I know it's early and there's many races to go but --- wanted to ask the experienced swimmers here what they think of Lochte's performance so far.
Is he trying to do too much and swim too many events? I thought he'd medal every event he was in but it looks like he was out of the hardware awards in the 200 freestyle.
Also --- a general question: What's the purpose of the "warm-down" pool? Is it significantly warmer than the main long-course pool? Does it just promote greater relaxation? Is it a usual fixture at major competitions?
Thanks.
AJD
Performance in the 400 IM was awesome, best textile time ever and a PB for him. He was clearly gassed at the end, but maybe if he had someone pushing him he may well have gotten the WR, one that I thought untouchable right now.
It is hard to judge his 100 free split on the relay because he hasn't swum it much before. It was a good time but it looked worse than it was because of Agnel's blazing split; he also admitted to the strategic mistake of spinning his wheels a bit too much in the first half of that swim, which is somewhat of a rookie mistake on relays (although Bernard did exactly the same thing 4 years earlier).
In the 200 free he was about half a second slower than when he won World Championships the year before; if he had done that time he would have gotten silver, and if he had improved it a little -- which maybe he expected to do -- he would have been competitive with Agnel. So he surely expected to go faster and was disappointed that he didn't. But still, he was about 0.1 sec from the silver medal.
He's having a fine meet but not up to the standards he probably set for himself (nor the unreasonable standards the media and maybe the public have that he would have a meet comparable to Phelps' from 2008).
There is a lot of swimming left: he should be favored to win the 200 IM and is probably a co-favorite in the 200 back. He has tough competition in both races.
Performance in the 400 IM was awesome, best textile time ever and a PB for him. He was clearly gassed at the end, but maybe if he had someone pushing him he may well have gotten the WR, one that I thought untouchable right now.
It is hard to judge his 100 free split on the relay because he hasn't swum it much before. It was a good time but it looked worse than it was because of Agnel's blazing split; he also admitted to the strategic mistake of spinning his wheels a bit too much in the first half of that swim, which is somewhat of a rookie mistake on relays (although Bernard did exactly the same thing 4 years earlier).
In the 200 free he was about half a second slower than when he won World Championships the year before; if he had done that time he would have gotten silver, and if he had improved it a little -- which maybe he expected to do -- he would have been competitive with Agnel. So he surely expected to go faster and was disappointed that he didn't. But still, he was about 0.1 sec from the silver medal.
He's having a fine meet but not up to the standards he probably set for himself (nor the unreasonable standards the media and maybe the public have that he would have a meet comparable to Phelps' from 2008).
There is a lot of swimming left: he should be favored to win the 200 IM and is probably a co-favorite in the 200 back. He has tough competition in both races.
