Swimming Finals at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain
Former Member
The finals of the first day, show:
.) in the men 400 meter free final, Thorpe (Aus.) went 3:42.58 for #1, Hackett (Aus.) went 3:45.17 for #2, and Coman (Rom.) went 3:46.8x for #3;
Coman -who is my fellow countryman, and I was telling you about him for years-, defeated Rossolini (Ita.) of the 2000 Olympics fame, Keller (U.S.) and Carvin (U.S.);
.) in the women 400 meter free final, Simona Paduraru (Rom.) finished #7, with a fast time;
.) in the 4x100 men free relay, Russia won;
the fastest split was by Frenchman Frederic Bousquet at 47.03 -which is the second fastest split in history-, and fast splits (in the 47s) were recorded by Alex. Popov (Rus.) and Jason Lezak (U.S.);
.) in the 4x100 women free relay, U.S. won, anchored by an ace 53.xx from Jenny Thompson (U.S.).
He! he! he! :D ho! ho! ho!
I post this, ahead of www.swiminfo.com and www.swimnews.com who are sandbagging...
Gareth, I saw the BLATENT DOLPHIN KICK off the wall that Kitajima (Japan) did in the breastroke semi finals also! I can not believe he got away with it. He should have been DQ'd and not been in the finals! I hope he did not get away with doing it in finals too. That view was not shown during finals. IT'S CHEATING AND IT'S NOT RIGHT! :mad:
Originally posted by nyswim
The 200 IM is going to be a hell of a race! Don't think he can beat Phelps but I sure hope so.
I wouldn't bet against Thorpe. Can Phelps hold off Thorpe in freestyle? Well, Phelps is no slouch. He swam a 1:47.3 in the 200 at Spring Nationals. His final 50 was a 26.4. Thorpe's final 50 in his world record swim was a 25.8. So I would think, realistically, if Thorpe is within a second at the 150 he's got a shot.
My prediction is Phelps by about half a second. I'll guess 1:57.0
Originally posted by nyswim
Prost Ion!
...
Prost nyswim!
This keeps me on the edge:
the men 100 meter free.
It was the semi-finals.
Popov went 48.51, splitting .25 seconds under world record at the half-way mark, a 22.91.
Unbelievable split, by a 31 years old and a half.
Split never done before by anyone.
However, Hoogenband out touched him in 48.39.
I hope it is not a repeat of the last year European championships, when Popov peaked in the semi-finals.
I hope that Popov went .25 under world record at the 50 meter mark just to test his speed, then he eased off in anticipation of an all out final that he can win.
In the other semi-final, Thorpe went 48.71 and Lezak went 48.78.
Thorpe is top notch in the 100 free.
Rik Neethling (R.S.A.) is amazing:
in the 2000 Olympics he went 15:00.xx for the 1500 meter free, and now he swims the 100 free in 49.xx to qualify for the finals;
these days, Rik routinely goes 22.xx in 50 meter free like a true sprinter, not like a distance ace.
Milorad Cavic (Yug.) is also amazing:
he trains a lot under Bottom (U.S.) at Berkeley, the coach that produced Ervin (U.S.), Hall (U.S.) and Draganja (Cro.), and he is 19 years old, tall, slim, strong and quick.
Frederic Bousquet (Fra.) made it to the finals, too.
Ashley Callus (Aus.) and Scott Tucker (U.S.), surprisingly didn't make it to the finals.
In other news:
.) Phelps (U.S.) won the 200 meter butterfly final, with Malchow (U.S.) surprisingly in third only,
.) Kitajima (Jpn.) almost broke the 200 meter breaststroke world record with a 2:09.7x in semi-finals,
.) Phelps -suprisingly to me- outdueled Hackett (Aus.) in the lead off of the 4x200 meter free relay,
(I guess Phelps must be by now top three in the world for the 200 free)
.) Keller (U.S.) amazingly nailed a 1:45.99 split in the 4x200 meter free relay,
(like Bob Seltzer says, U.S. was strong with the lead-off Phelps and with the anchor leg by Keller, but was weak compared to Australia in the middle legs of the relay where for example Dusing split a slow for him 1:48.79 -considering that he swam an individual 1:47.08 last year so in this relay Dusing should have gone a much faster 1:46.xx instead-)
and
.) the 200 free final for women was fast from #1 to #8.
Originally posted by seltzer
Kirk:
It's going to be harder for Thorpe to come back in that 50 free segment.
Agreed. I looked at Phelps' splits for his world record 200 IM swim in Santa Clara and he came back in 27.94, more than a second slower than his 200 free final 50 in the Spring. But I used the 200 free to get an apples to apples comparison between the two swimmers.
As incredible a swimmer Phelps is, I think Thorpe has a shot if he's close after breaststroke. I don't think I've ever seen Thorpe swim anything but freestyle, so I really don't know what to expect from him. That will actually make the race more exciting :)
OK you guys! Stop arguing... the swimmers will race and put an end to the discussion. We all have our favorites. I'm pulling for Phelps! GO USA!!
That being said...DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THE DOLPHIN KICK OFF THE WALL THAT KITAJIMA (Japan) DID IN THE !)) ***? ARE YOU AS MAD AS I AM THAT HE WAS NOT DQ'D? Please reply.
I was simply trying to understand the made up concept of "pure time". Since you mean a swimmers time say "time", not some created phrase.
Now- do you expect Thorpe to have a better "pure time" , sorry time, every time he races? No, everyone peaks at some. Fact is he is the best in the world in 3 events.
Regarding ramblings:
"in breaststroke, there are right now something like eight Mark Spitzes world wide, and Moses is one of them."
WTF! Please 'esplain Lucy.
and typos (actually probably syntax):
"in the 4x100 women free relay, U.S. won, anchored by an ace 53.xx from Jenny Thompson (U.S.)."
The US team was anchored by a woman from the US? Surprise, Surprise
You enjoy agravating people don't you Ion. Yes I am paying attention to the thread and noticed that no one else said they saw the dolphin kick. As you can see in my reply, I was agreeing with Gareth. No one else has addressed the subject.
Originally posted by Ion Beza
By the same token, why not Phelps against Thorpe in 800 free?
Thorpe is going to dismantle Phelps in that one.
:confused:
Neither of them is swimming the 800 free.
