.68 in prelims and said on Twitter today that her goal for finals is a sub-57 swim. However, Olympic silver medalist Christine Magnuson is the three-time defending champion and will not go down without a fight. Magnuson did not swim especially well at Worlds or in prelims, so look for Olympian Elaine Breeden to challenge, as well as Western Kentucky’s Claire Donahue, who earned the second seed this morning in 58.91.
Prediction:
1. Vollmer
2. Magnuson
3. Donahue
The men’s 400 free should be a doozy tonight. Peter Vanderkaay has won this title three of the last four years, but he scratched out of this race after finishing fourth at World Champs last week. In his absence, Charlie Houchin led prelims with an impressive 3:48.03, faster than he swam at the World Champs last week. Matt McLean and Matt Patton both broke 3:50 as well, while defending runner-up Michael Klueh looms in fourth place. Look for Klueh to put the burners on tonight and make a run at Houchin. This final has some young blood in it, with the likes of Jackson Wilcox, Michael McBroom, Sean Ryan, Evan Pinion, Andrew Gemmell, and Connor Jaeger.
Prediction:
1. Houchin
2. Klueh
3. McLean
Katie Hoff and Elizabeth Beisel stand well clear of the pack in the women’s 200 IM after prelims, but the star of last week’s Worlds is in the field as well: Missy Franklin. Hoff and Beisel clocked respective times of 2:11.68 and 2:11.85, while Franklin won the slowest of the seeded heats in 2:14.80. I expect all three to be in the 2:10-range tonight, maybe better. Also watch Stanford’s Julia Smit, who put together a fourth-ranked 2:13.33 in prelims, but she has a lifetime best of 2:09.37 from the suit era. Two more World teamers, Morgan Scroggy and Teresa Crippen, qualified for this final, but neither impressed last week in Shanghai or made any championship finals.
Prediction:
1. Beisel
2. Franklin
3. Hoff
For me, the most anticipated race of the night and possibly of the meet is the men’s 100 breast. 2004 Olympic silver medalist Brendan Hansen is back, and he proved it in prelims with a top-ranked time of 1:00.17, the top time by an American since techsuits were banned two years ago. In fact, no American other than Hansen has ever been faster in a jammer. He should win tonight, and anything under 1:00 will set him up very well for next year. Meanwhile, Mike Alexandrov qualified second in 1:00.70, much faster than his 1:01.41 at Worlds which left him 25th, while Marcus Titus finished third in prelims in 1:00.80. American record-holder Eric Shanteau also made this final, while World Champs finals Mark Gangloff scratched.
Prediction:
1. Hansen
2. Shanteau
3. Alexandrov
Four members of the World Championships team made the final in the women’s 400 free: Chloe Sutton, Allison Schmitt, Elizabeth Beisel, and Dagny Knutson. Sutton finished ninth in this event in Shanghai before finishing fourth in the 800 free, while Schmitt took sixth in the 200 free. These two should enter as favorites for tonight. The pair finished third and second, respectively, behind Katie Hoff in last year’s final. Ashley Steenvoorden clocked a lifetime best time of 4:09.16 to lead all qualifiers into the final, but expect Sutton to pick up the pace and win tonight’s final in a 4:06.
Prediction:
1. Sutton
2. Schmitt
3. Beisel
The men’s 400 IM will bring the night to a close. Andrew Gemmell qualified for his second final of the night with a top-ranked time of 4:18.33, followed closely by Conor Dwyer (4:18.75) and Robert Margalis (4:19.01). Jack Brown and Tyler Harris also got under the 4:10 barrier to qualify fourth and fifth, respectively, while NCAA Champion Bill Cregar qualified ninth to earn a berth in the ten-man final. Most of the contenders are known for their back half push in the breaststroke and freestyle legs, so this race won’t be decided until the last 50. Look for Austen Thompson to take the race out hard and try to hang on.
Prediction:
1. Dwyer
2. Margalis
3. Gemmell
Also tonight, the pros from SwimMAC Carolina take to the blocks in the men’s 400 free relay. Line-ups have not yet been released, but look for the likes of Nick Brunelli, Josh Schneider, Cullen Jones, Davis Tarwater, Eugene Godsoe, and Tim Phillips to make a splash. Should be an exciting first night of competition in Palo Alto! Check out live results from the meet here or here, and you can watch live video at USASwimming.org and also at Universal Sports.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Eight
The 14th edition of the FINA World Championships came to a close today in Shanghai, and the American team walked away with top honors. The Stars and Stripes posted double bookends on this final day of competition. Jessica Hardy and Ryan Lochte won the women’s 50 breast and men’s 400 IM, respectively. Elizabeth Beisel picked up steam in the penultimate event, the women’s 400 IM, before Nathan Adrian held off James Magnussen for an American win in the men’s medley relay. Additionally, Sweden’s Therese Alshammar made up for a disappointing loss in the 50 fly yesterday with a world title in the women’s 50 free before Liam Tancock earned Britain’s second gold of the week in an upset over France’s Camille Lacourt in the men’s 50 back.
In the most thrilling race of the night, China’s Sun Yang took down the oldest record in the books in the men’s 1500 free. Grant Hackett set the previous mark of 14:34.56 a full decade ago, and only this mark among men’s records survived the supersuit era. Sun took the lead from the outset but was already behind world record pace at the 100. However, he held his pace at two seconds above world record pace the entire race. When he flipped at the 1400 mark, he turned on the jets. He closed in a monster 25.94, faster even than any closing 50 in the 200, 400 or 800 free! And it was enough; Sun touched in 14:34.14, the fastest time ever.
All in all, an excellent week in Shanghai. There were some surprises, such as the tie in the women’s 100 free between Aliaksandra Herasimenia and Jeanette Ottesen, while some results stayed the same, such as in the men’s 200 fly, where Michael Phelps won his fifth World title in the event, the most ever. Beyond Sun’s world record today, China won five gold medals in the pool this week, clearly establishing them as the second-best team in the world. Comparatively, the usually-strong Australians won just two gold medals, both on the back of sprint star James Magnussen, while the formerly-premier Australian women did not win any races. The British team also looked weak most of the week but came around with two gold medals on the last two days to gain valuable momentum headed into a home Olympics next year.
The Americans, however, really dominated this meet. The women, winner of just two golds in Beijing and Rome, won eight here. Led by 16 year old superstar Missy Franklin and breaststroke queen Rebecca Soni, they took relay golds on the global stage for the first time in four years. They won golds in back, breast, free, and IM and as high as silver in free. It looks like the only weak spots are sprint to mid-distance free; no American finished higher than sixth in the 50, 100, 200, and 400 free. I picked Natalie Coughlin, Allison Schmitt, and Katie Hoff to medal in those events, but all fell off the fast pace required. Those swimmers and others will need to make big improvements to be factors in London next summer.
On the men’s side, the Americans looked great in the IM and butterfly races, and Peter Vanderkaay and Chad La Tourette answered some of the questions over the American distance program, though neither medaled. Americans did not overwhelm in backstroke and breaststroke events this week (other than a 1-3 finish in the 200 back), but with U.S. Nationals coming up this week, we will get a better idea of what is to expect in the those events in the next year. Again, problems showed in the sprint events; coming off a tough year, Nathan Adrian surprisingly failed to medal in either the 50 or 100 free, neither Cullen Jones (50 free) and Jason Lezak (100 free) advanced to the semi-finals of their respective races.
Most importantly, however, the Americans came in third in the 400 free relay. Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak, and Adrian all posted slower-than-expected times to come in behind an on-fire team from Down Under and the solid French. Again, we will find out more at Nationals when former relay members such as Matt Grevers take to the blocks, but the American sprinters will once again need to take their game to the next level if they want to return that gold to American waters in that event in London. The big storylines headed into next summer’s Olympics are still developing, but the American goal of bringing this title back to American waters will surely make headlines.
Two final plotlines, however, will stand above all others in the next year: the showdowns between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, and the quest for more world records. Lochte, clearly the better-prepared of the two, earned the upper-hand over Phelps in both the 200 free and 200 IM this week. With both headed into a full year of hard training, both of those races should be fast and furious in a year. Meanwhile, Lochte and Sun Yang have broken the ice of the world record-drought, and more are to come. Maybe we’ll see another record broken at this week’s Nationals, or maybe no mark will fall until London in a year. Regardless, both of these storylines will steal attention of not just swim fans but also mainstream media in the run-up to London.
Finally, the prediction contest results. In case anyone forgot, I am the swim geek.
1. David Rieder 364
2. Matt Salzberg 363
3. Chris DeSantis 339
4. Melissa German 319
4. Braden Keith 319
6. John Liu 310
7. John Lohn 308
8. Jerry Shandrew 302
8. Tom Willdridge 302
10. Kristine Sorenson 288
11. Sebastian Schwenke 228
In the most thrilling race of the night, China’s Sun Yang took down the oldest record in the books in the men’s 1500 free. Grant Hackett set the previous mark of 14:34.56 a full decade ago, and only this mark among men’s records survived the supersuit era. Sun took the lead from the outset but was already behind world record pace at the 100. However, he held his pace at two seconds above world record pace the entire race. When he flipped at the 1400 mark, he turned on the jets. He closed in a monster 25.94, faster even than any closing 50 in the 200, 400 or 800 free! And it was enough; Sun touched in 14:34.14, the fastest time ever.
All in all, an excellent week in Shanghai. There were some surprises, such as the tie in the women’s 100 free between Aliaksandra Herasimenia and Jeanette Ottesen, while some results stayed the same, such as in the men’s 200 fly, where Michael Phelps won his fifth World title in the event, the most ever. Beyond Sun’s world record today, China won five gold medals in the pool this week, clearly establishing them as the second-best team in the world. Comparatively, the usually-strong Australians won just two gold medals, both on the back of sprint star James Magnussen, while the formerly-premier Australian women did not win any races. The British team also looked weak most of the week but came around with two gold medals on the last two days to gain valuable momentum headed into a home Olympics next year.
The Americans, however, really dominated this meet. The women, winner of just two golds in Beijing and Rome, won eight here. Led by 16 year old superstar Missy Franklin and breaststroke queen Rebecca Soni, they took relay golds on the global stage for the first time in four years. They won golds in back, breast, free, and IM and as high as silver in free. It looks like the only weak spots are sprint to mid-distance free; no American finished higher than sixth in the 50, 100, 200, and 400 free. I picked Natalie Coughlin, Allison Schmitt, and Katie Hoff to medal in those events, but all fell off the fast pace required. Those swimmers and others will need to make big improvements to be factors in London next summer.
On the men’s side, the Americans looked great in the IM and butterfly races, and Peter Vanderkaay and Chad La Tourette answered some of the questions over the American distance program, though neither medaled. Americans did not overwhelm in backstroke and breaststroke events this week (other than a 1-3 finish in the 200 back), but with U.S. Nationals coming up this week, we will get a better idea of what is to expect in the those events in the next year. Again, problems showed in the sprint events; coming off a tough year, Nathan Adrian surprisingly failed to medal in either the 50 or 100 free, neither Cullen Jones (50 free) and Jason Lezak (100 free) advanced to the semi-finals of their respective races.
Most importantly, however, the Americans came in third in the 400 free relay. Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak, and Adrian all posted slower-than-expected times to come in behind an on-fire team from Down Under and the solid French. Again, we will find out more at Nationals when former relay members such as Matt Grevers take to the blocks, but the American sprinters will once again need to take their game to the next level if they want to return that gold to American waters in that event in London. The big storylines headed into next summer’s Olympics are still developing, but the American goal of bringing this title back to American waters will surely make headlines.
Two final plotlines, however, will stand above all others in the next year: the showdowns between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, and the quest for more world records. Lochte, clearly the better-prepared of the two, earned the upper-hand over Phelps in both the 200 free and 200 IM this week. With both headed into a full year of hard training, both of those races should be fast and furious in a year. Meanwhile, Lochte and Sun Yang have broken the ice of the world record-drought, and more are to come. Maybe we’ll see another record broken at this week’s Nationals, or maybe no mark will fall until London in a year. Regardless, both of these storylines will steal attention of not just swim fans but also mainstream media in the run-up to London.
Finally, the prediction contest results. In case anyone forgot, I am the swim geek.
1. David Rieder 364
2. Matt Salzberg 363
3. Chris DeSantis 339
4. Melissa German 319
4. Braden Keith 319
6. John Liu 310
7. John Lohn 308
8. Jerry Shandrew 302
8. Tom Willdridge 302
10. Kristine Sorenson 288
11. Sebastian Schwenke 228
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Eight Finals Preview
The last session of finals is coming up at the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai, and after a long week of racing, the end is in sight. With seven more finals on tap for the final night, I’ll do a quick preview of each right now. First up is the women’s 50 breast, where American Jessica Hardy is expected to win gold for the second time, after first taking the title in 2007. She clocked 30.20 in yesterday’s prelims, just off her top-ranked time of 30.17 from May. I think she’ll cruise to the gold here and swim around the 30.03 she posted at Pan Pacs last summer. I don’t think she will get to her world record of 29.80, but I predict she breaks 30. Meanwhile, Rebecca Soni and Yuliya Efimova will battle for the silver, while Aussies Leiston Pickett and Leisel Jones look to break up the trio of Dave Salo-trained swimmers gunning for the medals.
Prediction:
1. Hardy
2. Soni
3. Efimova
Ryan Lochte will go for his fifth gold of the World Championships when he takes to the blocks for the 400 IM. He hasn’t swum many 400 IMs this season, but look for him to put together an awesome swim and lead the world rankings for the third consecutive year. I think he will sneak under Michael Phelps’ Championships Record of 4:06.22. Tyler Clary took bronze behind Lochte in the 200 back, but look for him to do one better here as the Americans go for their third straight 1-2 finish in the event. Phelps and Lochte, respectively, pulled it off in 2007, while Lochte and Clary matched the feat in 2009. Hungarian Laszlo Cseh won this title in 2005 and medaled in 2003 and 2009, and he could be in the mix, along with teammate David Verraszto, Brazil’s Thiago Pereira, Japan’s Yuya Horihata, and home favorite Wang Chengxiang.
UPDATE: Pereira did not show up for his prelim heat, despite finishing fourth in Rome.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Clary
3. Cseh
This field in the women’s 50 free is among the most wide open of the meet, but I think it comes down to the Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Sweden’s Therese Alshammar for the gold. Kromowidjojo, the World Short Course champ, is the youngest of the Dutch sprint stars, and she clocked 24.56 in the semi-finals to lead the field. Alshammar, meanwhile, has been winning international medals for almost two decades. She took the third spot into the final after finishing runner-up in the 50 fly earlier in the night. 100 free co-champions Aliaksandra Herasimenia and Jeanette Ottesen both made the final, along with American Jessica Hardy.
Prediction:
1. Alshammar
2. Kromowidjojo
3. Herasimenia
Camille Lacourt has long been talked about as the favorite for the men’s 50 back after clocking 24.07 to win last year’s European title. That time missed Liam Tancock’s world record in the event of 24.04 by just 0.03. Tancock, however, made a statement in the semi-final with a 24.62 clocking. The race between these two men should be fast and furious, but I give a slight edge to Tancock since Lacourt has shown that he is not at his best this week. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Gerhard Zandberg will also be in the mix, perhaps even up with the top-two, and he won the title back in 2007 before taking bronze in 2009. I also think Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer and USA’s Nick Thoman will be tough to beat in the final.
Prediction:
1. Tancock
2. Lacourt
3. Wildeboer
One of the most anticipated races of the last day is the men’s 1500 free, and the buzz is that Sun Yang will break Grant Hackett’s decade-old world record of 14:34.56. So far, only one record has fallen this week. I predict that Sun will pull it off. All of us viewers at home will have to mute our live video feeds as the crowd goes nuts and lifts the roof off the building. Sun looked easy in prelims as he alone broke 14:50, clocking 14:48.13. Ryan Cochrane, the defending silver medalist, looked easy in winning his heat to qualify fifth, and he has a big swim in him in that final. Gergo Kis clocked a strong 14:52.72 for the second seed, but I think he might not have anymore time to drop. Thus, I am picking American Chad La Tourette to move up from the fourth seed to take third. Reigning World and Olympic champion Ous Mellouli did not qualify for the final.
Prediction:
1. Sun
2. Cochrane
3. La Tourette
China’s Ye Shiwen blazed home in the women’s 200 IM to steal the gold medal, and I think she doubles up in the 400 IM. She will be well behind going into the freestyle, but she can catch anyone who is three seconds ahead, just like she did in the 200 IM. Meanwhile, world record-holder Stephanie Rice looked good in the 200 IM to finish fourth, and I think she takes a podium spot here. American Elizabeth Beisel has a big opening for the top-three here, with many of the top names in the event swimming poorly, such as Mireia Belmonte, Kirsty Coventry, and Katinka Hosszu. I predict Beisel to edge Britain’s Hannah Miley, who had been my original pick for bronze.
Prediction:
1. Ye
2. Rice
3. Beisel
The men’s medley relay will bring the competition to an end, and it should be a good one. Many have talked about the French posing a serious threat to the United States, but this is the Americans’ race to lose. Nick Thoman or David Plummer (or possibly Ryan Lochte) will keep them within striking distance of the French backstroker, either Camille Lacourt or Jeremy Stravius. Reports indicate that Eric Shanteau will handle the breaststroke leg instead of 100 breast finalist Mark Gangloff, and he should gain ground, as Hughes Duboscq did not look good this meet. Michael Phelps should take a huge lead over Fred Bousquet on the fly leg, and Nathan Adrian will hold off William Meynard for the win. The Aussies, anchored by James “the Missile” Magnussen, should earn the bronze, especially since legs from Germany and Japan have underperformed in Shanghai.
Prediction:
1. United States
2. France
3. Australia
Prediction:
1. Hardy
2. Soni
3. Efimova
Ryan Lochte will go for his fifth gold of the World Championships when he takes to the blocks for the 400 IM. He hasn’t swum many 400 IMs this season, but look for him to put together an awesome swim and lead the world rankings for the third consecutive year. I think he will sneak under Michael Phelps’ Championships Record of 4:06.22. Tyler Clary took bronze behind Lochte in the 200 back, but look for him to do one better here as the Americans go for their third straight 1-2 finish in the event. Phelps and Lochte, respectively, pulled it off in 2007, while Lochte and Clary matched the feat in 2009. Hungarian Laszlo Cseh won this title in 2005 and medaled in 2003 and 2009, and he could be in the mix, along with teammate David Verraszto, Brazil’s Thiago Pereira, Japan’s Yuya Horihata, and home favorite Wang Chengxiang.
UPDATE: Pereira did not show up for his prelim heat, despite finishing fourth in Rome.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Clary
3. Cseh
This field in the women’s 50 free is among the most wide open of the meet, but I think it comes down to the Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Sweden’s Therese Alshammar for the gold. Kromowidjojo, the World Short Course champ, is the youngest of the Dutch sprint stars, and she clocked 24.56 in the semi-finals to lead the field. Alshammar, meanwhile, has been winning international medals for almost two decades. She took the third spot into the final after finishing runner-up in the 50 fly earlier in the night. 100 free co-champions Aliaksandra Herasimenia and Jeanette Ottesen both made the final, along with American Jessica Hardy.
Prediction:
1. Alshammar
2. Kromowidjojo
3. Herasimenia
Camille Lacourt has long been talked about as the favorite for the men’s 50 back after clocking 24.07 to win last year’s European title. That time missed Liam Tancock’s world record in the event of 24.04 by just 0.03. Tancock, however, made a statement in the semi-final with a 24.62 clocking. The race between these two men should be fast and furious, but I give a slight edge to Tancock since Lacourt has shown that he is not at his best this week. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Gerhard Zandberg will also be in the mix, perhaps even up with the top-two, and he won the title back in 2007 before taking bronze in 2009. I also think Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer and USA’s Nick Thoman will be tough to beat in the final.
Prediction:
1. Tancock
2. Lacourt
3. Wildeboer
One of the most anticipated races of the last day is the men’s 1500 free, and the buzz is that Sun Yang will break Grant Hackett’s decade-old world record of 14:34.56. So far, only one record has fallen this week. I predict that Sun will pull it off. All of us viewers at home will have to mute our live video feeds as the crowd goes nuts and lifts the roof off the building. Sun looked easy in prelims as he alone broke 14:50, clocking 14:48.13. Ryan Cochrane, the defending silver medalist, looked easy in winning his heat to qualify fifth, and he has a big swim in him in that final. Gergo Kis clocked a strong 14:52.72 for the second seed, but I think he might not have anymore time to drop. Thus, I am picking American Chad La Tourette to move up from the fourth seed to take third. Reigning World and Olympic champion Ous Mellouli did not qualify for the final.
Prediction:
1. Sun
2. Cochrane
3. La Tourette
China’s Ye Shiwen blazed home in the women’s 200 IM to steal the gold medal, and I think she doubles up in the 400 IM. She will be well behind going into the freestyle, but she can catch anyone who is three seconds ahead, just like she did in the 200 IM. Meanwhile, world record-holder Stephanie Rice looked good in the 200 IM to finish fourth, and I think she takes a podium spot here. American Elizabeth Beisel has a big opening for the top-three here, with many of the top names in the event swimming poorly, such as Mireia Belmonte, Kirsty Coventry, and Katinka Hosszu. I predict Beisel to edge Britain’s Hannah Miley, who had been my original pick for bronze.
Prediction:
1. Ye
2. Rice
3. Beisel
The men’s medley relay will bring the competition to an end, and it should be a good one. Many have talked about the French posing a serious threat to the United States, but this is the Americans’ race to lose. Nick Thoman or David Plummer (or possibly Ryan Lochte) will keep them within striking distance of the French backstroker, either Camille Lacourt or Jeremy Stravius. Reports indicate that Eric Shanteau will handle the breaststroke leg instead of 100 breast finalist Mark Gangloff, and he should gain ground, as Hughes Duboscq did not look good this meet. Michael Phelps should take a huge lead over Fred Bousquet on the fly leg, and Nathan Adrian will hold off William Meynard for the win. The Aussies, anchored by James “the Missile” Magnussen, should earn the bronze, especially since legs from Germany and Japan have underperformed in Shanghai.
Prediction:
1. United States
2. France
3. Australia
Shanghai 2011: Day Seven
The six finals on day seven in Shanghai featured another six opportunities for exciting and fast racing. Veteran Therese Alshammar went into the women’s 50 fly as the huge favorite, only for Inge Dekker to get the better of her on the home stretch. No one caught Cesar Cielo in the men’s 50 free, as he posted the largest margin of victory in history. Missy Franklin’s continued on the fast track to superstardom with the third-fastest time ever in the women’s 200 back for the gold, while Australia’s Belinda Hocking grabbed the fourth spot on the all-time list in an impressive silver medal showing for Australia. Then Michael Phelps was back in the pool, cruising to gold in the 100 fly, before Rebecca Adlington produced on of the most impressive final two laps I’ve ever seen to track down Lotte Friis for the 800 free win and her first world title.
Over the past few years, many have talked about the potential of the British women’s team headed into the London Olympics. Adlington kicked off these talks in Beijing with a double gold medal finish, and things looked good in Rome in 2009 when Gemma Spofforth took gold in the 100 back, Joanne Jackson won three freestyle medals, Fran Halsall taking world silver in the 100 free, Hannah Miley nearly stepped up onto the medal podium in the 400 IM, and the team took an impressive relay bronze in the 800 free. However, some of the team’s performances have gradually taken a dip, including slower-than-expected championship times. The team underperformed at last year’s European and Commonwealth Games, with teams ranging from Australia to Hungary stealing the show away in key events
In Shanghai, before today, the British women had won just two medals in Shanghai, Adlington’s silver in the 400 free, Ellen Gandy’s bronze in the 200 fly. Halsall had come up short in the 100 free, while Spofforth missed the semi-final of the 100 back. Adlington’s monster final 100 split of 59.65, faster even than her opening split of 59.69, changed the momentum. After two full World Champs meets of struggle and continually coming up short, it looked like Adlington’s third trip to the global showcase would once again end in disappointment. However, today she showed heart and guts to overcome Friis’ lead and take the world title. That win will provide the springboard to a nation whose hopes and dreams in the pool rest on the performances a year from this week away. Additionally, look for that momentum to carry into tomorrow’s competition, where Liam Tancock (50 back) and Hannah Miley (400 IM) are favorites.
Another women’s team concluded a momentum shift today that saw them reclaim the title as top women’s team in the world. In 2008, the American women won just two gold medals (of the 12 total U.S. wins): Natalie Coughlin in the 100 back and Rebecca Soni in the 200 breast. They won no relays at those Olympics. In addition to that duo, only four other American women, Katie Hoff, Margaret Hoelzer, Dara Torres, and Christine Magnuson earned individual hardware after a string of disappointing performances. In Rome the next year, things did not improve much. Soni (100 breast) and Ariana Kukors (200 IM) won gold, but again no American relays did so, and of the three teams only the 800 free relay medaled. The 400 free relay took fourth, while the 400 medley team did not advance to the final.
At this meet in Shanghai, the team has shown considerable improvement. Missy Franklin emerged as a true superstar, winning gold in the 200 back and posting the top time of the meet in the 200 free. Soni won both the 100 and 200 breast, while Dana Vollmer earned top honors in the 100 fly. Meanwhile, Jessica Hardy is favored to make it one more win in tomorrow’s 50 breast. Coughlin, Kukors, and Ziegler all won medals, while Hoff, Allison Schmitt, Chloe Sutton, and Elizabeth Beisel have all been in the mix. At least one American has qualified for 15 of 16 possible finals so far.
Most importantly, however, the American women won two of the three relays. Not only did they win, they dominated both. Franklin, Dagny Knutson, Hoff, and Schmitt reclaimed the 800 free relay for the first time since 2007, while Coughlin, Soni, Vollmer, and Franklin earned the medley relay title that America last won at the Worlds back in 1998. That last fact brought tears to the eyes of Coughlin, the lead-off swimmer on this relay 10 of the last 11 years. Of the 12 golds Team USA has already won in Shanghai, the women have won half of them. Once again, for the first time in almost a decade, the American women are at the top of the world.
With one day and seven finals left at the World Championships, here are the standings in my prediction contest. The win will come down to Matt Salzberg and me. Check back later for a preview of the last session of swimming in Shanghai.
1. David Rieder 304
2. Matt Salzberg 300
3. Chris DeSantis 266
4. Melissa German 263
4. John Lohn 263
6. Braden Keith 260
7. John Liu 252
8. Jerry Shandrew 238
9. Kristine Sorenson 236
10. Tom Willdridge 235
11. Sebastian Schwenke 190
Over the past few years, many have talked about the potential of the British women’s team headed into the London Olympics. Adlington kicked off these talks in Beijing with a double gold medal finish, and things looked good in Rome in 2009 when Gemma Spofforth took gold in the 100 back, Joanne Jackson won three freestyle medals, Fran Halsall taking world silver in the 100 free, Hannah Miley nearly stepped up onto the medal podium in the 400 IM, and the team took an impressive relay bronze in the 800 free. However, some of the team’s performances have gradually taken a dip, including slower-than-expected championship times. The team underperformed at last year’s European and Commonwealth Games, with teams ranging from Australia to Hungary stealing the show away in key events
In Shanghai, before today, the British women had won just two medals in Shanghai, Adlington’s silver in the 400 free, Ellen Gandy’s bronze in the 200 fly. Halsall had come up short in the 100 free, while Spofforth missed the semi-final of the 100 back. Adlington’s monster final 100 split of 59.65, faster even than her opening split of 59.69, changed the momentum. After two full World Champs meets of struggle and continually coming up short, it looked like Adlington’s third trip to the global showcase would once again end in disappointment. However, today she showed heart and guts to overcome Friis’ lead and take the world title. That win will provide the springboard to a nation whose hopes and dreams in the pool rest on the performances a year from this week away. Additionally, look for that momentum to carry into tomorrow’s competition, where Liam Tancock (50 back) and Hannah Miley (400 IM) are favorites.
Another women’s team concluded a momentum shift today that saw them reclaim the title as top women’s team in the world. In 2008, the American women won just two gold medals (of the 12 total U.S. wins): Natalie Coughlin in the 100 back and Rebecca Soni in the 200 breast. They won no relays at those Olympics. In addition to that duo, only four other American women, Katie Hoff, Margaret Hoelzer, Dara Torres, and Christine Magnuson earned individual hardware after a string of disappointing performances. In Rome the next year, things did not improve much. Soni (100 breast) and Ariana Kukors (200 IM) won gold, but again no American relays did so, and of the three teams only the 800 free relay medaled. The 400 free relay took fourth, while the 400 medley team did not advance to the final.
At this meet in Shanghai, the team has shown considerable improvement. Missy Franklin emerged as a true superstar, winning gold in the 200 back and posting the top time of the meet in the 200 free. Soni won both the 100 and 200 breast, while Dana Vollmer earned top honors in the 100 fly. Meanwhile, Jessica Hardy is favored to make it one more win in tomorrow’s 50 breast. Coughlin, Kukors, and Ziegler all won medals, while Hoff, Allison Schmitt, Chloe Sutton, and Elizabeth Beisel have all been in the mix. At least one American has qualified for 15 of 16 possible finals so far.
Most importantly, however, the American women won two of the three relays. Not only did they win, they dominated both. Franklin, Dagny Knutson, Hoff, and Schmitt reclaimed the 800 free relay for the first time since 2007, while Coughlin, Soni, Vollmer, and Franklin earned the medley relay title that America last won at the Worlds back in 1998. That last fact brought tears to the eyes of Coughlin, the lead-off swimmer on this relay 10 of the last 11 years. Of the 12 golds Team USA has already won in Shanghai, the women have won half of them. Once again, for the first time in almost a decade, the American women are at the top of the world.
With one day and seven finals left at the World Championships, here are the standings in my prediction contest. The win will come down to Matt Salzberg and me. Check back later for a preview of the last session of swimming in Shanghai.
1. David Rieder 304
2. Matt Salzberg 300
3. Chris DeSantis 266
4. Melissa German 263
4. John Lohn 263
6. Braden Keith 260
7. John Liu 252
8. Jerry Shandrew 238
9. Kristine Sorenson 236
10. Tom Willdridge 235
11. Sebastian Schwenke 190
Friday, July 29, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Six
Another fast day of swimming is in the books in Shanghai with five more swimmers walking away with gold… uh, actually six more. In my finals preview yesterday, I mentioned six of the eight swimmers in the 100 free final; the two I skipped, Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen and Belarus’ Aliaksandra Herasimenia, came from nowhere and ended up tying for the gold medal. Meanwhile, the Ryan Lochte train kept rolling through the 200 back, obliterating everyone, while Rebecca Soni hung on for gold in the women’s 200 breast. Kosuke Kitajima led through 175 in the men’s 200 breast, but he could not hang on as Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta roared home to his second consecutive world title in the event. Finally, the Lochte train made one more stop in the 800 free relay as he roared past Fabien Gilot for his fourth gold medal of the week.
Meanwhile, six more finals are on the agenda for tomorrow’s finals, beginning with the women’s 50 fly. Sweden’s Therese Alshammar holds the world record (25.07), textile best and 2011’s top-ranked time (25.37), and the number one seed for the final (25.52). Despite losing out in a tight finish back in 2009, I think she will be untouchable here and reclaim her world title that she previously won in 2007. Dutchwoman Inge Dekker, China’s Lu Ying, and Alshammar’s teammate Sarah Sjostrom will also start from the middle lanes, while American Dana Vollmer is a darkhorse from lane eight, barely qualifying just minutes after competing in the 100 free final.
Prediction:
1. Alshammar
2. Lu
3. Vollmer
Brazil finished 1-2 in the semi-finals of the men’s 50 free. Bruno Fratus clocked 21.76, while his more-decorated teammate Cesar Cielo checked in at 21.79. Cielo is the reigning World and Olympic champion and world record-holder, and I think he’ll take the win in the final. However, I’m not sure if Fratus has anything left in the tank. American Nathan Adrian qualified third in 21.94, and Adrian will try to make up for a disappointing sixth-place finish in the 100 free. The field is wide open, especially after defending silver medalist Fred Bousquet missed the semi-finals, and an attack could come from any of the eight qualifiers. Watch Olympic bronze medalist Alain Bernard in lane eight as a darkhorse.
Prediction:
1. Cielo
2. Adrian
3. Fratus
American Missy Franklin has established herself as the clear favorite for gold in the final of the women’s 200 back. She clocked a personal-best time of 2:07.71 in prelims to lead qualifiers before recording a 2:05.90 in her semi-final to break Margaret Hoelzer’s American record of 2:06.09 from 2008. Franklin is now the third-fastest performer in history, and both ahead of her (Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry and Russia’s Anastasia Zueva) missed the cut for the final. She is the prohibitive favorite for gold tomorrow in the final. Meanwhile, I predict fellow American Elizabeth Beisel to take the silver. With Australians Meagan Nay and Belinda Hocking and Britain’s Elizabeth Simmonds not swimming at their respective bests and many gold medal favorites missing the final, Beisel has a real opening here.
Prediction:
1. Franklin
2. Beisel
3. Hocking
Next up is the men’s 100 fly. Kenya’s Jason Dunford has a lot of speed and might take the lead at the start, but this race will be all about USA’s Michael Phelps. Exerting very little energy, he clocked 51.47 in the semi-final for the top seed and holds the world’s fastest time at 51.32 from last month. I expect Phelps to blast a low-50 swim in the final and get down to Ian Crocker’s textile best of 50.40 from the Montreal World Champs six years ago. Meanwhile, the race for silver is wide open, with top contenders including Japan’s Takuro Fujii, American Tyler McGill, Australia’s Geoff Huegill, and Poland’s Konrad Czerniak.
Prediction:
1. Phelps
2. Huegill
3. McGill
In the final heat of the women’s 800 free, Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and defending World champion Lotte Friis pushed each other to respective times of 8:22.27 and 8:23.07, and no one is within 4.5 seconds. However, no other contender had nearly the level of competition within the heat as those two, so despite qualifying fourth in 8:28.28, I expect American Kate Ziegler to be a big threat. Ziegler won world titles in this event in 2005 and 2007 and also won the Pan Pacific title last year. Fellow American Chloe Sutton rebounded from ninth-place finishes in both the 400 and 1500 to qualify third here in 8:27.72, but I don’t think she can hang with the big three.
Prediction:
1. Adlington
2. Friis
3. Ziegler
The women’s medley relay brings to a close the penultimate night of action in Shanghai, and I predict the Americans to win gold for the first time since 1998. Rebecca Soni (breast) and Dana Vollmer (fly) each won gold in their respective 100 races, Natalie Coughlin won bronze in the 100 back, and Missy Franklin split a blazing 52.99 on the 400 free relay. China, meanwhile, won gold in the 100 back with Zhao Jing, bronzes in the 100 breast (Ji Liping) and 100 fly (Lu Ying), while Tang Yi split 53.12 to anchor the 400 free relay. Australia will lead off with Emily Seebohm and Leisel Jones, while Alicia Coutts is their fastest flyer and freestyler. Replacing her with either Jessicah Schipper (fly) or Yolane Kukla (free) will hurt. Another option is to swim Seebohm on free, Coutts on fly, and Hocking on back.
Prediction:
1. United States
2. China
3. Australia
In 2009, the Americans fell victim to a deep field and missed qualifying for finals. To avoid a repeat, they will need to swim some strong legs during prelims. The obvious B-team quartet is Elizabeth Pelton (back), Amanda Beard (breast), Christine Magnuson (fly), and Kara Lynn Joyce (free), but I don’t think risking missing finals just to use these swimmers is worth it. Jessica Hardy is another option for either the breast or free leg, but she will have the prelims of the 50 free and 50 breast in the same session. Some finals swimmers will have to swim twice in order to be safe in qualifying.
In prelims tonight/tomorrow morning, depending on where you are, we will see a swim-off for first alternate in the men’s 50 free. Australia’s Matt Targett and Russia’s Sergey Fesikov tied for ninth place in 22.09, prompting the need for a swim-off, despite the fact that neither man will go through to the final regardless. Definitely could be interesting to keep an eye on, and maybe one or both will swim a time in the 21 range. The calm water in a swim-off situation combined with impressive performances already in Shanghai for both men could lead to some nice fireworks for prelims.
Finally, Eric Shanteau provided more good news for the American men’s medley relay today. He finished fourth in the 200 breast today in 2:09.28, much faster than last year’s best of 2:10.09. Thus, he should be able to put up a split in the 59-mid range on the relay, which should be enough to put the Americans close enough to the lead where Michael Phelps can crush his opponents and Nathan Adrian cruise home to victory. With Hughes Duboscq missing finals in either breaststroke event, the news keeps getting better for the American men in their quest for gold.
After six days of competition in Shanghai, the scores in the prediction contest are as follows. Looks like a two-man race for the top spot, and I am in the lead!
1. David Rieder 252
2. Matt Salzberg 248
3. Melissa German 223
4. Chris DeSantis 219
5. Braden Keith 218
6. John Lohn 214
7. John Liu 212
8. Kristine Sorenson 208
9. Jerry Shandrew 196
10. Tom Willdridge 187
11. Sebastian Schwenke 152
Meanwhile, six more finals are on the agenda for tomorrow’s finals, beginning with the women’s 50 fly. Sweden’s Therese Alshammar holds the world record (25.07), textile best and 2011’s top-ranked time (25.37), and the number one seed for the final (25.52). Despite losing out in a tight finish back in 2009, I think she will be untouchable here and reclaim her world title that she previously won in 2007. Dutchwoman Inge Dekker, China’s Lu Ying, and Alshammar’s teammate Sarah Sjostrom will also start from the middle lanes, while American Dana Vollmer is a darkhorse from lane eight, barely qualifying just minutes after competing in the 100 free final.
Prediction:
1. Alshammar
2. Lu
3. Vollmer
Brazil finished 1-2 in the semi-finals of the men’s 50 free. Bruno Fratus clocked 21.76, while his more-decorated teammate Cesar Cielo checked in at 21.79. Cielo is the reigning World and Olympic champion and world record-holder, and I think he’ll take the win in the final. However, I’m not sure if Fratus has anything left in the tank. American Nathan Adrian qualified third in 21.94, and Adrian will try to make up for a disappointing sixth-place finish in the 100 free. The field is wide open, especially after defending silver medalist Fred Bousquet missed the semi-finals, and an attack could come from any of the eight qualifiers. Watch Olympic bronze medalist Alain Bernard in lane eight as a darkhorse.
Prediction:
1. Cielo
2. Adrian
3. Fratus
American Missy Franklin has established herself as the clear favorite for gold in the final of the women’s 200 back. She clocked a personal-best time of 2:07.71 in prelims to lead qualifiers before recording a 2:05.90 in her semi-final to break Margaret Hoelzer’s American record of 2:06.09 from 2008. Franklin is now the third-fastest performer in history, and both ahead of her (Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry and Russia’s Anastasia Zueva) missed the cut for the final. She is the prohibitive favorite for gold tomorrow in the final. Meanwhile, I predict fellow American Elizabeth Beisel to take the silver. With Australians Meagan Nay and Belinda Hocking and Britain’s Elizabeth Simmonds not swimming at their respective bests and many gold medal favorites missing the final, Beisel has a real opening here.
Prediction:
1. Franklin
2. Beisel
3. Hocking
Next up is the men’s 100 fly. Kenya’s Jason Dunford has a lot of speed and might take the lead at the start, but this race will be all about USA’s Michael Phelps. Exerting very little energy, he clocked 51.47 in the semi-final for the top seed and holds the world’s fastest time at 51.32 from last month. I expect Phelps to blast a low-50 swim in the final and get down to Ian Crocker’s textile best of 50.40 from the Montreal World Champs six years ago. Meanwhile, the race for silver is wide open, with top contenders including Japan’s Takuro Fujii, American Tyler McGill, Australia’s Geoff Huegill, and Poland’s Konrad Czerniak.
Prediction:
1. Phelps
2. Huegill
3. McGill
In the final heat of the women’s 800 free, Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and defending World champion Lotte Friis pushed each other to respective times of 8:22.27 and 8:23.07, and no one is within 4.5 seconds. However, no other contender had nearly the level of competition within the heat as those two, so despite qualifying fourth in 8:28.28, I expect American Kate Ziegler to be a big threat. Ziegler won world titles in this event in 2005 and 2007 and also won the Pan Pacific title last year. Fellow American Chloe Sutton rebounded from ninth-place finishes in both the 400 and 1500 to qualify third here in 8:27.72, but I don’t think she can hang with the big three.
Prediction:
1. Adlington
2. Friis
3. Ziegler
The women’s medley relay brings to a close the penultimate night of action in Shanghai, and I predict the Americans to win gold for the first time since 1998. Rebecca Soni (breast) and Dana Vollmer (fly) each won gold in their respective 100 races, Natalie Coughlin won bronze in the 100 back, and Missy Franklin split a blazing 52.99 on the 400 free relay. China, meanwhile, won gold in the 100 back with Zhao Jing, bronzes in the 100 breast (Ji Liping) and 100 fly (Lu Ying), while Tang Yi split 53.12 to anchor the 400 free relay. Australia will lead off with Emily Seebohm and Leisel Jones, while Alicia Coutts is their fastest flyer and freestyler. Replacing her with either Jessicah Schipper (fly) or Yolane Kukla (free) will hurt. Another option is to swim Seebohm on free, Coutts on fly, and Hocking on back.
Prediction:
1. United States
2. China
3. Australia
In 2009, the Americans fell victim to a deep field and missed qualifying for finals. To avoid a repeat, they will need to swim some strong legs during prelims. The obvious B-team quartet is Elizabeth Pelton (back), Amanda Beard (breast), Christine Magnuson (fly), and Kara Lynn Joyce (free), but I don’t think risking missing finals just to use these swimmers is worth it. Jessica Hardy is another option for either the breast or free leg, but she will have the prelims of the 50 free and 50 breast in the same session. Some finals swimmers will have to swim twice in order to be safe in qualifying.
In prelims tonight/tomorrow morning, depending on where you are, we will see a swim-off for first alternate in the men’s 50 free. Australia’s Matt Targett and Russia’s Sergey Fesikov tied for ninth place in 22.09, prompting the need for a swim-off, despite the fact that neither man will go through to the final regardless. Definitely could be interesting to keep an eye on, and maybe one or both will swim a time in the 21 range. The calm water in a swim-off situation combined with impressive performances already in Shanghai for both men could lead to some nice fireworks for prelims.
Finally, Eric Shanteau provided more good news for the American men’s medley relay today. He finished fourth in the 200 breast today in 2:09.28, much faster than last year’s best of 2:10.09. Thus, he should be able to put up a split in the 59-mid range on the relay, which should be enough to put the Americans close enough to the lead where Michael Phelps can crush his opponents and Nathan Adrian cruise home to victory. With Hughes Duboscq missing finals in either breaststroke event, the news keeps getting better for the American men in their quest for gold.
After six days of competition in Shanghai, the scores in the prediction contest are as follows. Looks like a two-man race for the top spot, and I am in the lead!
1. David Rieder 252
2. Matt Salzberg 248
3. Melissa German 223
4. Chris DeSantis 219
5. Braden Keith 218
6. John Lohn 214
7. John Liu 212
8. Kristine Sorenson 208
9. Jerry Shandrew 196
10. Tom Willdridge 187
11. Sebastian Schwenke 152
Shanghai 2011: Day Six Finals Preview
The sixth night of finals will feature five more races for medals. Things will kick off with the women’s 100 free final. Olympic and World champion Britta Steffen withdrew from the competition after finishing 16th in prelims, but she was not expected to be a major factor in this 100 free regardless. The Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk split a 52.46 on the 400 free relay on opening night to anchor the Dutch to a world title, and she continued her top form with a strong time of 1:55.54 in the semi-finals of the 200 free. Meanwhile, she will have to deal with countrywoman Ranomi Kromowidjojo, the top-ranked swimmer in the world in 2010; and Brit Fran Halsall, who led the semi-finals with a time of 53.48, the fastest this year. Aussie Alicia Coutts has already won two silver medals in Shanghai, losing the gold in tight finishes in both, while Americans Natalie Coughlin and Dana Vollmer have far more to give than the 54.05 that left the two tied for sixth in the semi-finals.
Prediction:
1. Heemskerk
2. Halsall
3. Kromowidjojo
USA’s Ryan Lochte goes for his third gold medal of the meet in the men’s 200 back. Having already won the 200 free and set a world record in the 200 IM, he should be able to take the win here. He qualified first for the final in 1:55.65. I do not think he’ll get down to Aaron Peirsol’s world record of 1:51.92, but he could reach into the 1:53-low range or possibly even 1:52-high. Japan’s Ryosuke Irie finished right behind Lochte in the semi-final, and he took the silver behind the now-retired Peirsol at the 2009 World Champs in Rome. He is just as strong on top of the water as Lochte, but Lochte will hammer the underwaters, which really could make the difference here. Another American, Tyler Clary, grabbed third in the semi-finals in 1:56.00, and I really think the medalists will be these three men. Clary won silver behind Lochte at Pan Pacs last year. Sticking with my original prediction here.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Irie
3. Clary
The women’s 200 breast will be all about Rebecca Soni. Soni cruised to gold in the 100 distance, leading the field in each round by more than a second. She clocked 2:21.03 in the semi-final today, more than 2.5 seconds ahead of second seed Yuliya Efimova. I think she has more in the tank still; she will challenge Annamay Pierse’s world record of 2:20.12, but I predict she will come up just short. She will, however, beat Leisel Jones’ textile best of 2:20.54 and her top time from last year, a 2:20.69 posted at the Pan Pacific Championships. I predict Pierse to edge Efimova for the silver medal, while defending champion Nadja Higl sits out in lane eight. Having done absolutely nothing in the event since winning the title in Rome two years ago, I do not expect much, but she is the darkhorse of the bunch.
Prediction:
1. Soni
2. Pierse
3. Efimova
After finishing a disappointing fourth in the 100 breast, Kosuke Kitajima is back for the men’s 200 breast. He led the semi-final qualifiers in 2:08.81, just ahead of Daniel Gyurta’s 2:08.92, but reports from Shanghai indicate Kitajima might not have much time to drop from this swim. Kitajima’s teammate Naoya Tomita leads the world rankings at 2:08.25, but he did not make it to the final here. Germany’s Christian Von Lehm posted a 2:09.44 in the semi-final to qualify third, after swimming a 2:08.97 eight weeks ago. Eric Shanteau, the runner-up to Gyurta in Rome, won his semi-final heat in 2:10.03 and will be pushing for a medal as well. I predict Gyurta to defend his title here.
Prediction:
1. Gyurta
2. Kitajima
3. Shanteau
The American men should cruise in the 800 free relay to an easy win. Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps went 1-2 in the 200 free final, while Peter Vanderkaay has been swimming well, including an impressive fourth place-finish in the 400 free. Ricky Berens, Dave Walters, and Conor Dwyer will battle for rights to swim the fourth leg of the relay. Meanwhile, 100 free winner James Magnussen might put in a leg for Australia after his teammates in the 200 free underwhelmed in the individual event. Sun Yang will lead the Chinese charge, while Russia won silver in the last Olympics and Worlds and had two swimmers in the individual 200 free final.
Prediction:
1. United States
2. Russia
3. China
Prediction:
1. Heemskerk
2. Halsall
3. Kromowidjojo
USA’s Ryan Lochte goes for his third gold medal of the meet in the men’s 200 back. Having already won the 200 free and set a world record in the 200 IM, he should be able to take the win here. He qualified first for the final in 1:55.65. I do not think he’ll get down to Aaron Peirsol’s world record of 1:51.92, but he could reach into the 1:53-low range or possibly even 1:52-high. Japan’s Ryosuke Irie finished right behind Lochte in the semi-final, and he took the silver behind the now-retired Peirsol at the 2009 World Champs in Rome. He is just as strong on top of the water as Lochte, but Lochte will hammer the underwaters, which really could make the difference here. Another American, Tyler Clary, grabbed third in the semi-finals in 1:56.00, and I really think the medalists will be these three men. Clary won silver behind Lochte at Pan Pacs last year. Sticking with my original prediction here.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Irie
3. Clary
The women’s 200 breast will be all about Rebecca Soni. Soni cruised to gold in the 100 distance, leading the field in each round by more than a second. She clocked 2:21.03 in the semi-final today, more than 2.5 seconds ahead of second seed Yuliya Efimova. I think she has more in the tank still; she will challenge Annamay Pierse’s world record of 2:20.12, but I predict she will come up just short. She will, however, beat Leisel Jones’ textile best of 2:20.54 and her top time from last year, a 2:20.69 posted at the Pan Pacific Championships. I predict Pierse to edge Efimova for the silver medal, while defending champion Nadja Higl sits out in lane eight. Having done absolutely nothing in the event since winning the title in Rome two years ago, I do not expect much, but she is the darkhorse of the bunch.
Prediction:
1. Soni
2. Pierse
3. Efimova
After finishing a disappointing fourth in the 100 breast, Kosuke Kitajima is back for the men’s 200 breast. He led the semi-final qualifiers in 2:08.81, just ahead of Daniel Gyurta’s 2:08.92, but reports from Shanghai indicate Kitajima might not have much time to drop from this swim. Kitajima’s teammate Naoya Tomita leads the world rankings at 2:08.25, but he did not make it to the final here. Germany’s Christian Von Lehm posted a 2:09.44 in the semi-final to qualify third, after swimming a 2:08.97 eight weeks ago. Eric Shanteau, the runner-up to Gyurta in Rome, won his semi-final heat in 2:10.03 and will be pushing for a medal as well. I predict Gyurta to defend his title here.
Prediction:
1. Gyurta
2. Kitajima
3. Shanteau
The American men should cruise in the 800 free relay to an easy win. Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps went 1-2 in the 200 free final, while Peter Vanderkaay has been swimming well, including an impressive fourth place-finish in the 400 free. Ricky Berens, Dave Walters, and Conor Dwyer will battle for rights to swim the fourth leg of the relay. Meanwhile, 100 free winner James Magnussen might put in a leg for Australia after his teammates in the 200 free underwhelmed in the individual event. Sun Yang will lead the Chinese charge, while Russia won silver in the last Olympics and Worlds and had two swimmers in the individual 200 free final.
Prediction:
1. United States
2. Russia
3. China
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Five
Another day is in the books at the World Championships in Shanghai. On this fifth day of competition, we saw perhaps the best fireworks of the week thus far, including the first world record of the championships. Not only that, but also the first world record of 2011 and the first long course mark set since December of 2009. Ryan Lochte went out fast and did what he needed to do to not only get ahead of super-rival Michael Phelps, but with 15 meters to go, I saw something I had not seen in a long time; Lochte’s fingertips had come into contact with the red line that represents world record pace. From there, he put his head down and finished with enough power to beat the 1:54.10 he clocked in Rome two years ago. The clock said 1:54.00, faster than anybody had ever swum.
Check out these screenshots, courtesy of the Universal Sports race video. It had been too long since we had scen images such as this.
In my prediction blog yesterday, I said that Ryan Lochte would get down to his mark. I also said that Michael Phelps would break into the 1:54-range to finish second. However, I did not expect Phelps to show such staying power on the back half to push Lochte all the way to the finish as he did. Certainly, I did not think Phelps would beat his personal best time. But Phelps clocked 1:54.16 today, faster than the 1:54.33 he swam at the Beijing Olympics for his sixth of eight gold medals (and sixth world record). And he apparently did this off limited training? Next year in London, with both at their peak, both men will be faster and into the 1:53-range; only “epic” will describe that race.
Up next, in the men’s 100 free final, James Magnussen showed the world that he is a force to be reckoned with in the two-lapper. In 47.63, he backed up the 47.49 relay lead-off he notched on Sunday to beat out Canada’s Brent Hayden (47.95) and France’s William Meynard (48.00), with world record-holder Cesar Cielo fourth (48.01). America, meanwhile, had to settle for sixth place with Nathan Adrian (48.23). However, this race has shown such volatility over the past few years; a different man has led the world rankings every year since 2006. The places in this event will be once again scrambled in the year to come, much to the relief of American fans, but I’m not so sure about the winner.
James Magnussen made his first international impact at the Commonwealth Games, where he anchored Australia’s 400 free relay team to gold with a 48.57 split. Not long after, he won Australia’s 100 free national title in 48.29. Despite a bout of pneumonia shortly before Worlds, he still managed to drop 47s in the 100 free three times this week; in the past year and a half, only one other man has broken the barrier. And on top of all this, he is just 20 years old. In a traditionally age-dominated race, he has nearly unlimited potential.
Lochte and Magnussen made headlines today, but another swimmer made jaws drop worldwide. In the women’s 50 back, Russia’s Anastasia Zueva made up for so many close calls to win her first world title, while Japan’s Aya Terakawa made up for a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 100 back with a silver medal. Meanwhile, American Missy Franklin snuck in for a surprise bronze medal, clocking 28.01. But she wasn’t close to being done; after leading off Team USA’s 800 free relay in prelims in a personal-best time of 1:56.98, she returned in finals to clock 1:55.06 on the lead-off leg. Not only did Franklin cut 2.5 seconds off her lifetime best in a day, but she missed the American record by a mere tenth, coming up just shy of the two year old mark of 1:54.96 that Allison Schmitt clocked in a polyurethane suit. Moreover, she became the fifth-fastest swimmer of all time in the event!
Franklin carried the American team to the win, as Dagny Knutson, Katie Hoff, and Allison Schmitt comfortably held off teams from Australia and China. Ironically, Franklin did not even qualify for this relay in the first place! She clocked 1:59.17 to finish tenth at Nationals last summer. Now, however, things have changed. Already with one medal of each color, Franklin heads into her signature 200 back as a newly-minted favorite. Her best time right now is 2:07.96, set back in March. At this point, breaking Margaret Hoelzer’s American record of 2:06.09 in route to a gold medal could not be considered a surprise.
Additionally, it looks like she’ll anchor the American medley relay, a team which is an easy choice for gold after strong individual performances from Natalie Coughlin (back), Rebecca Soni (breast), and Dana Vollmer. Franklin popped a 52.99 leg on the 400 free relay on the way to a silver medal there; no American has ever bested that split in a textile suit. As Peter Busch said on today’s Morning Swim Show, her performances today in Shanghai officially completed her transition from “star” to “superstar.”
In tomorrow’s prelims (or tonight’s, depending on where you are), we will see the opening rounds of six different events. To start things off, Cesar Cielo and Nathan Adrian will attempt to make up for disappointing performances in the men’s 100 free with medal runs in the 50, but they will have to fend off a tough Frenchman named Fred Bousquet, the first man to break 21 seconds. Meanwhile, 100 fly gold medalist Dana Vollmer takes on veteran Therese Alshammar in the 50 fly. Michael Phelps returns to water for the 100 fly, an event in which he has recently dominated, while perennial silver medalist Milorad Cavic has aims on making up for a lackluster 50 fly.
Franklin takes to the blocks in the women’s 200 back against double Olympic champion Kirsty Coventry, 100 back champion Zhao Jing, and a tough, wide open field. American Elizabeth Beisel won bronze in the event in 2009, while Australians Meagan Nay and Belinda Hocking have both impressed in the event thus far this year. American Chloe Sutton will try to rebound from a pair of ninth-place finishes in the 400 and 1500 free when she swims the 800, while Rebecca Adlington, Lotte Friis, and Kate Ziegler should battle for gold.
Looks like a two-person race in the prediction contest. Will I be able to retake the lead from challenger Matt Salzberg?
1. Matt Salzberg 208
2. David Rieder 202
3. Melissa German 187
4. Chris DeSantis 182
5. John Liu 179
6. Kristine Sorenson 178
7. Braden Keith 178
8. John Lohn 160
9. Jerry Shandrew 148
10. Tom Willdridge 142
11. Sebastian Schwenke 132
Check out these screenshots, courtesy of the Universal Sports race video. It had been too long since we had scen images such as this.
In my prediction blog yesterday, I said that Ryan Lochte would get down to his mark. I also said that Michael Phelps would break into the 1:54-range to finish second. However, I did not expect Phelps to show such staying power on the back half to push Lochte all the way to the finish as he did. Certainly, I did not think Phelps would beat his personal best time. But Phelps clocked 1:54.16 today, faster than the 1:54.33 he swam at the Beijing Olympics for his sixth of eight gold medals (and sixth world record). And he apparently did this off limited training? Next year in London, with both at their peak, both men will be faster and into the 1:53-range; only “epic” will describe that race.
Up next, in the men’s 100 free final, James Magnussen showed the world that he is a force to be reckoned with in the two-lapper. In 47.63, he backed up the 47.49 relay lead-off he notched on Sunday to beat out Canada’s Brent Hayden (47.95) and France’s William Meynard (48.00), with world record-holder Cesar Cielo fourth (48.01). America, meanwhile, had to settle for sixth place with Nathan Adrian (48.23). However, this race has shown such volatility over the past few years; a different man has led the world rankings every year since 2006. The places in this event will be once again scrambled in the year to come, much to the relief of American fans, but I’m not so sure about the winner.
James Magnussen made his first international impact at the Commonwealth Games, where he anchored Australia’s 400 free relay team to gold with a 48.57 split. Not long after, he won Australia’s 100 free national title in 48.29. Despite a bout of pneumonia shortly before Worlds, he still managed to drop 47s in the 100 free three times this week; in the past year and a half, only one other man has broken the barrier. And on top of all this, he is just 20 years old. In a traditionally age-dominated race, he has nearly unlimited potential.
Lochte and Magnussen made headlines today, but another swimmer made jaws drop worldwide. In the women’s 50 back, Russia’s Anastasia Zueva made up for so many close calls to win her first world title, while Japan’s Aya Terakawa made up for a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 100 back with a silver medal. Meanwhile, American Missy Franklin snuck in for a surprise bronze medal, clocking 28.01. But she wasn’t close to being done; after leading off Team USA’s 800 free relay in prelims in a personal-best time of 1:56.98, she returned in finals to clock 1:55.06 on the lead-off leg. Not only did Franklin cut 2.5 seconds off her lifetime best in a day, but she missed the American record by a mere tenth, coming up just shy of the two year old mark of 1:54.96 that Allison Schmitt clocked in a polyurethane suit. Moreover, she became the fifth-fastest swimmer of all time in the event!
Franklin carried the American team to the win, as Dagny Knutson, Katie Hoff, and Allison Schmitt comfortably held off teams from Australia and China. Ironically, Franklin did not even qualify for this relay in the first place! She clocked 1:59.17 to finish tenth at Nationals last summer. Now, however, things have changed. Already with one medal of each color, Franklin heads into her signature 200 back as a newly-minted favorite. Her best time right now is 2:07.96, set back in March. At this point, breaking Margaret Hoelzer’s American record of 2:06.09 in route to a gold medal could not be considered a surprise.
Additionally, it looks like she’ll anchor the American medley relay, a team which is an easy choice for gold after strong individual performances from Natalie Coughlin (back), Rebecca Soni (breast), and Dana Vollmer. Franklin popped a 52.99 leg on the 400 free relay on the way to a silver medal there; no American has ever bested that split in a textile suit. As Peter Busch said on today’s Morning Swim Show, her performances today in Shanghai officially completed her transition from “star” to “superstar.”
In tomorrow’s prelims (or tonight’s, depending on where you are), we will see the opening rounds of six different events. To start things off, Cesar Cielo and Nathan Adrian will attempt to make up for disappointing performances in the men’s 100 free with medal runs in the 50, but they will have to fend off a tough Frenchman named Fred Bousquet, the first man to break 21 seconds. Meanwhile, 100 fly gold medalist Dana Vollmer takes on veteran Therese Alshammar in the 50 fly. Michael Phelps returns to water for the 100 fly, an event in which he has recently dominated, while perennial silver medalist Milorad Cavic has aims on making up for a lackluster 50 fly.
Franklin takes to the blocks in the women’s 200 back against double Olympic champion Kirsty Coventry, 100 back champion Zhao Jing, and a tough, wide open field. American Elizabeth Beisel won bronze in the event in 2009, while Australians Meagan Nay and Belinda Hocking have both impressed in the event thus far this year. American Chloe Sutton will try to rebound from a pair of ninth-place finishes in the 400 and 1500 free when she swims the 800, while Rebecca Adlington, Lotte Friis, and Kate Ziegler should battle for gold.
Looks like a two-person race in the prediction contest. Will I be able to retake the lead from challenger Matt Salzberg?
1. Matt Salzberg 208
2. David Rieder 202
3. Melissa German 187
4. Chris DeSantis 182
5. John Liu 179
6. Kristine Sorenson 178
7. Braden Keith 178
8. John Lohn 160
9. Jerry Shandrew 148
10. Tom Willdridge 142
11. Sebastian Schwenke 132
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Four
At this halfway point of the 2011 World Championships, I need to start this blog with an apology. I received a prediction submission from John Liu, more commonly known as “John26” in comment sections on various blogs. However, his predictions did not end up on the spreadsheet I am using to score the contest until I realized my mistake today. Naturally, John’s picks will be considered in the prediction contest from this point on, and we now have eleven competitors. You can check out a copy of that spreadsheet here, and these are the scores after four days and 17 finals. In the lead, as expected, is the swim geek!
1. David Rieder 171
2. Matt Salzberg 167
3. Chris DeSantis 161
4. Kristine Sorenson 155
5. John Liu 152
6. Melissa German 151
7. Braden Keith 142
8. John Lohn 130
9. Jerry Shandrew 119
10. Tom Willdridge 114
11. Sebastian Schwenke 109
Now, onto the action we saw today in Shanghai. Federica Pellegrini won yet another world title in a race in which the three leaders at the halfway mark fell back to the bottom three places. Sun Yang, subject of all the hype of the swimming world coming into the meet, finally won his first world title, while the distance dominator of recent years, Ous Mellouli, fell out of the medals in a disappointing race (more on that before the 1500). Felipe Silva showed why semi-final times do not decide gold medalists whilst bringing a storm with a controversial dolphin kick on the finish. And Michael Phelps reminded everyone, especially Takeshi Matsuda and Wu Peng, that he indeed is Michael Phelps.
After getting through a recap in record time, I’ll take a look at the finals on tap for tomorrow in Shanghai. It all begins with the men’s 200 IM, another showdown between Phelps and Lochte, Lochte and Phelps. I think Phelps goes out hard, just like he has already in the 200 free and 200 fly and takes a lead on Lochte down the first lap, but Lochte will stick to him on back and spring ahead on breast. Phelps’ middle strokes do look better than last year, so I think he’ll finish in the 1:54-range, but Lochte will break the world record and take down the 1:54 barrier. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh is the third qualifier for the final, but he looked like he expended a lot of energy in his semi-final. Likewise, Brazil’s Thiago Pereira will really hurt down the last lap of the race, leaving an opening for Austria’s Markus Rogan.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Phelps
3. Rogan
Up next, the big men take to the blocks for the final of the 100 free. Brazil’s Cesar Cielo is the defending champion and world record-holder, but his confidence and expectations seem relatively low. He did not beat his season-best time in the 50 fly, and thus I do not know if he can improve on the 48.26 he swam at the Paris Open. Australia’s James Magnussen led off the 400 free relay in 47.49, and he is the favorite for gold with a monster back half. American Nathan Adrian qualified second behind Magnussen, 47.90 to 48.05, and he probably has the best shot to stay with the young Aussie. Don’t sleep on 2007 World Champ Brent Hayden or 2010 Short Course Worlds silver medalist Fabien Gilot.
Prediction:
1. Magnussen
2. Adrian
3. Cielo
Little more than a second separates the finalists in the women’s 200 fly, and I think almost any of the eight could touch the wall first. British swimmers Jemma Lowe and Ellen Gandy won their respective semi-final heats, but I think China’s Olympic champion, Liu Zige, has another gear after losing some ground on the back half in the semi-final. Look for Liu and teammate Jiao Liuyang to go out fast and try to hang on. The field consists of two Brits, two Chinese, and two Aussies, including triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice and two-time defending World Champ Jessicah Schipper.
Prediction:
1. Liu
2. Lowe
3. Schipper
The women’s 50 back is even more wide open than the aforementioned 200 fly, and I would not be surprised at all to see any of the eight swimmers in the field take the gold. Russia’s Anastasia Zueva is the top seed, and she will be hungry after missing gold in the 100 back by just one one-hundredth of a second. China’s Zhao Jing, who won that 100 back and won the 50 back at the Worlds in Rome, opted not to compete in the 50 this time around. Teammate Gao Chang has twice before won medals at Worlds but never gold. Japan’s Aya Terakawa entered the meet as a medal favorite in both the 50 and 100 back but underperformed in the 100. Belarus’ Aliaksandra Herasimenia once tied the world record in this event, while American teenage sensation Missy Franklin will aim for a medal here in preparation for her big event, the 200 back.
Prediction:
1. Zueva
2. Herasimenia
3. Terakawa
The Australians look like the team to beat in the women’s 800 free relay after Kylie Palmer won silver in the individual 200 free, and teammate Bronte Barratt also made the final. The deciding factors will be how their younger and inexperienced teammates step up. The Americans will look to veterans Allison Schmitt and Dana Vollmer to lead the team, while youngsters Dagny Knutson and potentially Missy Franklin will join the team in the quest to improve on the silver they won at the 2009 Worlds. Disappointing swims by Katie Hoff and Morgan Scroggy have thrown this relay’s potential into doubt. And finally, there are the defending World Champions, the Chinese. Although none of the entries into the individual 200 free performed well, China has a tendency to step up their game in this relay. With the British and Hungarian teams underperforming and France lacking a fourth strong leg, I don’t think anyone can touch the top-three; the only question is order of finish.
Prediction:
1. Australia
2. United States
3. China
1. David Rieder 171
2. Matt Salzberg 167
3. Chris DeSantis 161
4. Kristine Sorenson 155
5. John Liu 152
6. Melissa German 151
7. Braden Keith 142
8. John Lohn 130
9. Jerry Shandrew 119
10. Tom Willdridge 114
11. Sebastian Schwenke 109
Now, onto the action we saw today in Shanghai. Federica Pellegrini won yet another world title in a race in which the three leaders at the halfway mark fell back to the bottom three places. Sun Yang, subject of all the hype of the swimming world coming into the meet, finally won his first world title, while the distance dominator of recent years, Ous Mellouli, fell out of the medals in a disappointing race (more on that before the 1500). Felipe Silva showed why semi-final times do not decide gold medalists whilst bringing a storm with a controversial dolphin kick on the finish. And Michael Phelps reminded everyone, especially Takeshi Matsuda and Wu Peng, that he indeed is Michael Phelps.
After getting through a recap in record time, I’ll take a look at the finals on tap for tomorrow in Shanghai. It all begins with the men’s 200 IM, another showdown between Phelps and Lochte, Lochte and Phelps. I think Phelps goes out hard, just like he has already in the 200 free and 200 fly and takes a lead on Lochte down the first lap, but Lochte will stick to him on back and spring ahead on breast. Phelps’ middle strokes do look better than last year, so I think he’ll finish in the 1:54-range, but Lochte will break the world record and take down the 1:54 barrier. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh is the third qualifier for the final, but he looked like he expended a lot of energy in his semi-final. Likewise, Brazil’s Thiago Pereira will really hurt down the last lap of the race, leaving an opening for Austria’s Markus Rogan.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Phelps
3. Rogan
Up next, the big men take to the blocks for the final of the 100 free. Brazil’s Cesar Cielo is the defending champion and world record-holder, but his confidence and expectations seem relatively low. He did not beat his season-best time in the 50 fly, and thus I do not know if he can improve on the 48.26 he swam at the Paris Open. Australia’s James Magnussen led off the 400 free relay in 47.49, and he is the favorite for gold with a monster back half. American Nathan Adrian qualified second behind Magnussen, 47.90 to 48.05, and he probably has the best shot to stay with the young Aussie. Don’t sleep on 2007 World Champ Brent Hayden or 2010 Short Course Worlds silver medalist Fabien Gilot.
Prediction:
1. Magnussen
2. Adrian
3. Cielo
Little more than a second separates the finalists in the women’s 200 fly, and I think almost any of the eight could touch the wall first. British swimmers Jemma Lowe and Ellen Gandy won their respective semi-final heats, but I think China’s Olympic champion, Liu Zige, has another gear after losing some ground on the back half in the semi-final. Look for Liu and teammate Jiao Liuyang to go out fast and try to hang on. The field consists of two Brits, two Chinese, and two Aussies, including triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice and two-time defending World Champ Jessicah Schipper.
Prediction:
1. Liu
2. Lowe
3. Schipper
The women’s 50 back is even more wide open than the aforementioned 200 fly, and I would not be surprised at all to see any of the eight swimmers in the field take the gold. Russia’s Anastasia Zueva is the top seed, and she will be hungry after missing gold in the 100 back by just one one-hundredth of a second. China’s Zhao Jing, who won that 100 back and won the 50 back at the Worlds in Rome, opted not to compete in the 50 this time around. Teammate Gao Chang has twice before won medals at Worlds but never gold. Japan’s Aya Terakawa entered the meet as a medal favorite in both the 50 and 100 back but underperformed in the 100. Belarus’ Aliaksandra Herasimenia once tied the world record in this event, while American teenage sensation Missy Franklin will aim for a medal here in preparation for her big event, the 200 back.
Prediction:
1. Zueva
2. Herasimenia
3. Terakawa
The Australians look like the team to beat in the women’s 800 free relay after Kylie Palmer won silver in the individual 200 free, and teammate Bronte Barratt also made the final. The deciding factors will be how their younger and inexperienced teammates step up. The Americans will look to veterans Allison Schmitt and Dana Vollmer to lead the team, while youngsters Dagny Knutson and potentially Missy Franklin will join the team in the quest to improve on the silver they won at the 2009 Worlds. Disappointing swims by Katie Hoff and Morgan Scroggy have thrown this relay’s potential into doubt. And finally, there are the defending World Champions, the Chinese. Although none of the entries into the individual 200 free performed well, China has a tendency to step up their game in this relay. With the British and Hungarian teams underperforming and France lacking a fourth strong leg, I don’t think anyone can touch the top-three; the only question is order of finish.
Prediction:
1. Australia
2. United States
3. China
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Three
All year, the swim geeks of the world have hyped the men’s 200 free as the race of the World Championships. There was the superstar and his perpetual challenger. The world record-holder and his young Russian and French rivals were in the field. And on top of that, another man started the final as the odds-on favorite; after winning the 400 free in dominating fashion on the meet’s first night, South Korea’s Tae Hwan Park had a strong chance to do one better than the silver medal he won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Meanwhile, many questioned whether the aforementioned superstar, none other than Michael Phelps, even had a chance to medal.
The two Americans took the race out from the start, and Phelps led for the first half of the race. But off the second wall, Ryan Lochte showed his superiority, dominating that lap and holding off Phelps for the world title. Lochte posted a personal best time of 1:44.44, crushing his old mark of 1:45.30 set in winning the Pan Pacific Championships last year. In textile suits, Lochte is now the third-fastest swimmer in history, trailing just Phelps and Aussie great Ian Thorpe. Phelps, meanwhile, touched at 1:44.79, his second-fastest time ever in a textile suit behind the 1:43.86 he clocked at the 2007 World Championships to wipe Thorpe’s name from the record books.
In a tight scramble to the wall behind Lochte, Phelps barely out-touched Germany’s Paul Biedermann (1:44.88) and Park (1:44.92), with France’s Yannick Agnel finishing fifth in 1:44.99. Going into the race, China’s Sun Yang had held the world’s top time at 1:44.99, so six men have broken the 1:45 mark this year for the first time ever! Yep, even with the high tech suits, no more than five men have ever broken 1:45 in a year. In 2009, Biedermann, Phelps, Russia’s Danila Izotov, and Americans Ricky Berens and Dave Walters broke the barrier, and other than that, never more than two in one year have done so. While the top-end speed seen with the suits – such as Biedermann’s 1:42.00 world record – is gone, the hype and pressure have pushed this event to new, never-before-seen heights in depth. All of this cumulated in one of them most exciting races I’ve ever seen.
To be honest, the rest of today’s races were very predictable; in fact, I predicted all four of the remaining winners in my original predictions last week. All that I took away was more good news for the American medley relays. In the men’s 100 back, Nick Thoman and David Plummer recorded respective times of 53.01 and 53.04, not far away from Frenchmen Camille Lacourt and Jeremy Stravius, who tied for gold in 52.76. Some had predicted a French lead of a second on the backstroke lead on the medley relay on their way to a potential gold. Now, with a clear American advantage on fly and even breast and staying close enough on back, the chance of a French upset is quickly diminishing.
On a related note, France now faces a dilemma as to which backstroker to use on the lead-off for the medley relay after today’s tie. While conventional wisdom would say to use Lacourt on that leg, I believe Stravius is the best bet. On the final night of competition, Lacourt will swim the 50 back final, where he is the big favorite after posting a time of 24.07 in 2010, just 0.03 off the world record. Stravius, meanwhile, is far less likely to make the final of that event. If, as I expect, Lacourt is the only Frenchmen in that final, France would be doing a disservice to their team by using Lacourt for the second time in the session.
For the women, Rebecca Soni clocked a relatively pedestrian time of 1:05.05 for gold in the 100 breast. Many had predicted a world record (1:04.45) or at least an improvement over her semi-final time of 1:04.91, but she now holds the top-seven times recorded in the 100 breast this year. Still, it didn’t matter; Soni defeated Olympic gold medalist Leisel Jones by 1.20 seconds, as Jones came in second at 1:06.25. China’s Ji Liping hit the wall at 1:06.52 for third. Soni has established a clear lead on the Aussies and Chinese in breast, a huge boost for the U.S. medley relay. With Natalie Coughlin showing her ability to at the very least stay within a tenth or two of her competition in the 100 back and Dana Vollmer winning the 100 fly, the American women look pretty golden right now as well.
Four more finals await us tomorrow, including Michael Phelps in his best event, the 200 fly. Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda and China’s Chen Yin qualified ahead of Phelps, but Phelps noticeably turned off the gas the last lap of his semi-final swim and had a terrible finish. I think Phelps turns it on tomorrow and crush his competition from the start. Matsuda is the easy favorite for silver, but I think almost anyone in the final could grab one of the minor medals.
Prediction:
1. Phelps
2. Matsuda
3. Jukic
Dutchwoman Femke Heemskerk obliterated the field in the semi-finals of the women’s 200 free by nearly a second, but she tends to be inconsistent in her 200 swims, and I don’t know if she can improve upon the 1:55.54 she swam already. Defending champion Federica Pellegrini qualified second in 1:56.42, while defending silver medalist Allison Schmitt finished at the back of a tight seven-woman pack in 1:57.07, after clocking 1:56.66 in prelims. Look for a big improvement by both swimmers tomorrow, while 400 free bronze medalist Camille Muffat has staked her claim as a contender as well.
Prediction:
1. Pellegrini
2. Heemskerk
3. Schmitt
China’s Sun Yang led the way in the men’s 800 free prelims, while Pal Joensen of the Faroe Islands held off Canada’s Ryan Cochrane for the second seed, with all three recording 7:45 splits. Both really pushed each other down the stretch, giving the indication that these two expended more energy than some of the other competitors. Ous Mellouli has the top credentials of all the finalists, as he is the World and Olympic champion in the 1500 and defending silver medalist in the 800. Americans Peter Vanderkaay and Chad La Tourette both made the final and will swim from lanes 7 and 8, respectively. They could chase Larsen Jensen’s American record of 7:45.63 set back in 2005.
Prediction:
1. Sun
2. Mellouli
3. Cochrane
South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh and Brazil’s Felipe Silva set themselves up as the men to beat in the 50 breast final with sub-27 performances in the semi-final. The pair finished 1-2 at both the last Worlds in Rome and also the Short Course Worlds in Dubai; van der Burgh beat Silva in Rome, while the Brazilian turned the tables in December in Dubai. The race for the medals should be tight, and I could see Italy’s Fabio Scozolli or Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen move up into the top-two. However, I will stick with my original prediction.
Prediction:
1. van der Burgh
2. Silva
3. Scozolli
Should be another great day of action in Shanghai on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the results of the prediction contest are coming in quickly, and we have a new leader after three days of competition. Still a tight race though.
1. Matt Salzberg 129
2. David Rieder 126
3. Chris DeSantis 117
4. Kristine Sorenson 115
5. Melissa German 103
6. Braden Keith 101
7. John Lohn 93
8. Jerry Shandrew 83
9. Sebastian Schwenke 78
10. Tom Willdridge 77
The two Americans took the race out from the start, and Phelps led for the first half of the race. But off the second wall, Ryan Lochte showed his superiority, dominating that lap and holding off Phelps for the world title. Lochte posted a personal best time of 1:44.44, crushing his old mark of 1:45.30 set in winning the Pan Pacific Championships last year. In textile suits, Lochte is now the third-fastest swimmer in history, trailing just Phelps and Aussie great Ian Thorpe. Phelps, meanwhile, touched at 1:44.79, his second-fastest time ever in a textile suit behind the 1:43.86 he clocked at the 2007 World Championships to wipe Thorpe’s name from the record books.
In a tight scramble to the wall behind Lochte, Phelps barely out-touched Germany’s Paul Biedermann (1:44.88) and Park (1:44.92), with France’s Yannick Agnel finishing fifth in 1:44.99. Going into the race, China’s Sun Yang had held the world’s top time at 1:44.99, so six men have broken the 1:45 mark this year for the first time ever! Yep, even with the high tech suits, no more than five men have ever broken 1:45 in a year. In 2009, Biedermann, Phelps, Russia’s Danila Izotov, and Americans Ricky Berens and Dave Walters broke the barrier, and other than that, never more than two in one year have done so. While the top-end speed seen with the suits – such as Biedermann’s 1:42.00 world record – is gone, the hype and pressure have pushed this event to new, never-before-seen heights in depth. All of this cumulated in one of them most exciting races I’ve ever seen.
To be honest, the rest of today’s races were very predictable; in fact, I predicted all four of the remaining winners in my original predictions last week. All that I took away was more good news for the American medley relays. In the men’s 100 back, Nick Thoman and David Plummer recorded respective times of 53.01 and 53.04, not far away from Frenchmen Camille Lacourt and Jeremy Stravius, who tied for gold in 52.76. Some had predicted a French lead of a second on the backstroke lead on the medley relay on their way to a potential gold. Now, with a clear American advantage on fly and even breast and staying close enough on back, the chance of a French upset is quickly diminishing.
On a related note, France now faces a dilemma as to which backstroker to use on the lead-off for the medley relay after today’s tie. While conventional wisdom would say to use Lacourt on that leg, I believe Stravius is the best bet. On the final night of competition, Lacourt will swim the 50 back final, where he is the big favorite after posting a time of 24.07 in 2010, just 0.03 off the world record. Stravius, meanwhile, is far less likely to make the final of that event. If, as I expect, Lacourt is the only Frenchmen in that final, France would be doing a disservice to their team by using Lacourt for the second time in the session.
For the women, Rebecca Soni clocked a relatively pedestrian time of 1:05.05 for gold in the 100 breast. Many had predicted a world record (1:04.45) or at least an improvement over her semi-final time of 1:04.91, but she now holds the top-seven times recorded in the 100 breast this year. Still, it didn’t matter; Soni defeated Olympic gold medalist Leisel Jones by 1.20 seconds, as Jones came in second at 1:06.25. China’s Ji Liping hit the wall at 1:06.52 for third. Soni has established a clear lead on the Aussies and Chinese in breast, a huge boost for the U.S. medley relay. With Natalie Coughlin showing her ability to at the very least stay within a tenth or two of her competition in the 100 back and Dana Vollmer winning the 100 fly, the American women look pretty golden right now as well.
Four more finals await us tomorrow, including Michael Phelps in his best event, the 200 fly. Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda and China’s Chen Yin qualified ahead of Phelps, but Phelps noticeably turned off the gas the last lap of his semi-final swim and had a terrible finish. I think Phelps turns it on tomorrow and crush his competition from the start. Matsuda is the easy favorite for silver, but I think almost anyone in the final could grab one of the minor medals.
Prediction:
1. Phelps
2. Matsuda
3. Jukic
Dutchwoman Femke Heemskerk obliterated the field in the semi-finals of the women’s 200 free by nearly a second, but she tends to be inconsistent in her 200 swims, and I don’t know if she can improve upon the 1:55.54 she swam already. Defending champion Federica Pellegrini qualified second in 1:56.42, while defending silver medalist Allison Schmitt finished at the back of a tight seven-woman pack in 1:57.07, after clocking 1:56.66 in prelims. Look for a big improvement by both swimmers tomorrow, while 400 free bronze medalist Camille Muffat has staked her claim as a contender as well.
Prediction:
1. Pellegrini
2. Heemskerk
3. Schmitt
China’s Sun Yang led the way in the men’s 800 free prelims, while Pal Joensen of the Faroe Islands held off Canada’s Ryan Cochrane for the second seed, with all three recording 7:45 splits. Both really pushed each other down the stretch, giving the indication that these two expended more energy than some of the other competitors. Ous Mellouli has the top credentials of all the finalists, as he is the World and Olympic champion in the 1500 and defending silver medalist in the 800. Americans Peter Vanderkaay and Chad La Tourette both made the final and will swim from lanes 7 and 8, respectively. They could chase Larsen Jensen’s American record of 7:45.63 set back in 2005.
Prediction:
1. Sun
2. Mellouli
3. Cochrane
South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh and Brazil’s Felipe Silva set themselves up as the men to beat in the 50 breast final with sub-27 performances in the semi-final. The pair finished 1-2 at both the last Worlds in Rome and also the Short Course Worlds in Dubai; van der Burgh beat Silva in Rome, while the Brazilian turned the tables in December in Dubai. The race for the medals should be tight, and I could see Italy’s Fabio Scozolli or Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen move up into the top-two. However, I will stick with my original prediction.
Prediction:
1. van der Burgh
2. Silva
3. Scozolli
Should be another great day of action in Shanghai on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the results of the prediction contest are coming in quickly, and we have a new leader after three days of competition. Still a tight race though.
1. Matt Salzberg 129
2. David Rieder 126
3. Chris DeSantis 117
4. Kristine Sorenson 115
5. Melissa German 103
6. Braden Keith 101
7. John Lohn 93
8. Jerry Shandrew 83
9. Sebastian Schwenke 78
10. Tom Willdridge 77
Monday, July 25, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Three Finals Predictions
Five finals await the world on a packed Day 3 of competition in Shanghai. Having already discussed what transpired on the first two days of action, here is my take on what is to come on Tuesday and some updated predictions regarding the action. Without further ado, here goes.
The hardest race to predict of the five is the first, the men’s 200 free. France’s Yannick Agnel leads the way, followed closely by the German defending champion Paul Biedermann. Americans Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps bracket 400 free champion Park Tae Hwan, and the medals will stay between those five swimmers. Olympic gold medalist Phelps really cruised through the middle 100 of his semi-final swim, but I just don’t know if he’s in good enough shape to get this title back. Biedermann has looked better than I expected here, and a German gold here would not surprise me like it would have a week ago. Park did not swim as fast as many predicted in the 400 free, but again, he has the speed to be ready to go here. But I will predict Lochte to win gold. He looked sharp in the semi-final, and although Biedermann did out-touch him, he had the win before putting the race on cruise control 10 meters from the wall.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Park
3. Phelps
I originally predicted China’s Zhao Jing to win the women’s 100 back, ahead of Japan’s Aya Terakawa and the United States’ Natalie Coughlin. However, Zhao has not looked especially sharp through the first few rounds, and Terakawa barely qualified for the final in eighth, while Coughlin cruised to the top qualifying position. The race is tight through to the final and will be once again tomorrow, but she has a tendency to get her fingertips on the wall just in time, as she has done in the last two Olympic races. I pick Coughlin to win her third career World title in the 100 back tomorrow.
Prediction:
1. Coughlin
2. Zhao
3. Zueva
The women’s 1500 free comes next, perhaps the most open race of the night. Lotte Friis leads the way in 16:00.47, but the prelims were fast and tight. In reality, any of the eight finalists could win a gold medal tomorrow. Friis won the 800 free at the 2009 Worlds in Rome after finishing second in the 1500, Kate Ziegler of the U.S. holds the world record at 15:42.54, having obliterated Janet Evans’ 19 year old mark back in 2007. Ziegler, the 2005 and 2007 champion in this event, finished second to Friis in their heat on Monday morning in 16:02.53 for the third-ranked qualifying time overall. Australian Melissa Gorman defeated Ziegler to take the 1500 crown at Pan Pacs last summer, and Gorman is already a London Olympian, having qualified in the 10k Open Water last week. Perhaps the most surprising prelim swim came from Shao Yiwen, who clocked a Chinese record time of 16:01.72 to finish second.
Prediction:
1. Friis
2. Ziegler
3. Shao
France’s Jeremy Stravius led all qualifiers in the 100 back semi-finals, clocking 52.76 to break 53 for the first time in his career. However, his countryman Camille Lacourt is the favorite for gold, having swum 52.11, not far from Aaron Peirsol’s world record of 51.94, to win the European title last year. I don’t think Lacourt will quite get to Peirsol’s mark in the final, but he should win gold. Stravius will battle for the silver medal with Japan’s Ryosuke Irie, and I predict American David Plummer to get in on all the fun to grab a medal. The race for the top will be tight with Plummer’s teammate Nick Thoman and Britain’s Liam Tancock and Germany’s Helge Meeuw, both previous medalists in this event. I do not expect New Zealand’s Gareth Kean to be a factor.
Prediction:
1. Lacourt
2. Stravius
3. Plummer
I am not making a bold prediction in picking American Rebecca Soni to win the women’s 100 breast. She has led prelims and semi-finals by more than a second and a half each time. Her semi-final time of 1:04.91 and her prelim time of 1:05.54 are the two fastest times in the world this year, respectively. Already, Soni holds the top-six times swum in 2011! The big question is can she approach the world record? Jessica Hardy clocked that 1:04.45 back in 2009, but I don’t think Soni has quite enough to break the record in Shanghai. Maybe next year in London. Leisel Jones, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, qualified second in 1:06.66; she will be much faster in the final, but I still don’t see her approaching Jones. Defending silver medalist and European champion Yuliya Efimova and Chinese swimmers Ji Liping and Sun Ye look like challengers for a bronze.
Prediction:
1. Soni
2. Jones
3. Ji
Looks like another great finals session tomorrow from China, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Two world records (men’s 100 back and women’s 100 breast) will be on watch, and I see swimmers approaching but not beating these times. Not to worry; world records will be set later on this week.
Finally, I will share the results of my prediction contest after two days of action. Looks like a good competitive battle going on, but I think we all remember who is the swim geek! You can view all the prediction entries here.
1. David Rieder 78
2. Matt Salzberg 77
3. Kristine Sorenson 68
4. Chris DeSantis 64
5. John Lohn 62
6. Braden Keith 60
7. Jerry Shandrew 54
8. Melissa German 53
9. Sebastian Schwenke 44
10. Tom Willdridge 43
The hardest race to predict of the five is the first, the men’s 200 free. France’s Yannick Agnel leads the way, followed closely by the German defending champion Paul Biedermann. Americans Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps bracket 400 free champion Park Tae Hwan, and the medals will stay between those five swimmers. Olympic gold medalist Phelps really cruised through the middle 100 of his semi-final swim, but I just don’t know if he’s in good enough shape to get this title back. Biedermann has looked better than I expected here, and a German gold here would not surprise me like it would have a week ago. Park did not swim as fast as many predicted in the 400 free, but again, he has the speed to be ready to go here. But I will predict Lochte to win gold. He looked sharp in the semi-final, and although Biedermann did out-touch him, he had the win before putting the race on cruise control 10 meters from the wall.
Prediction:
1. Lochte
2. Park
3. Phelps
I originally predicted China’s Zhao Jing to win the women’s 100 back, ahead of Japan’s Aya Terakawa and the United States’ Natalie Coughlin. However, Zhao has not looked especially sharp through the first few rounds, and Terakawa barely qualified for the final in eighth, while Coughlin cruised to the top qualifying position. The race is tight through to the final and will be once again tomorrow, but she has a tendency to get her fingertips on the wall just in time, as she has done in the last two Olympic races. I pick Coughlin to win her third career World title in the 100 back tomorrow.
Prediction:
1. Coughlin
2. Zhao
3. Zueva
The women’s 1500 free comes next, perhaps the most open race of the night. Lotte Friis leads the way in 16:00.47, but the prelims were fast and tight. In reality, any of the eight finalists could win a gold medal tomorrow. Friis won the 800 free at the 2009 Worlds in Rome after finishing second in the 1500, Kate Ziegler of the U.S. holds the world record at 15:42.54, having obliterated Janet Evans’ 19 year old mark back in 2007. Ziegler, the 2005 and 2007 champion in this event, finished second to Friis in their heat on Monday morning in 16:02.53 for the third-ranked qualifying time overall. Australian Melissa Gorman defeated Ziegler to take the 1500 crown at Pan Pacs last summer, and Gorman is already a London Olympian, having qualified in the 10k Open Water last week. Perhaps the most surprising prelim swim came from Shao Yiwen, who clocked a Chinese record time of 16:01.72 to finish second.
Prediction:
1. Friis
2. Ziegler
3. Shao
France’s Jeremy Stravius led all qualifiers in the 100 back semi-finals, clocking 52.76 to break 53 for the first time in his career. However, his countryman Camille Lacourt is the favorite for gold, having swum 52.11, not far from Aaron Peirsol’s world record of 51.94, to win the European title last year. I don’t think Lacourt will quite get to Peirsol’s mark in the final, but he should win gold. Stravius will battle for the silver medal with Japan’s Ryosuke Irie, and I predict American David Plummer to get in on all the fun to grab a medal. The race for the top will be tight with Plummer’s teammate Nick Thoman and Britain’s Liam Tancock and Germany’s Helge Meeuw, both previous medalists in this event. I do not expect New Zealand’s Gareth Kean to be a factor.
Prediction:
1. Lacourt
2. Stravius
3. Plummer
I am not making a bold prediction in picking American Rebecca Soni to win the women’s 100 breast. She has led prelims and semi-finals by more than a second and a half each time. Her semi-final time of 1:04.91 and her prelim time of 1:05.54 are the two fastest times in the world this year, respectively. Already, Soni holds the top-six times swum in 2011! The big question is can she approach the world record? Jessica Hardy clocked that 1:04.45 back in 2009, but I don’t think Soni has quite enough to break the record in Shanghai. Maybe next year in London. Leisel Jones, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, qualified second in 1:06.66; she will be much faster in the final, but I still don’t see her approaching Jones. Defending silver medalist and European champion Yuliya Efimova and Chinese swimmers Ji Liping and Sun Ye look like challengers for a bronze.
Prediction:
1. Soni
2. Jones
3. Ji
Looks like another great finals session tomorrow from China, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Two world records (men’s 100 back and women’s 100 breast) will be on watch, and I see swimmers approaching but not beating these times. Not to worry; world records will be set later on this week.
Finally, I will share the results of my prediction contest after two days of action. Looks like a good competitive battle going on, but I think we all remember who is the swim geek! You can view all the prediction entries here.
1. David Rieder 78
2. Matt Salzberg 77
3. Kristine Sorenson 68
4. Chris DeSantis 64
5. John Lohn 62
6. Braden Keith 60
7. Jerry Shandrew 54
8. Melissa German 53
9. Sebastian Schwenke 44
10. Tom Willdridge 43
Shanghai 2011: Days One and Two
We are one-fourth of the way through the pool events at the World Championships in Shanghai, and we have seen exciting races and surprising finishes already. From Dana Vollmer’s fireworks in the 100 fly and the surprisingly slow and back-and-forth men’s 400 free to the myriad of reactions upon the conclusion of the men’s 50 fly and Alexander Dale Oen’s emotional win in the men’s 100 breast, the meet has been unpredictable, exciting, and fast. Today, I will take a look at some of my favorite races thus far and preview tomorrow’s finals action in Shanghai.
The first final of the meet was the men’s 400 free. In the lead-up, swim blogs had been bursting with predictions of Sun Yang breaking Paul Biedermann’s suit-aided world record of 3:40.07 set back in 2009. Meanwhile, Olympic champion Tae Hwan Park had gone from a co-favorite to probable bridesmaid over the last few months. The event’s prelims did not change the scene; only Sun broke 3:45, while Park snuck into the final in seventh. From there, Park set the pace, only to be caught at the 200 mark. At the 250, France’s Yannick Agnel had the lead, followed by Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli and Canada’s Ryan Cochrane. However, at that point, things changed.
On the sixth of eight laps, Park stormed ahead once again and moved into a position where no one could touch him. Meanwhile, Sun and Biedermann raced past the three leaders at the 250 to earn the minor spoils, respectively, while American Peter Vanderkaay put on an impressive show to finish in fourth place. In the end, all of the finalists recorded slower times than I had expected with the exceptions of Biedermann and Vanderkaay.
What did we learn in this crazy, surprisingly slow final? The veterans will come through when they need to. Many had counted out Park for the gold after Sun’s impressive performances in the lead-up, but once again, the Olympic champ and 2007 World Champ came through. After disappointing performances in 2010, many people expected very little from Biedermann and Vanderkaay – no one in my prediction contest picked either to finish on the medal stand, while choosing Mellouli and Agnel instead – but both veterans came through on the major stage as they have before.
While the women’s 400 free relay held to form as a duel between the U.S. and the Netherlands, with the favored Dutch coming out on top, the men’s relay went convoluted. Everyone talked about America and France, France and the United States. A few people said that Australia, led by rising star James Magnussen, could make a dent, but these predictions quieted when Magnussen revealed he had pneumonia. Apparently, though, pneumonia is the best way to taper. The Aussie busted out a 47.49 lead-off leg, the fastest time ever recorded in a textile suit, to make him history’s eighth-fastest performer. Matt Targett, Matt Abood, and Eamon Sullivan did the job on the back, holding off France and the U.S. for the gold.
So what does this mean? First off, Magnussen is the real deal. Hyped after clocking 48.29 back in March, he now has a legitimate shot to knock off the likes of Cesar Cielo, Brent Hayden, and Nathan Adrian in the 100 free to become the next great in the event. While Magnussen is not as sharp in races shorter than 100, he won Australia’s Short Course Nationals in the 200 free in 1:44.12, so at the very least he could add a punch to the Aussies’ ever-improving 800 free relay. More importantly, with the likes of Ian Thorpe on the comeback trail with the goal of making this 400 free relay team, the competition Down Under is fierce, and this relay has upwards potential. If they want to have a chance of defending their Olympic title next year, the American team will need to rely on the same kind of competition to get on this relay to push them back over the top.
Cesar Cielo won the men’s 50 fly today, followed by Australians Matt Targett and Geoff Huegill. Cielo, whose participation in this meet was up in the air as recently as last Friday, displayed his typical reaction full of tears, while former Auburn teammate Targett looked not totally satisfied after winning his second straight silver in the event. Huegill, meanwhile, looked simply thrilled. His comeback story has been well publicized, and this meet is just another stepping stone to his final goal of next year’s London Olympics. Huegill won the first 50 butterfly title at the World Championships back in 2001, but standing on the podium once more brings things full circle for him. He knows and appreciates the sport more than anyone else out there; hence the reaction to what wasn’t even a great time for him. Hence the reason that Geoff Huegill is one of my favorite swimmers in the world.
Going into the final of the men’s 100 breast, most foresaw a duel between Japan’s double defending Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima and Norway’s two-time European champion Alexander Dale Oen. Many also thought defending world champion Brenton Rickard was a favorite for a medal. In the 50 breast, however, most predicted a completely different slate of medal contenders, including South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh, Brazil’s Felipe Silva, Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr, and Italy’s Fabio Scozolli. No one picked any of these four in the 100 breast.
Dale Oen won the 100 breast in 58.71, but neither Kitajima nor Rickard got under the 1:00 barrier; instead Scozolli and van der Burgh won the other medals with respective times of 59.42 and 59.49. Moreover, Dale Oen’s clocked a 27.20 split at the halfway point, the top time in the world this year in the 50 breast. Now, it looks more and more likely that the same three could medal in the 50 breast. While swimmers medaling in the 50 and 100 breast events have been very common, the landscape of the events has suddenly changed to where the meet could end with more double medalists than anticipated.
American Mark Gangloff posted a swift time of 1:00.19 in the semi-final of the 100 breast to make the final, where he finished eighth. The American men’s medley relay has been viewed a vulnerable to the French as of late, in part due to America’s weakness in the breast. However, with Gangloff beating Frenchman Hughes Duboscq (who did not make the final) and Eric Shanteau reportedly swimming a fast 100 breast time trial, that leg appears to be taken care of. Meanwhile, the other 100-meter final contested today, the women’s 100 fly, showed much more how the women’s medley relay will play out. Dana Vollmer clocked 56.47 in the semi-final, while Australian Alicia Coutts and China’s Lu Ying never approached that time. Moreover, Coutts might end up swimming freestyle on that relay, and fellow Aussie Jessicah Schipper finished even further back in the pack. American strength seems assured on fly.
More to come today, including my preview of the finals to be contested on Tuesday in Shanghai and some updated predictions, along with the results of my prediction contest after two days of action.
The first final of the meet was the men’s 400 free. In the lead-up, swim blogs had been bursting with predictions of Sun Yang breaking Paul Biedermann’s suit-aided world record of 3:40.07 set back in 2009. Meanwhile, Olympic champion Tae Hwan Park had gone from a co-favorite to probable bridesmaid over the last few months. The event’s prelims did not change the scene; only Sun broke 3:45, while Park snuck into the final in seventh. From there, Park set the pace, only to be caught at the 200 mark. At the 250, France’s Yannick Agnel had the lead, followed by Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli and Canada’s Ryan Cochrane. However, at that point, things changed.
On the sixth of eight laps, Park stormed ahead once again and moved into a position where no one could touch him. Meanwhile, Sun and Biedermann raced past the three leaders at the 250 to earn the minor spoils, respectively, while American Peter Vanderkaay put on an impressive show to finish in fourth place. In the end, all of the finalists recorded slower times than I had expected with the exceptions of Biedermann and Vanderkaay.
What did we learn in this crazy, surprisingly slow final? The veterans will come through when they need to. Many had counted out Park for the gold after Sun’s impressive performances in the lead-up, but once again, the Olympic champ and 2007 World Champ came through. After disappointing performances in 2010, many people expected very little from Biedermann and Vanderkaay – no one in my prediction contest picked either to finish on the medal stand, while choosing Mellouli and Agnel instead – but both veterans came through on the major stage as they have before.
While the women’s 400 free relay held to form as a duel between the U.S. and the Netherlands, with the favored Dutch coming out on top, the men’s relay went convoluted. Everyone talked about America and France, France and the United States. A few people said that Australia, led by rising star James Magnussen, could make a dent, but these predictions quieted when Magnussen revealed he had pneumonia. Apparently, though, pneumonia is the best way to taper. The Aussie busted out a 47.49 lead-off leg, the fastest time ever recorded in a textile suit, to make him history’s eighth-fastest performer. Matt Targett, Matt Abood, and Eamon Sullivan did the job on the back, holding off France and the U.S. for the gold.
So what does this mean? First off, Magnussen is the real deal. Hyped after clocking 48.29 back in March, he now has a legitimate shot to knock off the likes of Cesar Cielo, Brent Hayden, and Nathan Adrian in the 100 free to become the next great in the event. While Magnussen is not as sharp in races shorter than 100, he won Australia’s Short Course Nationals in the 200 free in 1:44.12, so at the very least he could add a punch to the Aussies’ ever-improving 800 free relay. More importantly, with the likes of Ian Thorpe on the comeback trail with the goal of making this 400 free relay team, the competition Down Under is fierce, and this relay has upwards potential. If they want to have a chance of defending their Olympic title next year, the American team will need to rely on the same kind of competition to get on this relay to push them back over the top.
Cesar Cielo won the men’s 50 fly today, followed by Australians Matt Targett and Geoff Huegill. Cielo, whose participation in this meet was up in the air as recently as last Friday, displayed his typical reaction full of tears, while former Auburn teammate Targett looked not totally satisfied after winning his second straight silver in the event. Huegill, meanwhile, looked simply thrilled. His comeback story has been well publicized, and this meet is just another stepping stone to his final goal of next year’s London Olympics. Huegill won the first 50 butterfly title at the World Championships back in 2001, but standing on the podium once more brings things full circle for him. He knows and appreciates the sport more than anyone else out there; hence the reaction to what wasn’t even a great time for him. Hence the reason that Geoff Huegill is one of my favorite swimmers in the world.
Going into the final of the men’s 100 breast, most foresaw a duel between Japan’s double defending Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima and Norway’s two-time European champion Alexander Dale Oen. Many also thought defending world champion Brenton Rickard was a favorite for a medal. In the 50 breast, however, most predicted a completely different slate of medal contenders, including South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh, Brazil’s Felipe Silva, Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr, and Italy’s Fabio Scozolli. No one picked any of these four in the 100 breast.
Dale Oen won the 100 breast in 58.71, but neither Kitajima nor Rickard got under the 1:00 barrier; instead Scozolli and van der Burgh won the other medals with respective times of 59.42 and 59.49. Moreover, Dale Oen’s clocked a 27.20 split at the halfway point, the top time in the world this year in the 50 breast. Now, it looks more and more likely that the same three could medal in the 50 breast. While swimmers medaling in the 50 and 100 breast events have been very common, the landscape of the events has suddenly changed to where the meet could end with more double medalists than anticipated.
American Mark Gangloff posted a swift time of 1:00.19 in the semi-final of the 100 breast to make the final, where he finished eighth. The American men’s medley relay has been viewed a vulnerable to the French as of late, in part due to America’s weakness in the breast. However, with Gangloff beating Frenchman Hughes Duboscq (who did not make the final) and Eric Shanteau reportedly swimming a fast 100 breast time trial, that leg appears to be taken care of. Meanwhile, the other 100-meter final contested today, the women’s 100 fly, showed much more how the women’s medley relay will play out. Dana Vollmer clocked 56.47 in the semi-final, while Australian Alicia Coutts and China’s Lu Ying never approached that time. Moreover, Coutts might end up swimming freestyle on that relay, and fellow Aussie Jessicah Schipper finished even further back in the pack. American strength seems assured on fly.
More to come today, including my preview of the finals to be contested on Tuesday in Shanghai and some updated predictions, along with the results of my prediction contest after two days of action.
Genuine joy from Geoff Huegill upon returning to the medal podium in the 50 fly in Shanghai after a decade-long hiatus.
Picture: Michael Sohn Source: AP
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Day Two Finals Predictions
I know that I have not yet shared my swim-geeking about these FINA World Championships in Shanghai, and I deeply apologize to the hoard of you who sat at your computers all day waiting for my blog. I have spent the weekend at my State Championship meet, swimming fast (though certainly not nearly as fast as the swimmers I am writing about). I did not even get a chance to watch most of this morning/last night’s finals live! But don’t worry; I will be up to watch live tomorrow morning, and then I’ll share my full thoughts on both sessions of finals. The lack of sleep combined with the lactic acid from my last race going to my head (yes, I skimped on warm-down) will cause me deliria tomorrow, but who cares?
This morning, we saw two very different results from two defending champions in the two women’s 100-meter races. One of them blasted the fastest time in the world to lead qualifiers by a second and a half. A loss in this race would be a monumental upset. The other, sick with food poisoning this weekend, finished 23rd in a time nearly four seconds slower than world record that she set in Rome in 2009. Such is the nature of our sport and the results that Rebecca Soni and Gemma Spofforth achieved today, respectively. Oh how drastically things can change in just two years. That said, wishing the best to Spofforth down the line.
Meanwhile, some updated predictions for finals:
Women’s 100 Fly
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Sarah Sjostrum
3. Alicia Coutts
*Vollmer looks too good to be stopped.
Men’s 50 Fly
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Geoff Huegill
3. Matt Targett
*Expect some outsider smoke from Targett and Fred Bousquet.
Women’s 200 IM
1. Yi Shiwen
2. Ariana Kukors
3. Stephanie Rice
*Top three looks solid but really could go in any order. Sticking with my original pick.
Men’s 100 Breast
1. Alexander Dale Oen
2. Kosuke Kitajima
3. Brenton Rickard
*Standing by my same top-three as before; they’ve done nothing to change my mind.
This morning, we saw two very different results from two defending champions in the two women’s 100-meter races. One of them blasted the fastest time in the world to lead qualifiers by a second and a half. A loss in this race would be a monumental upset. The other, sick with food poisoning this weekend, finished 23rd in a time nearly four seconds slower than world record that she set in Rome in 2009. Such is the nature of our sport and the results that Rebecca Soni and Gemma Spofforth achieved today, respectively. Oh how drastically things can change in just two years. That said, wishing the best to Spofforth down the line.
Meanwhile, some updated predictions for finals:
Women’s 100 Fly
1. Dana Vollmer
2. Sarah Sjostrum
3. Alicia Coutts
*Vollmer looks too good to be stopped.
Men’s 50 Fly
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Geoff Huegill
3. Matt Targett
*Expect some outsider smoke from Targett and Fred Bousquet.
Women’s 200 IM
1. Yi Shiwen
2. Ariana Kukors
3. Stephanie Rice
*Top three looks solid but really could go in any order. Sticking with my original pick.
Men’s 100 Breast
1. Alexander Dale Oen
2. Kosuke Kitajima
3. Brenton Rickard
*Standing by my same top-three as before; they’ve done nothing to change my mind.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Shanghai 2011: Predictions, Part Four
We are less than one week away from the start of pool swimming at the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai. Instead of discussing storylines headed into the meet as I so often do, I decided instead to post my predictions in four parts, and under each prediction, I included some of my thoughts headed in to the meet. While in many cases this meet is much more straightforward in predicting than a national-level meet, there is more opportunity for a swimmer to come out of the woodwork to win a medal. So we will see how this goes. This final round of predictions includes the men’s freestyle, IM, and relay events. You can find my predictions for women’s events here and here, and the first part of my men’s predictions, including backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events, here.
Note: With the decision as to whether Cesar Cielo can compete in the World Championships still looming, I have included four places in his events. If he is not allowed to compete, the second-place finisher moves up to gold.
50 Free
1. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
2. Fred Bousquet, France
3. Nathan Adrian, USA
4. Andriy Govorov, Ukraine
*If he gets to compete, Cielo will show that he is truly a dominant force in the one-lapper. The top-three are clear of the rest of the world. Darkhorse pick for fourth.
100 Free
1. Nathan Adrian, USA
2. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
3. Brent Hayden, Canada
4. Fabien Gilot, France
*Cielo goes out quickly and forces the pace, but Adrian motors down the stretch and edges his Brazilian rival.
200 Free
1. Michael Phelps, USA
2. Ryan Lochte, USA
3. Tae Hwan Park, Korea
*Could go a lot of different ways among the top three, but I predict strong underwater work is the difference-maker for the Americans ahead of the Korean superstar.
400 Free
1. Tae Hwan Park, Korea
2. Sun Yang, China
3. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia
*Park goes out fast and stays ahead of the Chinese distance sensation for the entire race. Mellouli is too powerful for the rest of the field.
800 Free
1. Sun Yang, China
2. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia
3. Ryan Cochrane, Canada
*Sun Yang wins first of two golds over Mellouli, while bronze is somewhat open. Americans LaTourette and Vanderkaay should both be in the final.
1500 Free
1. Sun Yang, China
2. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia
3. Ryan Cochrane, Canada
*Mellouli won’t go down without a fight, but Sun Yang has been on fire for the past 12 months. Top-three looks solid here.
200 IM
1. Ryan Lochte, USA
2. Michael Phelps, USA
3. Thiago Pereira, Brazil
*Lochte takes the lead on breaststroke and never looks back as he cracks into the 1:53 range for the first time. Pereira finally earns a medal after many fourth-place finishes.
400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte, USA
2. Tyler Clary, USA
3. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary
*At the end of his program, Lochte should still have enough to hold off a strong charge from the rising medley superstar Clary.
4x100 Free Relay
1. United States
2. France
3. Russia
*Americans have the speed, depth, and mental advantage needed to take this one.
4x200 Free Relay
1. United States
2. Russia
3. China
*Maybe the Americans can get under 7:00 for the first time in textile. Sun Yang and Zhang Lin lead the new Chinese threat in this event.
4x100 Medley Relay
1. United States
2. France
3. Australia
*Despite weakness early on, Michael Phelps puts the Americans into a strong lead with his fly leg, enough for the win. Look for Germany to make a strong push for the medals as well, while Japan will be in the mix until freestyle.
Note: With the decision as to whether Cesar Cielo can compete in the World Championships still looming, I have included four places in his events. If he is not allowed to compete, the second-place finisher moves up to gold.
50 Free
1. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
2. Fred Bousquet, France
3. Nathan Adrian, USA
4. Andriy Govorov, Ukraine
*If he gets to compete, Cielo will show that he is truly a dominant force in the one-lapper. The top-three are clear of the rest of the world. Darkhorse pick for fourth.
100 Free
1. Nathan Adrian, USA
2. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
3. Brent Hayden, Canada
4. Fabien Gilot, France
*Cielo goes out quickly and forces the pace, but Adrian motors down the stretch and edges his Brazilian rival.
200 Free
1. Michael Phelps, USA
2. Ryan Lochte, USA
3. Tae Hwan Park, Korea
*Could go a lot of different ways among the top three, but I predict strong underwater work is the difference-maker for the Americans ahead of the Korean superstar.
400 Free
1. Tae Hwan Park, Korea
2. Sun Yang, China
3. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia
*Park goes out fast and stays ahead of the Chinese distance sensation for the entire race. Mellouli is too powerful for the rest of the field.
800 Free
1. Sun Yang, China
2. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia
3. Ryan Cochrane, Canada
*Sun Yang wins first of two golds over Mellouli, while bronze is somewhat open. Americans LaTourette and Vanderkaay should both be in the final.
1500 Free
1. Sun Yang, China
2. Ous Mellouli, Tunisia
3. Ryan Cochrane, Canada
*Mellouli won’t go down without a fight, but Sun Yang has been on fire for the past 12 months. Top-three looks solid here.
200 IM
1. Ryan Lochte, USA
2. Michael Phelps, USA
3. Thiago Pereira, Brazil
*Lochte takes the lead on breaststroke and never looks back as he cracks into the 1:53 range for the first time. Pereira finally earns a medal after many fourth-place finishes.
400 IM
1. Ryan Lochte, USA
2. Tyler Clary, USA
3. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary
*At the end of his program, Lochte should still have enough to hold off a strong charge from the rising medley superstar Clary.
4x100 Free Relay
1. United States
2. France
3. Russia
*Americans have the speed, depth, and mental advantage needed to take this one.
4x200 Free Relay
1. United States
2. Russia
3. China
*Maybe the Americans can get under 7:00 for the first time in textile. Sun Yang and Zhang Lin lead the new Chinese threat in this event.
4x100 Medley Relay
1. United States
2. France
3. Australia
*Despite weakness early on, Michael Phelps puts the Americans into a strong lead with his fly leg, enough for the win. Look for Germany to make a strong push for the medals as well, while Japan will be in the mix until freestyle.
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