2011 World Swimming Championships Shanghai Jul 24

:banana::applaud: Wow, Lochte and Phelps just dominated the 200IM! Lochte got the WR..woohoo! Its just amazing to see them continue to absolutely dominate this event. No one else in the field even came close to their semi times. Lochte just killed Phelps on the last turn. His conditioning is really showing. He could really bust out an incredible 400IM this week. I just love seeing someone who works that hard do so well.....:bliss:

The U.S. really seems to be falling behind the rest of the world in sprinting. I'm sure part of it is the fact we poo poo the 50 stroke events. Most of our superstars tend to be "well rounded" swimmers. We just don't have the true sprint specialists. Yes, there are exceptions, but I think as a general rule this is the case in the U.S. Agree! The US does best in the 200s as evidenced by Phelps, Lochte, Soni, Franklin, wins in 800 free relay, etc. The 50 seems to be a very recent addition to USA-S meets, and not frequently offered. Unless we focus more on the 50s (which would then help the 100s), we'll keep getting stomped. There just seems to be some innate bias against sprint specialists -- not "real" swimmers, etc. Foolish thinking, and the rest of the world clearly doesn't feel that way.

Agree! The US does best in the 200s as evidenced by Phelps, Lochte, Soni, Franklin, wins in 800 free relay, etc. The 50 seems to be a very recent addition to USA-S meets, and not frequently offered. Unless we focus more on the 50s (which would then help the 100s), we'll keep getting stomped. There just seems to be some innate bias against sprint specialists -- not "real" swimmers, etc. Foolish thinking, and the rest of the world clearly doesn't feel that way. Even as a slow-twitch mid-D guy who couldn't sprint if my suit was on fire, I agree 100% with this.

You'll like this. Our club coach told my oldest son, who is 10 and likes to sprint, "50s are for old people and Europeans. Americans swim 200s and 100s".:bitching: Ugh, the indoctrination starts young. The chief concern is always building an engine ... Glad I'm "old" and can be a pure sprinter. :)

You'll like this. Our club coach told my oldest son, who is 10 and likes to sprint, "50s are for old people and Europeans. Americans swim 200s and 100s".:bitching:Wow- that's impressive. He managed to brainwash your child and dis your sprint breastroke accomplishments in the same sentence.

Locthe does not have a track record of success @ 100M (back or free). BUT: I bet he figures it out by next summer! He's got 11 medals at major international meets that resulted from him swimming 100 meters... en.wikipedia.org/.../Ryan_Lochte

The U.S. really seems to be falling behind the rest of the world in sprinting. I'm sure part of it is the fact we poo poo the 50 stroke events. Most of our superstars tend to be "well rounded" swimmers. We just don't have the true sprint specialists. Yes, there are exceptions, but I think as a general rule this is the case in the U.S. And this is also why a certain 45 year old woman is going to have an excellent shot at making the Olympic team in the 50 meter freestyle...

The U.S. really seems to be falling behind the rest of the world in sprinting. I'm sure part of it is the fact we poo poo the 50 stroke events. Most of our superstars tend to be "well rounded" swimmers. We just don't have the true sprint specialists. Yes, there are exceptions, but I think as a general rule this is the case in the U.S. We don't have 50s at the qualifying meets for International meets so we don't know how our true sprinters would do because they aren't at the meet.

Agree! The US does best in the 200s as evidenced by Phelps, Lochte, Soni, Franklin, wins in 800 free relay, etc. The 50 seems to be a very recent addition to USA-S meets, and not frequently offered. Unless we focus more on the 50s (which would then help the 100s), we'll keep getting stomped. There just seems to be some innate bias against sprint specialists -- not "real" swimmers, etc. Foolish thinking, and the rest of the world clearly doesn't feel that way. You'll like this. Our club coach told my oldest son, who is 10 and likes to sprint, "50s are for old people and Europeans. Americans swim 200s and 100s".:bitching:

Its think his 200 split shows that he had a strong chance of beating IRIE in the 100. I think he's a 52 low easy. Too bad he can't add this to his program. Locthe does not have a track record of success @ 100M (back or free). BUT: I bet he figures it out by next summer!