I just received my tickets for 2 days of this years PanPacs in Victoria, B.C. Aug 17-20. I will be seeing heats & finals day 2:
100 free, 100 brst, 400 IM, 800free relay; heats & finals day 4:
200 IM, 50 free, 200 brst, w800 free, m1500 free, 400 medley relay. I am stoked to see Phelps et al, possible Japanese-American clash 100brst etc. This, I think, will be the signature international meet of the year (except Masters Worlds, of course) and I would urge anyone within reasonable travel distance to consider attending, as it is a great spectator pool & very fast.
I am disappointed though, that Amanda & her wedgie likely won't be there...
Originally posted by jean sterling
I pick Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM.
I don't know about this. Ryan has been closing the gap lately in this event, so it is possible. Michael has not lost this race since 2001, so if this happens it will be considered a major upset. Usually Michael wins by a close to a second but 2 weeks ago only won by .29, so it should be real close. I would say that Ryan's chances of winning are the same chances that Phil Mickelson has of beating Tiger Woods this weekend at the PGA Championship.
Tonight is the night to analyze both swimmers. Today in the prelims, Ryan qualified 1st ahead of Aaron Piersol with a best time of :53.78 to Aaron's :53.88 and Randal Bal at :54.09. This looks like an exciting race because everyone knows that Ryan is the best in short course with his :44.60 SCY time and his :49.99 SCM time. But this is Long Course where Aaron has been the king for the last 5 years and so until he gets beaten, I can't pick against him. I wonder if tonights winner will break the World Record at :53.17.
Also today I noticed that Michael Phelps did not do the double of 200 Free and 200 Fly. He qualified 1st in the 200 Fly at 1:55.30 ahead of Takeshi Mateshi of Japan at 1:56.22 and Ryuichi Shibata at 1:56.26 in the 3rd spot. What is interesting here is that these two Japanese guys were at World Record pace at the 150 mark. Shibata was at 1:24.31 and Mateshi was at 1:24.89. Phelps 150 World Record split at the 2003 Worlds was 1:24.28. The Japanese swimmer that qualified 5th at 1:56.84 (Takashi Yamamoto) was the one that gave Phelps a race at Athens getting the silver by .52 seconds. Its a good thing he is swimming this instead of the 200 Free because Japan could go 1-2-3 in this. I think this will be an exciting race and look for Phelps to win and possibly break the World Record from 2003 at 1:53.93.
Originally posted by jean sterling
I pick Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM.
I don't know about this. Ryan has been closing the gap lately in this event, so it is possible. Michael has not lost this race since 2001, so if this happens it will be considered a major upset. Usually Michael wins by a close to a second but 2 weeks ago only won by .29, so it should be real close. I would say that Ryan's chances of winning are the same chances that Phil Mickelson has of beating Tiger Woods this weekend at the PGA Championship.
Tonight is the night to analyze both swimmers. Today in the prelims, Ryan qualified 1st ahead of Aaron Piersol with a best time of :53.78 to Aaron's :53.88 and Randal Bal at :54.09. This looks like an exciting race because everyone knows that Ryan is the best in short course with his :44.60 SCY time and his :49.99 SCM time. But this is Long Course where Aaron has been the king for the last 5 years and so until he gets beaten, I can't pick against him. I wonder if tonights winner will break the World Record at :53.17.
Also today I noticed that Michael Phelps did not do the double of 200 Free and 200 Fly. He qualified 1st in the 200 Fly at 1:55.30 ahead of Takeshi Mateshi of Japan at 1:56.22 and Ryuichi Shibata at 1:56.26 in the 3rd spot. What is interesting here is that these two Japanese guys were at World Record pace at the 150 mark. Shibata was at 1:24.31 and Mateshi was at 1:24.89. Phelps 150 World Record split at the 2003 Worlds was 1:24.28. The Japanese swimmer that qualified 5th at 1:56.84 (Takashi Yamamoto) was the one that gave Phelps a race at Athens getting the silver by .52 seconds. Its a good thing he is swimming this instead of the 200 Free because Japan could go 1-2-3 in this. I think this will be an exciting race and look for Phelps to win and possibly break the World Record from 2003 at 1:53.93.
