Predictions for tomorrow's 100 fly? Who will win? What time?
My prediction: Phelps, 49.80.
Last year in the Olympics Phelps wore legs and Cavic a full body. If Phelps wears a full body -- presumably Cavic will wear a Jaked or Arena -- then maybe both suit-related improvements will be comparable. Phelps has already gone significantly faster than last year and he has fewer events than Beijing.
Phelps wore legs in the 200 fly, saying that his full body LZR felt tight in the shoulders. It will be interesting to see if he corrects that or not.
Oh, and Andrea Kramer's interview of Phelps today was as bad as any she has ever done (and that's saying something).
I think this has already been mentioned, but if Phelps loses in the 100 fly he could very well leave Rome with only one individual world record to his name. And if FINA goes through with new suit rules as planned he may never set another world record. No wonder Bowman is lobbying for maintaining two sets of records!
I'd have to go back and check for sure, but I believe a world record was set in every single event that was contested in either semis or finals today.
I'd have to go back and check for sure, but I believe a world record was set in every single event that was contested in either semis or finals today.
Not the men's 200 back for sure, but I think you are right on the others.
Both 100 fly and 200 back tomorrow, that will be exciting. Irie looked like he was just cruising (but he looks like that even when he isn't).
I didn't realize Irie was so short; he looks like a boy among men. Even though Rowdy makes too much of it (as Jazz mentioned in another thread), he does have an amazing reaction time on the start. But his underwaters are pretty weak compared to his peers.
I didn't realize Irie was so short; he looks like a boy among men. Even though Rowdy makes too much of it (as Jazz mentioned in another thread), he does have an amazing reaction time on the start. But his underwaters are pretty weak compared to his peers.
It looked to me like Lochte took at least 2 or 3 more underwater dolphin kicks per turn than Irie. You've got to figure Irie and his coaches will fix that rather quickly. I think the little guys give up a lot more to the tall guys like Grevers on the surface than under water. I think Hill Taylor is pretty small, too, but he sure is fast under water.
Dennis Baker suggested something interesting on Facebook today. He said he thinks the suits actually help the swimmers with the best technique the most. This is contrary to popular opinion which has been that the suit helps swimmers with poor technique and body position more. I tend to agree. And what would be the reasoning? If it's an opinion derived solely from personal experience with the suits there could be a slight conflict of interest when arriving at said opinion. ;)
Perhaps only peripherally related to the suit issue, at the start of the finals of the men's 800 free last night Rowdy commented that all eight finalists had swum personal bests to get there. I think he implied they swam PBs in the semis. I realize you aim for these big meets (taper well, train hard, etc), but how often does it happend that all eight finalists in any event swim personal bests to make the finals?
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I think it's from watching the swimmers that are swimming phenomenally at Worlds. Kukors and Biedermann, for example.
What was his rationale though? You mentioned that he actually felt it helped the swimmers with better technique more. Which as noted goes against the grain of thinking from many coaches and performance gurus (e.g. Jonty Skinner, Salo, Verhaeren, etc.) who feel it's the other way round. Heck the jelly roll postulation has been around since the dawn of the LZR.
I think a point to consider along with the obsessive focus on the suits is the "Tiger effect," but we can call it the Phelps effect. It's pretty universally acknowledged that Tiger in the golf world raised the standards and play of those around him. I suspect that knowing Phelps is in your event makes you train harder. No one trains for second place.
