2012 Olympic Trials USA Swimming

She also has a 1:00.29 100 *** to her credit - she's world class in every event, and before shifting focus to shorter races, posted some incredible 200 times - 1:41.66 200 yard free, 1:49.52 200 yard back, 4:10.99 400 meter free long course; - and these times were done in meets where she was not tapered. I think calling Natalie a 100 back specialist fails to account for her other accomplishments. Olympic medals in the 100 Free, 200 IM and 4X200 Relay demonstrate a bit of versatility. And Natalie is no slouch in the 100 Fly or in SCM or SCY events. Natalie’s 11 Olympic medals is the most of any female swimmer with 5 of those medals for swimming other than backstroke. Note in my humble opinion, I would suggest David Theile was a greater 100 Back specialist, if you compare his 100 back accomplishments (2 Olympic gold) to his other swimming accomplishments.

Pretty much any female who goes 22 or 23 in the 50 fly or 23 or 24 in the 50 bk is a great dolphin kicker. Fort, you getting close to "great"? :D

I don't think there were any surprises last night as far as the winners were concerned. In the semi-final most thought it would be Lochte/Phelps or Phelps/Lochte and tonight that will be no exception because either way that will be the order and everyone else will be fighting for the next final four slots for the relay selection. The surprise here is that PVK not making the final and missing by .03 in the 9th position. There is redemption here for Houchin and McLean for missing the 400 Free and for Davis Tarwater for his 3rd place finish in the 200 Fly in 2008. There will be two new swimmers from this selection because both Berens and Dyer have made a past or present Olympic Team so the three I mentioned plus Michael Klueh have a chance for first time selection. Vollmer wasn't a surprise to make it in this event but Claire Donahue was and I doubt anyone had her picked in their swimming predictions to make take the second spot over swimmers like Hersey, Breeden, Magnuson, and Coughlin. Soni wasn't a surprise but Larson might be and the second slot will be a battle between her and Jessica Hardy. Chandler and Wanland could be in the mix as well. Brenden Hansen has been very consistent and this was his 3rd straight time he has been an Olympian in this event. I thought Gangloff would take 2nd but Eric Shanteau came thru to make his second Olympic team. Now Hansen gets a third chance at a rematch with Kitajimi and others. One of the best of the others is Rio Tateishi of Japan who went :59.60 and went 2:08.17 losing to Kitajimi by .17 at the Japanese trials. There was almost a surprise in the Women's 400 Free when Kathleen Ledecky was in the second position for 2/3 of the race and Sutton had to put on a charge at the end. Janet Evans taking 80th was not really a surprise but Katie Hoff taking 20th with splits of 2:03 and then 2:10 and not making the final was but still has 3 events to go to make the team. The only surprise in the 100 Back was that Ryan Lochte scratched from the semi final. I could see him doing this in the final and since it was after the 200 Free I thought he might swim it since he is not swimming anything in the heats today. The big final in the 200 Free is today and maybe he did not want to waste the energy since he won't swim it at the Olympics. He just missed in this event in 2008 and it would have been interesting to see him swim Grevers and others and if he would have finaled. Randal Bal has to feel terrible after qualifying first back in 2008 and getting 4th and this time four years later getting 9th and missing the final by .02 seconds. I am impressed with the youngsters Murphy and Conger and they might be the future in this event. The biggest disappointment of yesterday was not being able to see the Women's semi final because NBC ended the TV telecast with both Men's and Women's 100 Back to be swam. What is interesting is the hype of Missy Franklin which is deserved but to show all this profile stuff and not show her first swim was not good for the viewers. Hopefully tonight they will show both semi's because this promises to be one of the best finals of the whole trials. You got Natalie Coughlin, who I believe is going to have to swim the race of her life to make the team in this event because I don't see either Franklin or Bootsma not performing to standards set so far. Plus you got Smoliga and Pelton to contend with as well. There is a lot of history riding on this swim with Natalie becoming the first American women to win the same event at 3 straight Olympics and greats like Evans and Meager couldn't do it and it is difficult, so that is pressure and this is the race I want to see tonight because of this historical perspective. Right now Natalie is considered by many, including myself to be the greatest 100 Backstroke specialist in swimming history. I won't say all of Backstroke because you have Egerszegi and Coverntry that have outstanding resumes as well and I put them slightly ahead. Nevetheless, this race tonight is as important as the two gold medal races that were won in 2004 and 2008 in very tight races. Natalie has always been able to swim clutch races in the Olympic Trials and Olympics and tonight she will have to do it to get that 3rd straight gold medal. It may take a World Record to do it and that might go down tonight by the winner of this event.

I don't think Coughlin will make the team this time. I really don't think Katie Hoff will. She was 20th today in the 200 free. It's good to see some young blood injected into the sport. Lots of great young backstrokers, that's for sure! I don't think I'd even heard of Smoliga before the meet. I guess she just finished her Junior year of high school, like Missy Franklin.

I don't think there were any surprises last night as far as the winners were concerned. In the semi-final most thought it would be Lochte/Phelps or Phelps/Lochte and tonight that will be no exception because either way that will be the order and everyone else will be fighting for the next final four slots for the relay selection. The surprise here is that PVK not making the final and missing by .03 in the 9th position. There is redemption here for Houchin and McLean for missing the 400 Free and for Davis Tarwater for his 3rd place finish in the 200 Fly in 2008. There will be two new swimmers from this selection because both Berens and Dyer have made a past or present Olympic Team so the three I mentioned plus Michael Klueh have a chance for first time selection. Vollmer wasn't a surprise to make it in this event but Claire Donahue was and I doubt anyone had her picked in their swimming predictions to make take the second spot over swimmers like Hersey, Breeden, Magnuson, and Coughlin. Soni wasn't a surprise but Larson might be and the second slot will be a battle between her and Jessica Hardy. Chandler and Wanland could be in the mix as well. Brenden Hansen has been very consistent and this was his 3rd straight time he has been an Olympian in this event. I thought Gangloff would take 2nd but Eric Shanteau came thru to make his second Olympic team. Now Hansen gets a third chance at a rematch with Kitajimi and others. One of the best of the others is Rio Tateishi of Japan who went :59.60 and went 2:08.17 losing to Kitajimi by .17 at the Japanese trials. There was almost a surprise in the Women's 400 Free when Kathleen Ledecky was in the second position for 2/3 of the race and Sutton had to put on a charge at the end. Janet Evans taking 80th was really a surprise but Katie Hoff taking 20th with splits of 2:03 and then 2:10 and not making the final was but still has 3 events to go to make the team. The only surprise in the 100 Back was that Ryan Lochte scratched from the semi final. I could see him doing this in the final and since it was after the 200 Free I thought he might swim it since he is not swimming anything in the heats today. The big final in the 200 Free is today and maybe he did not want to waste the energy since he won't swim it at the Olympics. He just missed in this event in 2008 and it would have been interesting to see him swim Grevers and others and if he would have finaled. Randal Bal has to feel terrible after qualifying first back in 2008 and getting 4th and this time four years later getting 9th and missing the final by .02 seconds. I am impressed with the youngsters Murphy and Conger and they might be the future in this event. The biggest disappointment of yesterday was not being able to see the Women's semi final because NBC ended the TV telecast with both Men's and Women's 100 Back to be swam. What is interesting is the hype of Missy Franklin which is deserved but to show all this profile stuff and not show her first swim was not good for the viewers. Hopefully tonight they will show both semi's because this promises to be one of the best finals of the whole trials. You got Natalie Coughlin, who I believe is going to have to swim the race of her life to make the team in this event because I don't see either Franklin or Bootsma not performing to standards set so far. Plus you got Smoliga and Pelton to contend with as well. There is a lot of history riding on this swim with Natalie becoming the first American women to win the same event at 3 straight Olympics and greats like Evans and Meager couldn't do it and it is difficult, so that is pressure and this is the race I want to see tonight because of this historical perspective. Right now Natalie is considered by many, including myself to be the greatest 100 Backstroke specialist in swimming history. I won't say all of Backstroke because you have Egerszegi and Coverntry that have outstanding resumes as well and I put them slightly ahead. Nevetheless, this race tonight is as important as the two gold medal races that were won in 2004 and 2008 in very tight races. Natalie has always been able to swim clutch races in the Olympic Trials and Olympics and tonight she will have to do it to get that 3rd straight gold medal. It may take a World Record to do it and that might go down tonight by the winner of this event. That is some great analysis! Keep it up! :applaud:

I don't think Coughlin will make the team this time. I really don't think Katie Hoff will. She was 20th today in the 200 free. It's good to see some young blood injected into the sport. Lots of great young backstrokers, that's for sure! I don't think I'd even heard of Smoliga before the meet. I guess she just finished her Junior year of high school, like Missy Franklin. I still like Natalie's chances of making the 400 free relay. I don't think Hoff or Ziegler are going to make the team.

Any other people from Texas notice that the graphic for Dana Vollmer showed her to be from "Cranbury" Texas?

I still like Natalie's chances of making the 400 free relay. She's certainly got a shot there.

Thoughts after tonight: 1. Just how much upside does Larson have? She's still dropping time like an age grouper. Seed time was 1:08 and she goes 1:05 high in the final? That's ridiculous. Loping, stretched stroke reminds me a bit of Leisel Jones. Did anyone else notice how great Larson's walls are? Pure talent. 2. Franklin can apparently handle pressure. That final was an absolute barn burner, it made me nervous just watching it. Franklin made every technical mistake in the book: her start is still weak, her underwaters are only average and she was hugging the lane line on the first fifty. It doesn't matter because between the flags, no one can hang. Franklin's last fifty was awesome. She simply swam by everyone in the pool. Again, tons of upside left here. 3. Grevers: swim of the night. Absurdly fast time and a perfectly executed race. It's really nice to see him just crush a swim like that. No one's been anywhere near Piersol's rubber-powered time since Lacourt's (somewhat fluke) 52.1 from 2010. I remember Piersol breaking 53 in 2009 in Sydney, that time seemed amazing. Grevers is now almost a second faster. If he replicates that swim in London, I think the gold medal is sewn up. 4. Men's 200: surprisingly unremarkable times. I hope there's lots of taper left in Phelps and Lochte, because Park, Agnel, Biedermann etc are lurking. On the other hand, the US is in pretty good shape for the 4x200 with Berens and Dwyer both turning in solid splits. McLean and Houchin make the team (as prelim swimmers) after both botching the 400, that was nice to see. Poor Tarwater, poor Michael Kleuh. Tomorrow night thoughts: 1. Women's 200 is going to be great. Franklin dogged it in the semi to save energy. Franklin's gloves are coming off in the final. Schmitt was even faster than she was here in the last GP meet. IMO, Franklin and Schmitt are both well under 1:55 in the final. Dark horse: Megan Romano. 2. Can't wait to see Clary and Bollier duke it out in the 200 fly. Bollier looked great in the semi. -and, of course- 3. Women's 200 IM. Probably going to be the race of the meet. So many people could win it. I have no prediction to offer other than 3 swimmers sub 2:10 and perhaps one sub 2:09.

Larson was a multisport star in high school, and her freshman year of college was apparently the first time she swam year-round. She had a monster time at NCAAs last year for someone with her background, and then set the AR in the 100 yard *** there this year. Also, she was apparently sick much of last summer's LC season, so the college fans expected she was capable of something faster than 1:08, just maybe not quite 1:05 fast. Franklin was chill the first 50; nothing seems to phase her. She really has the perfect mental skill set to go along with the body, something we don't always see.