I agree with Ande and Phelps will wreak havok on Cavic and I will add a statement of my own that he will put a shocker on Crocker. With one days rest and the importance of this race, I think he is going to win.
I knew yesterday, that regardless of what Ryan Lochte did in the 200 Back, that he was not going to win the 200 IM. In fact I did not think Lochte would be Laszlo Cseh in the 200 IM because of the 29 minutes of recovery between those races. With the medal awards cermonies and warm down that is not a lot of time to get ready for a big race with the two best swimmers in the world. Phelps really pounded him in the 400 IM (4:03.84 vs 4:08.09) and so did Cseh (4:06.16 vs 4:08.09) and I just did not think in a FINAL swim that he could pull off this against rested swimmers of this caliber. Plus the enjoyment of winning a gold medal and going thru the awards put a strain on Ryan to get ready for that final.
Phelps had to go thru this also but he has been thru this before and this was just a semi final. With very little rest he almost matched Cavic and went faster than Crocker, who has had only one swim previous to this for the whole week. Crocker swam the prelims this AM and did a :50.8 split from a very conservative start and everyone knows why he did that so his swim is almost a flat start but is still slightly slower than what Phelps did after swimming the 200 IM.
This will be the biggest race for Phelps up to now because it sets up his 7th gold medal and his chances for swimming the medley relay. Also there is a million dollar bonus if he wins to night so the pressure will be the highest its been to now. This race is worth more that just the 1 million because if he wins and sets the record, this just sets up all the future possibilities for endorsements and sponsorships on a global level. For these reasons other than the swimming ones, I am picking Phelps to win his 7th gold and break the World Record. I am not sure if he will go under 50 seconds but I think he will break the :50.40 standard.
I agree with Ande and Phelps will wreak havok on Cavic and I will add a statement of my own that he will put a shocker on Crocker. With one days rest and the importance of this race, I think he is going to win.
I knew yesterday, that regardless of what Ryan Lochte did in the 200 Back, that he was not going to win the 200 IM. In fact I did not think Lochte would be Laszlo Cseh in the 200 IM because of the 29 minutes of recovery between those races. With the medal awards cermonies and warm down that is not a lot of time to get ready for a big race with the two best swimmers in the world. Phelps really pounded him in the 400 IM (4:03.84 vs 4:08.09) and so did Cseh (4:06.16 vs 4:08.09) and I just did not think in a FINAL swim that he could pull off this against rested swimmers of this caliber. Plus the enjoyment of winning a gold medal and going thru the awards put a strain on Ryan to get ready for that final.
Phelps had to go thru this also but he has been thru this before and this was just a semi final. With very little rest he almost matched Cavic and went faster than Crocker, who has had only one swim previous to this for the whole week. Crocker swam the prelims this AM and did a :50.8 split from a very conservative start and everyone knows why he did that so his swim is almost a flat start but is still slightly slower than what Phelps did after swimming the 200 IM.
This will be the biggest race for Phelps up to now because it sets up his 7th gold medal and his chances for swimming the medley relay. Also there is a million dollar bonus if he wins to night so the pressure will be the highest its been to now. This race is worth more that just the 1 million because if he wins and sets the record, this just sets up all the future possibilities for endorsements and sponsorships on a global level. For these reasons other than the swimming ones, I am picking Phelps to win his 7th gold and break the World Record. I am not sure if he will go under 50 seconds but I think he will break the :50.40 standard.
