Swimming Finals at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain

Will we hear Don Talbot tell us that Thorpe has another relapse of the mysterious virus that prevented him from swimming in the Duel in the Pool? Maybe that was the reason that Thorpe welched on his offer to let Phelps train with him? I bet Phelps is looking at this guy and thinking "I can take this guy!" Kudos to Popov for showing us again that he's not done yet.

Judging by heat 1, Thorpe won't make finals in the IM. We'll see soon... Okay I stand corrected, Thorpe finsihes 5th. SHould be faster tomorrow because he only had about a half hour between 100 free. And Phelps smashed the world record.

200 IM what an incredible heat. Three men under 2:00. And congratulations to Michael Phelps for his second world record of the meet. Oh, and he also beat Thorpe head-to-head. That means he's 2 for 2 against the Aussie's best. Congratulations to US women for a new CR record (and American record) in the 800 free relay.

Ion, Lefty, Jim, et. al. Just wanted to chime in an let you know how much I am enjoying this thread. I find myself clicking on SwimInfo and this discussion thread when I know the Finals are going on. All this back chatter reminds me pleasantly of watching TV in college with a dozen or so of my friends, everyone lustily kibbitzing the play-by-play. Great job everyone! Please keep it coming. Matt P.S. Four swims in the Finals of the women's 200 free under 1:59; a leadoff leg of the relay under 1:58. Could it be that race is finally thawing out? Hip, hip...Hurray!

In that case Peirsol had a perfect start! I might have to reassess my thought that Thorpe has a shot in the 200 IM. He barely qualified for semifinals today. I think Phelps may win relatively easily, but Trinidadian George Bovell is one to watch. He won the 200 IM at NCAAs this year by about 1.5 seconds with an NCAA record 1:42.66.

Originally posted by Ion Beza 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. I agree this is amazing. I could see someone like Thorpe, whose best events have been the 200 and 400, being able to put together a good 1500, but I'd say it's much more impressive for someone whose best event is the 1500 to be able to sprint like this. He must have gotten tired of swimming distance. I don't blame him, but most of us distance swimmers don't have the speed to swim anything under a 400! Nice job Ryk.

Confidential Information: Popov won the 100 meter free, and I root for him because to me he is the Michael Jordan or the Pete Sampras of the swimming. Unlike the European championships of the last year, he peaked here in the final, even though his semi-final here was already a little faster than his European semi-final from the last year. Unlike the European championships of the last year, van den Hoogenband peaked here in the semi-final, but not in the final. The ranks #3 and #4 in the 100 meter free finals (i.e.: Thorpe and Lezak), also peaked in the semi-final but not in the final. Not much of a difference, but at that level that's all the difference it takes to shine publicly. I guess, all of them oscillate at their level in performance range (negligible oscillation for Thorpe though), and they cannot (like me I cannot also) turn a switch on and peak on demand. Still, Popov went undefeated in the 100 meter free for eight years, got defeated a little in some major meets but kept in touch with challenging for #1 in major meets, and unlike a flash in the pan (see Matt Biondi (U.S.) before and after 1992) raised himself again to nail this one here. Popov's last year move from Australia to Switzerland while training under the same coach Touretski, allows him to travel shorter distances when going to training meets like Monte Carlo. This conserves his energy, and he can unleash it in major competitions. I hope Popov continues to improve, because next year in the Olympics, van den Hoogenband shoots for a 47.xx again. Ryk Neethling (R.S.A.) went 49.51, exceptional for a recent 1500 meter free specialist. Kitajima (Jpn.), who like Thorpe doesn't train more distance than his competitors but trains about the same, got 2:09.42, a new world record for the 200 meter breaststroke. (Man, that was easy for me to say all this: further proof that talk is cheap). My fellow countryman Florea (Rom.), qualified for the 200 meter backstroke final with a fast 1:58.52. Phelps broke the world record in the 200 meter I.M., Thorpe made the final, and 29 years old former world record holder Jani Sievinen (Fin.) sqeezed in the final too. At #9, Cezar Badita (Rom.) didn't qualify for the final. Their times are all very fast. Amazingly to me, Thorpe's 2:00.42 (including an 'only' 37 seconds split in breaststroke) is faster than Johns' (Can.) 2:00.98. Thorpe is not an I.M.er, Brian Johns is a dedicated I.M.er, but I guess these are only semi-finals not the final. Still, Thorpe is not an I.M.er, so this is a champion reaching out of his niche with a world class time in I.M.. In women: .) Carroll (Can.) is surprisingly to me faster than Volker (Ger.) in 50 meter backstroke, .) Thompson (U.S.), Henry (Aus.) and Seppala (Fin.) rock in the 100 meter free semi-finals, .) Beard (U.S.) rocks in the 200 meter breaststroke semi-finals, .) U.S., Australia and China go 1, 2, 3 in the 4x200 meter free relay with fast 7:55, 7:58, and 7:58, (Benko led off U.S. in a new American record of 1:57.xx, and Graham (Aus.) fainted after her effort during the award ceremony) .) Beatrice Caslaru (Rom.) didn't qualify for the 200 meter I.M. final.

Originally posted by knelson I noticed in the splits that Peirsol had a negative time for his start (i.e., he jumped) in the 800 FR. So apparently a start judge has to call a DQ for a false start, right? Otherwise it seems the U.S. would have been DQed in the relay. The allowance on relay take-offs is -.03 this is to account for lag in the timing equipment i believe. there is a posting from Swiss Timing on the bottom of the FINA home page about it

I think the 200 IM will be a great race because its' a very strong field. No way Thorpe beats Phelps. He'll lose the race in the middle part of the IM. He's going to feel heavy legs going from *** to free (know how that feels) and by time he up and kicking free Phelps will be too far ahead to catch. I say Thorpe finishes 3rd. Question is how many swimmers will be under 2:00? how many under 1:59 how many under 1:58 and his name is Phelps. Fastest 200 IM field in history from top to bottom. Same thing for the 200 ***.

I;m a pop drinker, Ion. Drink too much diet coke or pepsi.