Getting touched out by Phelps is choking? Wow then just about everyone in the world chokes every time they race him.
I was more specifically referring to the false starts and the relay DQ. Think you knew that, btw.
Men's 200 Fly Final - Phelps and Davis Tarwater. I liked the way Tarwater looked yesterday in going 1:54.72 and I give the edge to him over the others.
Not so sure about Tarwater. His final 50 split was almost a second slower than Stovall's, and he didn't look like he was shutting it down--in fact, it looked like he swam the race pretty hard to try and get pole position for the final by the way he took it out ahead of MP.
If you're Tarwater, maybe you were banking on the idea that MP wouldn't care where he was in the final, so he might not challenge an aggressive front-half from Tarwater to save some energy and be content with crushing the finals from lane 5 or 3. Then you're in 4 and Stovall is next to you in 5 or 3. Instead, Stovall is exactly where Tarwater doesn't want him to be--directly on the other side of Phelps.
1:54.7 is crazy, but it wouldn't be a shocker if GS gets the touch in a similar time.
I felt bad for Bal and McGregory even though, like FlyQueen, I thought Peirsol would stick the finish. Lochte looked shocked.
Hey, I thought Bal looked great. If you can look like that and maintain flexibility? Awesome. On the other hand, Phelps looks like he's lost some weight to me.
On the other hand, Phelps looks like he's lost some weight to me.
I noticed that also, very lean.
Other than Piersol, the backstrokers all were monstrous, good grief!
Did you guys see Natalie's incredible start on that 100 back? I think she can flex at the middle further backwards than I can forwards! There's a picture of the start on the front of the USA swimming website, but it doesn't do it justice.
I thought Lochte looked shocked too. Not upset or mad, just in disbelief...
"he kind of lost some respect by the swimming community for this. "
I doubt by anyone that matters.
What I meant to say was that he lost respect by the press last year after the Dual in the Pool in Australia. When he lost his WR and World Championship and then went to the Dual in the Pool a few days later and lost the 200 Back again to Michael Phelps and the 100 Back to Ryan Lochte, the press keep hounding him saying "whats wrong with Piersol" and commenting he has just lost 3 backstroke races in a row.
Then last summer he went to the meet in Europe and Phelps swam both backs at Nationals in Indy. They went head to head in both backstrokes with the time clock and Phelps won the 200 (1:54.65 to 1:54.77) and also won the 100 (:53.01 to :53.17) and I remember reading an article about Phelps in USA today shortly thereafter and the press saying he should try both backstrokes because now Piersol doesn't seem to be unbeatable anymore.
Aaron Piersol had a chance to set swimming history last year at the 2007 World Championships. If he won he would have been the first man to win 4 straight World Championships in and individual event. He won the 200 Back in 2001, 2003, and 2005. He would have beat Michael Phelps to this achievment and now it appears that Michael is going to do it in 2009 if he can win the 200 IM. The press was talking about that a lot. Now it appears that he is back and winning the trials and setting the World Record in the 100 Back, the press will take notice.
This sets up the great race in the 200 Back with Ryan Lochte in a rematch from the World Championships. If Aaron wins and breaks the World Record at these Olympic Trials and then does a repeat performance in August at the Olympics winning both events, then they are going to start talking about him as one of the greatest, if not the greatest backstroker in swimming history.
The only reason I picked Randal Bal was because he looked so good in both his races. In the 100 Back heats he went :53.28 and then in the semi finals he went :53.09 and I thought he would drop a couple of tenths more and for sure be :52.9 something and challenge the World Record. He looked good until the last 25 and then he hit the lane markers toward the wall and that was the difference. He split :27.87 as opposted to :27.39 in the semi finals and that was the difference because the other four swimmers when :27.4 range.
I thought Ryan Lochte would go faster because he did not have to swim a hard 200 Free about 30 minutes before this event. I figured that had to take something out of him and it would be worth at least 3 tenths of a second. He did the exact time from the semi finals of :53.37 so apparently scratching the 200 Free did not help him.
I am not surprised about Matt Grevers because I remember him beating Ryan Lochte in the 100 Yard Back at the NCAA in 2005. Now that the pressure is off from making the team, he can be more relaxed than others when he does his other events.
The only reason I picked Randal Bal was because he looked so good in both his races. In the 100 Back heats he went :53.28 and then in the semi finals he went :53.09 and I thought he would drop a couple of tenths more and for sure be :52.9 something and challenge the World Record. He looked good until the last 25 and then he hit the lane markers toward the wall and that was the difference. He split :27.87 as opposted to :27.39 in the semi finals and that was the difference because the other four swimmers when :27.4 range.
See, I kind of had the exact opposite view. I think it's very difficult to swim a race like that three times all out. I think Peirsol's strategy of building through prelims, semis and finals was the way to go. Obviously only very few swimmers have the luxury to do this because most will need to go balls to the wall to advance to the next level.
The same thing happened with Hansen in the 100 ***. He swam fast times in prelims and semis then didn't seem to have enough left in the tank for finals (but he had enough cushion on the field that it didn't matter). Hansen's swim in finals was actually very similar to Bal's. Both took their races out a few tenths slower than their previous swims. Of course Coughlin managed to swim three very fast swims in the 100 back, although perhaps she backed off just a hair in semis.
