Since I am in the Dixie Zone, I was perusing the results of meets this weekend and saw that Dara Torres, who turned 40 on Sunday, went 21.91 in the 50 free and 48.34 in the 100 free this weekend in St. Petersburg this past weekend. I guess that she is serious about this comeback. It will be interesting to see how she can do long course.
Since I was at Y Nationals, I looked up results to see how she would have done against the men. There was one 31 yo who was faster in both the 50 and 100 and a 45 yo who was faster in the 100 by a small amount. Pretty incredible.
I think that she's got a great chance of making the 2008 Olympic team in the 50 free. She still holds the American record at 24.63 which is almost .2 ahead of the rest of the field. I think that her 21.91 is her all time PR or at least very close so in theory she could be close to this time (24.63) this summer. Kara Lynn Joyce did a PR at Worlds of 24.80 so I really don't see her improving that much more. Coughlin's PR is 24.98 and she is the only other one in the ball park. Coughlin may opt out of the 50 free given her less than optimal result in this event at Worlds and the schedule of her other events in which she is undoubtedly much stronger. If Coughlin's out, then Dara could turn into one of the favorites.
I think that she's got a great chance of making the 2008 Olympic team in the 50 free. She still holds the American record at 24.63 which is almost .2 ahead of the rest of the field. I think that her 21.91 is her all time PR or at least very close so in theory she could be close to this time (24.63) this summer. Kara Lynn Joyce did a PR at Worlds of 24.80 so I really don't see her improving that much more. Coughlin's PR is 24.98 and she is the only other one in the ball park. Coughlin may opt out of the 50 free given her less than optimal result in this event at Worlds and the schedule of her other events in which she is undoubtedly much stronger. If Coughlin's out, then Dara could turn into one of the favorites.
