Column by John Lohn
IRVINE, California, August 23. THE Pan Pacific Championships are in the rearview mirror, four days of high-quality action entertaining the swimming world from the William Woollett Aquatic Center. There's no argument that Ryan Lochte was the star of the meet, winning four individual events and helping the United States to gold in a pair of relays. Here are a few more tidbits from Irvine.
**Although he didn't win an event, American Tyler Clary had a phenomenal competition and further established himself as capable of carrying the United States banner down the road. Training this summer under Jon Urbanchek as FAST, Clary was the runnerup to Lochte in three events - both medley disciplines and the 200 backstroke.
While his medley times were terrific, it was Clary's performance in the 200 back that really stood out, as he checked in with a time of 1:54.90. With Lochte, Clary and Aaron Peirsol lining up for the United States, and the two-per-nation rule hovering, Clary had to excel in the preliminaries to ensure his spot in the championship final. Obviously, he got the job done.
At next year's World Championships in Shanghai, Clary should be well-positioned to make a run at a pair of podium finishes. The 400 individual medley will bring battles with Lochte and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, and Clary will go into the 200 back as the No. 2 choice behind Lochte, the reigning Olympic champion. Clary will also get the chance to race the 200 butterfly.
**There were a couple of world-record scares at Pan Pacs, Ryan Lochte in the 200 individual medley and Rebecca Soni in the 200 breaststroke, but all global standards survived the four-day meet. That means there will likely be no world records in 2010 in the long-course pool, unless something surprising shakes out at the Asian Games or Commonwealth Games.
It's not a terrible thing that no world marks were set, and it was a positive to see a handful pushed by athletes in textile suits. The racing was of high quality and the swimmers will be able to set their sights on some records for Shanghai.
**It might be time for an examination of the qualifying process used at Pan Pacs. Several times at the meet, a country had the top three or three of the top four swimmers in an event, but could only send two to the final because of the meet's rules. Perhaps allowing three to the final is a way to go. Or, if the meet sticks with two per country in the championship final, allow the consolation final to include the eight next-fastest times.
**The most overshadowed athlete of the meet was Canada's Brent Hayden, who was superb in the sprint freestyles. Hayden ended his competition by earning bronze in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.89. Meanwhile, he twice went under 48.20 in the 100 freestyle, once in the individual event and once as Canada's leadoff leg on the 400 free relay.
**My favorite performance of the meet wasn't Rebecca Soni's push of the world record in the 200 breast, but her sub-1:05 effort in the 100 breast. Soni owned that race and became the first woman to crack 1:05 in textile, bettering Leisel Jones' fastest time of 1:05.09.
**The Australian women have to be beaming over Emily Seebohm. Originally breaking onto the international stage as a backstroke, Seebohm has developed a varied program that now includes the 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley. In the 200 IM, Seebohm claimed the gold medal in 2:09.93. It's the fastest time in history produced by a woman not in a tech suit or proven to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
**Finally, the United States women looked good all week, winning the three relays and easily topping the medal count. The beautiful part about where the American women stand right now is that they have a nice combination of veterans and youth. The likes of Natalie Coughlin and Amanda Beard (tremendous comeback) are there while the youth contingent is paced by the growing talents of Elizabeth Beisel, Elizabeth Pelton and Missy Franklin. It's definitely a good sign.
Reaction Time Comments
Reaction Time responses do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions
of Swimming World Magazine or SwimmingWorldMagazine.com.
Reaction Time is provided as a service to our readers.
August 23, 2010 Another overlooked swimmer was Yolane Kukla. She's only 14, has been swimming only 2 years (according to what I read) and very fast. She has a very bright future! Submitted by: WEK5000
August 23, 2010 I did happen to notice Ryan Cochrane's performances in distance. Not worth a mention? Submitted by: northern loon
August 23, 2010 Ziegler's 8:21 was a huge surprise and a show that she is well on her way to challenging for the world record and the world title. Submitted by: paddles
August 23, 2010 Don't count Peirsol out of the 200 bk yet,
he still plans on training it. So look for him to still be in the mix. An off meet, I think you will see a different Aaron at Worlds next summer. Submitted by: swimfan3
August 23, 2010 I think Nathan Adrian is worth a mention. He beat Filho not once but twice and that shows he can be a contender on the international level. Also, does anyone think Filho was out of shape or suffering because he's not in a suit anymore? Submitted by: philipmj24
August 23, 2010 I'm confident Peirsol will train hard for and regain his form @ Worlds, tho we likely won't have the pleasure of seeing him contest the 200 Back until the 2012 US Trials, unless Lochte or Clary were to give him the opportunity in Shanghai (similar to what Pelton did for Kukors in Rome, and Lochte for Peirsol @ Pan Pacs). Submitted by: IntlSwimming
August 23, 2010 I'm confused as ever: is it now a closed book on who are the 2 individuals for Worlds next year? The criteria are from the Pan Pac roster, the fastest 2 from either Nationals or Pan Pacs are the 2 who get the Shanghai meet spots.
Now what might be uncertain is swimmers passing on events they're qualified to focus on others...example would be Phelps skipping 200IM or 200 free to nly do 3 individual events, not likely, but still.
But I thought that's done now and we know. If Clary's faster 200back time than Piersol or vice versa, then that's it. Or is it? Submitted by: outside smoke
August 23, 2010 It will be impossible for Lochte to swim each event 3 times at worlds and win like Michael. Something will suffer, alot will happen in one year. He will be 27 not 22 as Michael was. That will be the interesting part. He is alot older than when Michael did it! Submitted by: swimfan3
August 23, 2010 Good point swimfan3..... More "drama" to the mix. Submitted by:
August 23, 2010 philipmj24,
No doubt, Adrian will be a MAJOR player in the world of freestyle.
No doubt, Cesar Cielo Filho was out of his shape-or sync in his main style(free).If was "the suits", tell me how he can be 0.4(Ok, 0.39) faster in 50 fly than his shiny suited time?And he almost don´t swim the final(50fly) just to rest for his main events...
And he made 21.55 unrested,unteapered and was beating Bousquet in the training.Without the suits will be a lot of difference betweent rested/unrested times.That´s strange...
Submitted by: MrIron
August 24, 2010 I may be in the minority in saying this, but a sprinter like Cielo is NEVER unrested or untapered. The indication is that they are beat up tired from LOTS of yardage and intense training, and before any world class meet, that simply is not true. Sprinters go as fast as they do because they always balance a LOT of recovery inbetween their training, thus are never "unrested". Submitted by: Globalswim
August 24, 2010 What do you guys think about Peirsol?
Was he taking it easy this season or is age taking its toll on him?
It was kind of sad for me watching him this season since he is my favorite swimmer. I hope he can regain his form and go for that 3rd straight olympic gold in the 100 back. Submitted by: carls
August 25, 2010 I think we also learned that Phelps has some raw speed somehow or another now. With that 100 free time and the other results from Nationals and Pan Pacs plus some hard training time he could maybe consider doing the program Spitz did at the next Worlds and maybe even Olympics. That would be the goal and motivation he needs. Just a thought. Submitted by: swimmcatt1
Reaction Time responses do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions
of Swimming World Magazine or SwimmingWorldMagazine.com.
Reaction Time is provided as a service to our readers.
|
Courtesy of: John Lohn
ADVERTISEMENT
Special Offer!
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
