I feel guilty for having changed the focus of this thread, so I will try to help guide this back to the meet.
I saw several great swims. Some of the standouts for me were the men's 200 free. Sure, Phelps was incredible as usual, but I was most impressed with Peter Vanderkaay. He has a remarkable stroke.
As his hand enters the water the water seems to roll up over his arm, shoulder and head with very little splash. Seems like a minor thing to note, but with each stroke I could see the water flowing over his cap. One might suggest that this was caused by his burying his head, but don't think so. It was some magical interaction with his arm entry and head position.
His time wasn't too bad either.
Lochte in the prelims of the 200 back was something to see. He was clearly cruising just to make finals, but when he hit the last turn he kicked out with great power. It looked to me that he pulled even with Piersol simply with his underwater kickout in the last turn. Not bad, considering that he had a .83 deficit at the 150. He scratched to have a better 400 that night, I suspect.
To look at the results, one might ask "what happened to Natalie in the 50 free". Her morning swim was a 25.92 while her evening swim was a 26.57. What is missing from the results is the stroke she was swimming.
Yes, in the morning she did freestyle, where she looked very easy. She came out about a half body length ahead after what looked to me like a relaxed underwater kick. At night she had a much more powerful underwater kick and came up swimming fly. Pretty impressive.
I feel guilty for having changed the focus of this thread, so I will try to help guide this back to the meet.
I saw several great swims. Some of the standouts for me were the men's 200 free. Sure, Phelps was incredible as usual, but I was most impressed with Peter Vanderkaay. He has a remarkable stroke.
As his hand enters the water the water seems to roll up over his arm, shoulder and head with very little splash. Seems like a minor thing to note, but with each stroke I could see the water flowing over his cap. One might suggest that this was caused by his burying his head, but don't think so. It was some magical interaction with his arm entry and head position.
His time wasn't too bad either.
Lochte in the prelims of the 200 back was something to see. He was clearly cruising just to make finals, but when he hit the last turn he kicked out with great power. It looked to me that he pulled even with Piersol simply with his underwater kickout in the last turn. Not bad, considering that he had a .83 deficit at the 150. He scratched to have a better 400 that night, I suspect.
To look at the results, one might ask "what happened to Natalie in the 50 free". Her morning swim was a 25.92 while her evening swim was a 26.57. What is missing from the results is the stroke she was swimming.
Yes, in the morning she did freestyle, where she looked very easy. She came out about a half body length ahead after what looked to me like a relaxed underwater kick. At night she had a much more powerful underwater kick and came up swimming fly. Pretty impressive.
