Pan Pacific 2006 Swimming Championships

Good analysis, Frank- except each country can only qualify 2 swimmers in each finals, but as many as they want in heats; the reason that so many Americans are going lights out in heats isn't just to be one of the 2 for finals, however, they can also use these times to qualify for world champs next year & improve upon Nats times. Natalie Coughlin went so far as to skip 100back at Nats, because she could swim it here & qualify for Worlds (and maybe set a world record tonight).

First results are in? www.swimnews.com/.../displayStory.jhtml www.wcsn.com/.../news.jsp Omega results for today coming in shortly here click on Day 1 or Day 2 www.omegatiming.com/.../index.htm

today's events have begun you can watch the heats at: www.omegatiming.com/.../index.htm peter have fun working the wedgie patrol feel free to share your observations and comments. ande Originally posted by Peter Cruise 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...

Was anyone 'watching' the men's 200 fly on Omega last night? Phelps was slightly behind at the 3rd turn and then won the event by over 2 seconds. I would have loved to have seen that last 50m. wow.

NBC is showing the meet next weekend. I guess I'm just happy they are televising it at all.

Originally posted by Peter Cruise Good analysis, Frank- except each country can only qualify 2 swimmers in each finals, but as many as they want in heats; the reason that so many Americans are going lights out in heats isn't just to be one of the 2 for finals, however, they can also use these times to qualify for world champs next year & improve upon Nats times. Natalie Coughlin went so far as to skip 100back at Nats, because she could swim it here & qualify for Worlds (and maybe set a world record tonight). I have never heard of a meet run like this. It seems to penalize countries that have good depth in events and penalize them. It also puts other countries at an advantage because they do not have to go all out in the prelims to make the finals and can coast a little more and make it and have more energy for the evenings finals. Last night Randal Bal had to swim in the B heat and he had the second fastest time in the event. He was out faster than anyone at the 50 mark with no one pushing him. Tonight Eric Vendt is almost 10 seconds faster in the 400 IM then people in the A heat. Cullen Jones also has the same problem in that he may watch up to seven swimmers go slower than himself in the A heat. This seems like a stupid way to run a meet. What if someone in the B heat breaks a World Record and they would not be recognized as the Pan Pac Champion. Its not likely but possible. I realize that times from the B heats can go toward qualifing for the World team but what ever happened to the Trials meet where you have to perform to make the team. It seems to me that this can create a lot of loopholes with swimmers trying to make the team. For instance, what if a swimmer in a Trials meet beats two swimmers that have faster times from a meet like this. Sounds like it could create a controversy. The only meet that I have ever heard of this format is the Olympic/World Trials to pick the top 2 swimmers in an event to make a team. Is this rule in because of what the USA did in 1976 in Monreal when they went 1-2-3 in 4 events? Tonights big race is the Men's 100 ***. Will Brendan take the momentum from the two World Records and beat Kosuke Kitajima. I remember Long Beach and how I thought he was a shoe in to win both events at Athens. Last years race in Montreal was decided by .16 so it will be real close and hopefully history won't repeat itself after Hansen set 2 World Records in 2004 and lost his next biggest race. I pick Hansen in a close one. Rolland Schoeman is in an outside lane and he seems to swim the best when he is there and I pick him to win the 100 Free. Phelps and Hoff will win the 400 IM's. I am going to pick Amanda Weir to win the 100 Free tonight. I also pick Tara Kirk to win the 100 *** also.

Ya don't think Natalie's going to be pissed about losing the 100 back last night (and her American record in the 100 free) that she won't fight hard for this win? I'm anxious to see if Brendan is prepared to back up his talk. Kitajima has battled illness this summer so he's said he might not be able to race Brendan. But we'll see.

So does this mean Megan Jendrick is our for Worlds? She got touched out by .02 today by Tara Kirk, however Hardy botched her prelim swim, had to settle for 9th winning the B heat, but was faster than both Kirk and Jendrick. I assume this means Kirk and Hardy get the two Worlds spots, correct? If so, I feel sorry for Megan. She missed out on the 2004 Olympic team by about a tenth of a second, too. Maybe she'll make it in the 200.

Ya don't think Natalie's going to be pissed about losing the 100 back last night (and her American record in the 100 free) that she won't fight hard for this win? No, I just thought that Amanda Weir would win based on the clip of the race I saw last week when she broke the American Record. She came back in :27.97 compared to :27.59 and that was the difference. Natalie was back in :27.98 compared to :28.33 last week to hold on and win by .05 seconds. Today I noticed that Natalie stratched the 100 Fly and will swim in the relay tonight. If she leads off, I wonder if she can break :53.58? So does this mean Megan Jendrick is our for Worlds? She got touched out by .02 today by Tara Kirk, however Hardy botched her prelim swim, had to settle for 9th winning the B heat, but was faster than both Kirk and Jendrick. I assume this means Kirk and Hardy get the two Worlds spots, correct? If so, I feel sorry for Megan. She missed out on the 2004 Olympic team by about a tenth of a second, too. Kirk, this is exactly why this is a stupid way to run a meet. Think if this keeps happening how it will screw the TV coverage up. You could have swims like Jessica Hardy's that they won't show because its the B Final. As a sponsor, Mutual Of Omaha should have a say about this. If two countries can't have more than 2 medals, fine, let the fastest swimmers swim by time in the fastest heats like masters do and figure out the awards later. This way the fastest swimmers will be in the best heats and it will be best for TV viewing. Figure that each country can only get 2 awards max based on the final swims. That makes a lot more sense then what they are doing now. Today, Ito of Japan that beat Natalie in the 100 Back qualified 4th and has to be in the B Final with a 2:10.76 in the 200 Back. I could see her doing what Hardy did and not be the Pan Pac Champion. Ryan Lochte got hit twice today getting 7th in the 400 Free and not making any finals and getting 4th in the 200 Back and making the B Final. Let just say he hits the jackpot and has the fastest time but does not get to race the guys in the A Final. Same thing could happen with Peter Vanderkaay in the 400 Free. Some good races tonight. I pick Crocker and Shipper to win the 100 Fly. In the 400 Free I am picking Ziegler in a close one over Hoff and Klete Keller based on his good 200 swims in the relay and individual event. It will be interesting to see how the 16 year old Park from Korea does tonight. In the Women's 200 Back its a toss up and anybody could win. Kristi Coventry is usually the favorite in this but is not having a good meet so far. Maybe this event will change things. In the Men's 200 Back Micheal Phelps maybe the best swimmer in the world but he is not the best backstroker in the world and that title belongs to Aaron Piersol and until he gets beaten I cannot pick against him tonight in the final. The USA will win both relays and the surprise here is that South Africa for the second year in a row as not entered a Men's 400 Free relay in the major international competition. Last year in Montreal they had 3 out of the 4 swimmers from 2004 at the meet and had another fast guy and did not swim the relay. This year they have two from that relay plus Gerhard Zandberg that was in the 100 Free. I am surpised they keep ducking this event especially since they are Olympic Champions and World Record holders. I will predict that at next years World Championships the Men's 800 Free Relay will break the World Record held by Australia. Those guys dropped 1.3 seconds off the American Record and were only .62 seconds from the World Record at 7:05.28. Maybe if Phelps didn't have the 400 IM right before the relay they might have got it. I am not sure if the 400 Free Relay can match the efforts of the 800. If they can then they get the World Record tonight.

Originally posted by Peter Cruise Most of the Americans I've spoken to seem to wish to retire to Victoria and the rest of the island, they certainly have been seeing in fabulous weather. I can only thank our lucky stars that the Geek didn't come up to see the meet... Don't worry he's already mentioned his dislike of summer weather in the PNW in another thread. Something to the effect "summer is for sweating," if I recall correctly. If you haven't been here in the summer you don't know what you're missing, IMO!