Watch Your Mouth! Sprinters Offer Choice Words in Mixed Zone at World Champs

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BARCELONA, Spain, August 2. ANOTHER great day of quotes from top swimmers at the FINA world swimming championships, many of them provided by the always-interesting male sprinters.

Below, enjoy these (mostly) unedited quotes from the mixed zone!

Nathan Adrian, USA, 50 free heat

“It hurt a lot less than the 100, that’s for sure. It really is apples and oranges, but training has become so specific these days that if you’re really just zoning in on one or the other, or when you’re changing your technique from one to the other, you are not going to be competitive in both of them. It is how it is, so hopefully I am going to make the final.”

Anthony Ervin, USA, 50 free heat

“It took about 36 hours for the relay to get out of me, but this is the first time I have really gone into a race in four days, so I try not to let the nerves get the best of me and try to have a smooth and smart race and this felt pretty comfortable. I feel confident going into tonight’s race and we’ll see if we can make it a little more explosive, a little faster and a little better for everybody.”

On Vladimir Morozov’s sub-22 second split in the 100 free final
“It was (expletive) crazy. Everybody, the entire place, went ‘WHOA’ at the same time. And for the 50 it means that he’s going to be fast. As I started watching him race last year, I thought he had a similar technique as me, he swam more like me when I was younger than anybody else, just really quick and really high on the water, high rates, but a good flow. He doesn’t move a lot of water, he’s able to cut the water and go over on top of it as well. He’s a small guy, he’s the one guy out there who’s shorter than me and he’s incredible. He is definitely the guy to watch.

On Florent Manaudou
“I don’t think this heat swim is indicative of anything for him. He’s the Olympic champion, he’s always going to be the favorite for the win.”

George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago, 50 free heat

On his time
“Solid. I think I can do faster than that. I just came in the day the meet started, so I haven’t been here too long. It’s good to get the first race under my belt and get into the meet really.”

On what time he hopes to clock in tonight’s semi
“21.6 or 21.5.”

Dana Vollmer, USA, 50 fly heat

“You don’t get many opportunities to try the 50 fly. I felt like when I dove in, I was a little behind getting into it, and I just felt like it got better and better. I’m excited to take how it felt at the end of that race and put it more towards the beginning, hoping that I can be a lot faster.”

On getting over her bug
“Oh, I feel so much better! It was just incredible how badly I felt but, you know, it happens and I’m glad I feel a lot better now. That spunk is back so I’m excited to have that going into the 50 and for the relay.”

Confidence for the semi
“The 50 is always so close so all I can do is get out there and go as far as I can, and I’m learning something new about the 50 fly every time I do it so hopefully I’ll get it figured out.”

Christine Magnuson, 50 fly heat

“It’s my first race of the meet. I have waited a while for it and it’s good to get the first one out of the way. It’s a little different when the first race is almost at the end of the meet. You just need to plan for it a little bit more and manage your energy. It’s easy to get sucked up in the excitement of your teammates’ swims You’re obviously very invested and you just have to remember to keep a little bit more calm and manage that energy.”

Alicia Coutts, Australia, 50 fly heat

“It was terrible, but it was only a 50. Swimming so much takes its toll, but I didn’t feel very good this morning, I didn’t feel fast.”
Ryan Lochte, USA, 100 fly heat

“I am still learning how to swim that event. The 100 fly is down and back, it’s really short. But this is my first international meet doing the 100 fly, so it’s cool. There is more learning, but every time I go up on the blocks, I feel like I can medal or win, it’s just a matter of it it’s going to happen or not.”

Steffen Deibler, Germany, 100 fly heat

“I’m very satisfied. It was a good race and there is still a bit more in the tank. I could have done more this morning, but that wasn’t necessary and I am really happy with that race. I have seen the others and at 75 meters I was still about a body length ahead and then I just finished my race.”

Selina Hocke, Germany, 200 back heat

“I’m just going to use this meet for the experience. I’m going to go on vacation and relax a little at first and then focus on the positive experiences I made here. Just to know what it is like to be in a call-room and swimming in such a venue in front of so many people and alongside so many other teams and the best German swimmers. Today’s swim was better than what I swam before German nationals so at least that is something. The attention around me was a lot, but I thought I would be able to handle that and I still don’t feel like this entire thing was way too much for me. I was told a lot ‘This is your first world championships, it doesn’t matter if you don’t do as well as you did at nationals’ where I have made a huge jump ahead. And I knew that it was going to be really tough, but I put a lot of pressure on myself.”

Eugene Godsoe, USA, 100 fly heat

“I cut it a little closer than I wanted to, but got the job done. Me and Ryan [Lochte] both have a swim tonight and that’s what’s important.”

On refocusing for the semifinal
“I just know there’s some guys in the semifinal that are swimming really fast – and I think I’m one of them, so I’ve just got to make sure I don’t get ninth [place].”

On the medley relay spot
“We’ll see. Ryan’s been having a good meet so I know at the end of the day, they’re going to put the fastest person in on the night, so whoever it is, I hope USA gets gold.”

Elizabeth Pelton, USA, 200 back heat

“It was good. Getting back into the meet after having two days off so just getting myself ready for the semi final. I’m getting back into the racing mode. I’m going to get a good warm down, get a massage, and get the body ready because the work’s done.”

Missy Franklin, USA, 200 back heat

“Today’s kind of my last pretty hard day. I have three events today, not two. Just two more races after this day so really excited that it’s kind of starting to wrap up, and I’m so excited it’s the 200 back! I’ve been waiting for this the whole meet and I finally got here. Really happy with that swim, Elizabeth Pelton made it back eighth so I’m really happy.”

Is this the hardest day for you?
“I think they’re all hard in different ways. Every day is difficult in its own way but I think it’ll be my toughest turnaround tonight. I haven’t looked at it too much but the good news is 200 back is one of my favorite events so I know I have to make it out there, swim the 100 [free final], see what I can do there and then get a little shake out and come right back for the 200 [back semifinal].

On her 100 free expectations
“I’m just going to go out there and have some fun. It’s a really tough field. I’d love to go another best time. I’d be really happy with another best time, but we’ll see what happens.”

On last night’s relay win
“It was hard [to come down from that]. I was lying in bed at night like, ‘I can’t fall asleep!’ It was so much fun. We had a lot of fun during warm down too. We did like kayak races in the warm down pool. It’s just so fun getting out of a relay like that and going to warm down, just having fun and enjoying that moment before you come back the next morning.”

USA, 4×200 relay heat

Matt McLean: “It was a decent swim for everyone on the relay. We did a good job, we had good, safe starts and did most of what we set out to accomplish. Personally, I was a little off but these guys did a good job.”

Is waiting to swim the hardest part?

Ricky Berens: “Absolutely! Especially for [Matt McLean and I] because we swam the first day and then sat around for another six.”

Matt McLean: “It’s hard to ride that emotional rollercoaster but we have a good supportive team so that helps.”

On the open relay spots

Ricky Berens: “We’ve all got to get after it in the morning, put up a good time to make that night relay. We’ll see who the coaches choose.”

Chloe Sutton, USA, 800 free heat

“It was okay. I kind of got lost a bit after I lost Katie [Ledecky]. My plan was to try and stay with her as much as possible but she’s kind of an animal so I lost her a little bit. But I made it back, I did my job and so I’ve got an opportunity to go even faster. I’m excited about that. Rest tonight, get ready tomorrow morning and last one; fast one! Finish off the meet strong.”

On team spirit

“As people start finishing, more people start being in the stands, and it’s great to have that kind of support. This is my eighth year on a US National team. My eighth year travel trip with a lot of these people, and the bonds that we’ve formed and how much we support each other is really apparent. Everyone can see that while we’re swimming.”

Lotte Friis, Denmark, 800 free heat

On Katie Ledecky

“I think Katie is an amazing swimmer. She’s only 16, so she’s young and going to recover pretty fast. I can only concentrate on myself and focus on my race and my strategy, and hope that’s enough to get closer to her, beat the others, if not her too.”

Katie Ledecky, USA, 800 free heat

On whether she changed her race strategy upon finding out she was going to swim next to Lotte Friis
“No, not really. Heats are all about swimming a smart race and getting a spot in the final.”

On how she is able to regenerate so quickly
“It’s the training. Just being able to recover quickly. If I had swum a 50, I would be breathing hard right now, but an 800 is totally different.”

“I felt a little bit tired this morning before heats, but I got a massage and recovered well after last night and felt ready to go again. I was really excited after last night, definitely took a little time until I could get to sleep. It’s just a matter of recovering well and now I have 36 hours until I have to swim again so that’s really nice.”

About going for a world record again
“We’ll see. Whatever happens, happens.”

Tyler Clary, USA, 200 back final

“The nice thing about having a bad swim is that you only have to have a bad swim in that event once and you don’t have to swim it again for the rest of the meet; it’s simple.”

On his race
“I will call it as something I can live with. I haven’t placed higher than third in that event at a World Championships so to be able to tie with that after the year I’ve had is not too bad. I didn’t really feel like myself in the water, honestly, until World Championship Trials. My only goal was to come in and have a really good race technically. I executed my details well and I wanted to go 1:54-mid and that’s exactly what I did.”

On finding motivation post-Olympics
“It’s hard to find the motivation, yes, especially when I went into that [Olympic] event expecting to win. I knew I was in contention for a medal but when I touched the wall, I saw No. 1 and Olympic Record next to my name, I absolutely lost it. The next couple of weeks after that was pure pandemonium, and to be able to come back right away, get right back in the water with your heart fully into it is really tough. I made it doubly hard on myself by coming back at 220 pounds when I usually swim at 190 pounds.”

Micah Lawrence, USA, 200 breast final

“It’s my first international medal so that’s pretty cool. Just to take from this is that everyone is fast at this level. You’ve got to swim your own race, you can’t be paying too much attention to everyone else around you. It’s a race so eventually you’re going to have to try and buck up and try to beat them.”

Eugene Godsoe, USA, 100 fly semi

“Should have been better. I was pretty happy with the swimming part, pretty sloppy on the details so just have to wait and see.”

Shannon Vreeland, USA, 100 final

“It wasn’t a great race. Definitely could have had a better swim. I think I still have the relay left. This is the first time I’ve ever had any individual finals so it’s been a learning experience. Overall, it’s gone very well.”

Missy Franklin, USA, 100 free final

“I definitely wanted a 52. I went out there and got fourth, in London I got fifth so I moved up a spot in the final which I am super happy about and it was right off my best time from prelims. I learned a lot which I think is the most important thing. The 100 free is the event in which I definitely have the most to improve on and I went fourth and I still got a best time. I hope that I can one day be a medal contender in the event. We’ll see what will happen when I get to Berkeley. I think it will be fun to see what maybe one day I can do.”

Nathan Adrian, USA, 50 free semifinal

“I’m not indifferent, my time was good enough to make the final and that’s what matters. I’m happy I got a lane and we’ll see what I can do for a medal.”

Frederick Bousquet, 50 free semifinal

About Ryan Lochte’s triple
“That guy is a freak. He’s got cojones, as they say here in Spain. Especially this year. Everything he has done, representing himself, doing his TV show and all these appearances. He’s about to step up tonight and do three events. If he is still walking tonight after that relay, that will be pretty impressive.”

Anthony Ervin, USA, 50 free semifinal

“Everybody has got their days and today was a good day for me. I felt really good this morning and I made some little changes that I felt confident and comfortable with. It was a great race, I couldn’t ask for anything more than that and tomorrow is just going to be fun.”

On Ryan Lochte’s triple
“I consider that a Herculean feat of strength. I can barely handle doing one lap twice in 12 hours and that man is going to be on the podium every day. I had to stop doing my interviews when the National Anthem came on. For Ryan and for our country I had to stop for a moment.”

On Florent Manaudou
“He is great. He is the real deal. Immediately after the Olympics there was a lot of talk that it may have been a fluke or something and he continued to step up and took down an incredible time and this meet is no different. In London he almost went exactly the time from today. He’s young, he has the will and he has so much more to give. He might go faster. He could potentially get that world record. I don’t know about tomorrow, but eventually.”

Chad Le Clos, South Africa, 100 butterfly semifinal

“Tomorrow is going to be hard. I went pretty hard tonight. Lochte was very good and just off the 200 backstroke. Tomorrow he is going to be free and just doing the 100 fly. It’s going to be a big race. He is there, Deibler, Laszlo Cseh. It’s going to be a good final.”

On Ryan Lochte’s triple
“It’s big, it’s fantastic. It’s very good for the sport.”

Dana Vollmer, USA, 50 fly semi final

“I’m happy with that. I’m still not at my best time but I felt better than this morning and I’m figuring things out and I am really excited that I get to do it again. I’m going to stick to what I’ve done before, I don’t have that many opportunities in the 50. On a 100 it’s kind of more about rhythm and control of water and I feel like my best part is the end of my 100 so the challenge for me is to get going right off the start, because I only have 50 and the combination of the two will have to play out.”

Ryan Lochte, USA, 4×200 relay final

“I wasn’t really thinking about the triple at all. I was just focusing on my first race, after that, I was focusing on my second race, then my third. I don’t know anyone in swimming that’s done a triple except Michael [Phelps] and Missy [Franklin]. I think those are it. No matter what the outcome was on the first and second races, I had to pull it together for Team USA. When you get together for a relay, you don’t care about the pain, you don’t care about anything like that. You just get up there and put together a good race for the other guys.”

On doing the triple
“It was so painful. I don’t want to do that again.”

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