Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Karl_S — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 04:31:41 GMT

As a 124# swimmer I can positively confirm this. If I don't have clear water there is no sense in continuing.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Jeff Enge — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 22:46:45 GMT

My conclusion from watching that race is that you just can't have your flyer sucking waves. That is the worst stroke for that by far.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Allen Stark — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 15:41:54 GMT

I think any of our choices would have been better.
Pretty much all of us had Dressel on fly, Swimming World said Dressel should have swim fly and yet THAT happened.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Elaine Krugman — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 03:04:03 GMT

Well, that was a complete DISASTER, wasn't it?

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

02ER5 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 15:48:56 GMT

You are right they need 2 women and now I think Michael Andrew needs rest for 2 im since he usually dies in the last 50 of the 200 im.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Jeff Enge — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 13:47:28 GMT

If Russia uses Evgeny Rylov, Regan Smith or Rhyan White would be way behind.

If Hungary uses Kristof Milak, Torri Huske would be way behind.

If Australia uses Kyle Chalmers, Abbey Weitzel would be way behind.

It's about balancing each leg compared to what everybody else might have, not just about one leg.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Allen Stark — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 02:51:54 GMT

The US won at worlds with Lilly King and that was against Peaty. Michael Andrews will probably final in the 100 BR. He may even medal, but King way faster than the other women and as Elaine pointed out, who would the other women be. Finally, King has tons of relay experience between NCAA and International competition that Andrews just doesn’t have.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Elaine Krugman — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 17:47:11 GMT

That's only one leg of the relay that requires two women. If you don't use Lilly King, then which two women do you use?

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

02ER5 — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 15:05:15 GMT

Go to Michael Andrew on breaststroke, if Great Britain uses Adam Peatty, Lillan King would be way behind.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Daniel Paulling — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 15:05:28 GMT

Thank you for the kind words. It's a great team of writers, editors, photographers, and a designer who pull it off.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Elaine Krugman — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 21:10:29 GMT

Hmmm, I like that suggestion, too! Valid points, for sure. I'm so confused! I can't argue against that line-up! One thing for sure that we all seem to agree on is that Lilly King and Caleb Dressel should definitely be in the mix. Actually, I'm getting more sold on Ryan Murphy instead of Regan Smith.

Thanks for weighing in, Daniel! Great job on Swimmer Magazine, by the way. I always enjoy reading your "Editor's Note," and I read the magazine from cover to cover. (As a matter of fact, it's the ONLY magazine that I read the ads, too!) The only bummer about the magazine is that it doesn't come out monthly!

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Daniel Paulling — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 18:42:23 GMT

How about Ryan Murphy-Lilly King-Torri Huske-Caeleb Dressel? You've got two world record-holders (Murphy and King) and then two who are within a couple tenths of the world record (Huske and Dressel).

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Jeff Enge — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:28:38 GMT

I kinda liked the every-other-lane relay setup for all the pandemic college conference and national meets in general!

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Karl_S — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 00:54:56 GMT

The wave eating issue is very true. Maybe mixed relays should be swum every-other-lane. Agree that the MMR is better than the MFR in general anyway.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Elaine Krugman — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 21:10:07 GMT

Good point! I will be curious to see how close we all come to the final line-up.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Allen Stark — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 14:38:17 GMT

Lilli King is substantially faster than her relay opposition. Same with Caleb Dressel in fly. Regan Smith vs Ryan Murphy on back is close, but I think you want the faster swimmer to give open water to the next swimmer so Murphy. Anchor with the woman who has shown to be fastest at the meet.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Elaine Krugman — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 20:31:38 GMT

Your "A Team" is similar to mine-- at least the three I listed. I never completed my team, but your suggestion of Zach Apple is a good one!

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

skiboy58 — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 03:51:13 GMT

A Team) Regan Smith, Lily King, Caleb Dressel, Zach Apple

B Team) Ryan Murphy, Michael Edwards, Torri Huske, Abbie Weitzel

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Jeff Enge — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 13:21:06 GMT

Mixed medley is fun because of all the different strategies involved - no country has knockout legs in every stroke for both genders so there has to be some game playing done. I'm OK with the mixed free relays but there's really only one way you can swim it, MMFF, unless you want one of your women eating the waves off the team next to you's dive on the last 10m. So that takes a lot of the strategy out of it - in fact, there's less strategy there than the single-gender free relays because half the decisions are already made for you.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Karl_S — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 02:50:41 GMT

So why do so many people dis the mixed medley relays? They seem quite interesting to me. Also, it's kinda cool that men and women are on the same team. That's a real rarity in sports. Mixed doubles tennis is another example I guess, but the contributions of the men and women are even more equal in the mixed medley relay. Certainly I like the MMR way more than the stroke 50s.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Elaine Krugman — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 21:14:50 GMT

You bring up a lot of good points, Jeff. It will be interesting to see how it all comes together when the relay line-up is due!

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Elaine Krugman — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 21:13:21 GMT

Ryan Murphy would be awesome on back, but we'll have to see how Simone is doing. That was an awesome 50 at trials, so based on that performance, your line-up is really solid!

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Jeff Enge — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 14:54:34 GMT

This is the one I figured too, though I'd sit Weitzel there for now pending coach's decision. Maybe give Simone a shot at prelims women's 4x1 to see how she looks. 50 free semis are immediately before the finals of this relay though, that's going to be a bit interesting. It's late enough in the meet that we're going to know pretty well how everyone is performing, so should be able to set up a lineup that isn't going to have chokes or anything.

I think Murphy, King, and Dressel all have more to give from Trials. Murphy's semi 100 back was maybe the most technically and tactically perfect race I saw all week, he just tightened up in finals. King and Dressel obviously weren't fully tapered (and didn't need to be). Dressel is going to be scary, especially if he has as much fun at the big show as he was having at Trials.

I'm not sure that Smith has much more to give and I think out of anybody at this meet she might be most likely to have issues with the pressure. Huske is of course an option but Dressel is just light years ahead of anybody in the 100 fly that I have a hard time sitting him out there. Though the wild card with him is that 100 fly finals and 50 free semis are that night.

RE: Olympics Mixed Medley Relay lineup: Who will be chosen?

Allen Stark — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:29:47 GMT

This is always a tough one. It probably depends on how people look at the time of the meet. My thought is Ryan Murphy back, Lilli King breas,t Caleb Dressler fly, and Simone Manuel free. I know Simone didn't qualify in the 100 and which ever woman is fastest in the 100 is the logical choice, but I'd stick with Simone.