Swimming Finals at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain

www.eurosport.com carries "minute by minute" live coverage of all swimming events (this does not include full detailed results, but is fun to follow nonetheless).

Wow did that Brit go out fast in the ***. New World Record too, by Kitajima (jpn). Ed moses, is he all talk?

I was surprised to see Carvin. I thought a few men in the states did a better 400 meter than he did last year. Anyway, his teammate Jensen, has a better chance at the olympics in the 1,500 than Chad does at the 400 meter.

Ed Moses competes his hardest. However in 100 meter and 200 meter breaststroke, the most improvement happened in the last few years when comparing to the other strokes, even though the breaststroke technique hasn't changed recently: .) in the 1998 World Championships, Kurt Grote (U.S.) was winning the 200 meter *** in 2:13.xx; .) now, Kitajima (Jpn.), the new world record holder of the 100 meter *** in 59.7x who just had his world record for 200 meter *** of 2:09.xx broken by a Russian a month ago, is going to swim here the 200 *** at around 2:09.xx. I warned before: in breaststroke, there are right now something like eight Mark Spitzes world wide, and Moses is one of them. In men 50 meter butterfly, I see that Roland Schoeman represented well the U.S.. Up until a few months ago, he was from South Africa. Roland Schoeman is a 23 years old tough-as-nails pure sprinter, who either got out touched (in 2001) or did out touch (in 2002) Anthony Ervin (U.S.) in N.C.A.A. sprints. In 1999, Schoeman led the world Long Course rankings in 50 meter free, with 22.04.

Last year, Carvin was #3 in U.S. for the 400 meter free, in 3:49.99. Klete Keller (U.S.) was #1 in U.S. at 3:48.40, and Erik Vendt was #2 in U.S. at 3:49.58. Vendt concentrates on 400 meter I.M. and 1500 meter free.

I have found www.fina.org to be prompt on posting results. This is the 3rd taper of the year for many of the US stars, so I am not sure if they will swim that well.

Thrope has held up pretty good for a young bloomer. Young men that swim world records at 17 years old sometimes disappeared by their early 20's. Rick Demont and Tim Shaw being two examples that come to mine.

The worlds are great. It is so good to watch the swimming on tv. The most amazing performance so far must be watching Matt Welsh, a Backstroker, win the 50m Fly from lane 8. The other swimmers did not know what had hit them. Did anyone notice the Blatent Dolphin Kick on Kitajima's (Jpn.), breakout in the Breaststoke Semi. I can't believe that he was not disqualified for that. I did not see that phase on the final, but he should not have even been there. Thorpe is really the Best Swimmer, he is on another level. Watching him swim is like watching a Zen master next to his students. He has great Rhythym, timing and a small glide in his stroke. The size 17 feet must help a lot, I would like to see him without his body suit tho. Just to see the difference. Does anyone know what happened to Inge De Bruin, I missed why she is not there. I am looking forward to seeing Phelps as i have heard a lot about him but have never seen him swim.

The mens 1500m is the event that I am waiting for.Then we will see the master of the universe swimming,ie Grant Hackett.

In the 200 meter free, Thorpe won with 1:45.14, off his 1:44.xx from the last two years. Thorpe wins now because of the margin he built in the past separating him from the others (similar to the margin that sprinter Popov built in the 90s in the 100 meter free), and because he stays serious and focused. But Thorpe peaked in pure times for his longer events, the 400 meter free, the 800 meter free, and possibly the 200 meter free. He swam 14 world records, before the age of 20. The one who peaks now in pure times, is Michael Phelps (U.S.), who got the 400 meter I.M. world record last year, the 200 meter I.M. world record earlier this year, and a new world record today in the semi-finals of the 200 meter butterfly: 1:53.93.