Fast times in Hawaii: what are yours and how you plan on training?

The link I gave, besides having commentary on tangibles with first-hand knowledge of racing (i.e.: commentary on different starting styles, on Hall (US) breathing once at 30 meter, on Ervin (US) not breathing, on different pulling styles, statistics for diving lengths, for velocity, 19.5 stroke cycles which is 39 strokes per 50 meter for Hall and Ervin, etc), has a video of the finish. I played the video. I think that at the top of the screen is lane 1 and at the bottom is lane 8; Hall is in lane 4, van den Hoogenband (Ned) is in lane 5, Popov (Rus) in lane 6, Ervin I believe is in lane 3; the video starts at about 3 meters before the T at the bottom of the pool, which should be at about 8 meters before the end. At the start of the video, 8 meters before the end, Popov's head is ahead of the field. It seems that in pure swimming, not in finishing, he was the fastest. He does a butterfly undulation close to the wall, and lifts his head while his arm floats softly short of a wall touch and extends to the wall. He did many excellent finishes in his career, including at least two in the year 2000, but this one he blew it. Next to him, in lane 5, van den Hoogendand has this abnormal (by common standards) vitality, that gives him a propulsion almost on top of the water in the last 8 meters; he punches the wall and is impossible to tell who won; the commentary says he ended in third because he was caught in mid-move when touching. Next to him, in lane 4, Hall looks flawless to me, but next to Hall, in lane 3, Ervin seems to out-touch everybody. They both finish with the same winning time. This adventure certainly beats ordinary life; I can see why Alex Popov now age 31 and Mark Foster (GBR) now 32, persist on playing it over and over in each die-hard competition.

The link I gave, besides having commentary on tangibles with first-hand knowledge of racing (i.e.: commentary on different starting styles, on Hall (US) breathing once at 30 meter, on Ervin (US) not breathing, on different pulling styles, statistics for diving lengths, for velocity, 19.5 stroke cycles which is 39 strokes per 50 meter for Hall and Ervin, etc), has a video of the finish. I played the video. I think that at the top of the screen is lane 1 and at the bottom is lane 8; Hall is in lane 4, van den Hoogenband (Ned) is in lane 5, Popov (Rus) in lane 6, Ervin I believe is in lane 3; the video starts at about 3 meters before the T at the bottom of the pool, which should be at about 8 meters before the end. At the start of the video, 8 meters before the end, Popov's head is ahead of the field. It seems that in pure swimming, not in finishing, he was the fastest. He does a butterfly undulation close to the wall, and lifts his head while his arm floats softly short of a wall touch and extends to the wall. He did many excellent finishes in his career, including at least two in the year 2000, but this one he blew it. Next to him, in lane 5, van den Hoogendand has this abnormal (by common standards) vitality, that gives him a propulsion almost on top of the water in the last 8 meters; he punches the wall and is impossible to tell who won; the commentary says he ended in third because he was caught in mid-move when touching. Next to him, in lane 4, Hall looks flawless to me, but next to Hall, in lane 3, Ervin seems to out-touch everybody. They both finish with the same winning time. This adventure certainly beats ordinary life; I can see why Alex Popov now age 31 and Mark Foster (GBR) now 32, persist on playing it over and over in each die-hard competition.