Who will win? Hoogie or Thorpedo

Ian Thorpe (Aus), Peter van den Hoogenband (Ned), and others, did clash yesterday in a 200 meters freestyle race swam in a 25 meters pool, in Paris, France, a FINA World Cup meet. Thorpe won in 1:41.86, to van den Hoogenband 1:43.16. Thorpe developed in the past two years as a sprinter too, after considering before, racing in the 1500 meters free. As a sprinter, Thorpe ranks in 100 meters free Long Course Meters for the year 2002, #3 in the world with 48.73, to van den Hoogenband #1 in the world with 47.86. van den Hoogenband's world record is 47.84, so 47.86 by him last year, that's top notch fitness for him, and that's the second time in history that anybody -in fact, that van den Hoogenband twice- has gone 47 seconds. Yesterday's splits show a tendency for more sprints background by van den Hoogenband, against a more distance background by Thorpe. Thorpe 24.18 50.13 1:16.23 1:41.86 van den Hoogenband 24.13 49.76 1:16.39 1:43.16 I can imagine after a sprint 150 free, Thorpe and van den Hoogenband being neck to neck in respectively 1:16.23 and 1:16.39, then Thorpe nailing a last 50 sprint in 25.63 (to van den Hoogenband 26.77) with use of his trademark strong kick. Also, there were very good performances in breastroke by Lisogor (Ukr) and Kitajima (Jpn) (Kitajima holds the world record for 200 meters *** Long Course), both shaping up now for the Olympics next year, and by Coman (Rom), winner of the 400 meters free in 3:43.73. Nice...

Ian Thorpe (Aus), Peter van den Hoogenband (Ned), and others, did clash yesterday in a 200 meters freestyle race swam in a 25 meters pool, in Paris, France, a FINA World Cup meet. Thorpe won in 1:41.86, to van den Hoogenband 1:43.16. Thorpe developed in the past two years as a sprinter too, after considering before, racing in the 1500 meters free. As a sprinter, Thorpe ranks in 100 meters free Long Course Meters for the year 2002, #3 in the world with 48.73, to van den Hoogenband #1 in the world with 47.86. van den Hoogenband's world record is 47.84, so 47.86 by him last year, that's top notch fitness for him, and that's the second time in history that anybody -in fact, that van den Hoogenband twice- has gone 47 seconds. Yesterday's splits show a tendency for more sprints background by van den Hoogenband, against a more distance background by Thorpe. Thorpe 24.18 50.13 1:16.23 1:41.86 van den Hoogenband 24.13 49.76 1:16.39 1:43.16 I can imagine after a sprint 150 free, Thorpe and van den Hoogenband being neck to neck in respectively 1:16.23 and 1:16.39, then Thorpe nailing a last 50 sprint in 25.63 (to van den Hoogenband 26.77) with use of his trademark strong kick. Also, there were very good performances in breastroke by Lisogor (Ukr) and Kitajima (Jpn) (Kitajima holds the world record for 200 meters *** Long Course), both shaping up now for the Olympics next year, and by Coman (Rom), winner of the 400 meters free in 3:43.73. Nice...