Missy Franklin Relives 200 Back, Mixed Relay Races (SW Radio)

FINA World Championships Missy Franklin
Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

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Missy Franklin is no stranger to doing more than one swim in a finals session, but tonight at the FINA world championships was one of her toughest. She placed second in the 200 backstroke then put together a massive anchor leg on the mixed 400 freestyle relay to help the United States win the world record and set a world record.

“All of us except Ryan (Lochte) had a double tonight,” she said, “so we just knew we had to give whatever we had left in the tank, and thankfully that was enough.”

It’s amazing to imagine what Franklin had in the tank for the relay, given that it appeared she left it all in the pool for the 200 backstroke. The final 50 meters, she said, were painful, but she’s happy with the way she executed the race.

“It’s hard to lose,” she said. “This is one of the hardest races to get second (in), just because I love it so much. I fought my heart out and I went out after it and I swam it like Missy Franklin swims a 200 backstroke.

“I’m just not there at the end yet, and that’s all right. I still gained a lot of confidence from that.”

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The experience of swimming in her first mixed relay went beyond the actual experience of swimming in a race with two men on her team, but also in the ready room, where the varying emotions of men and women made for a new experience.

“Everything about (the mixed relay) is so different,” Franklin said. “It’s so relaxed, and it’s so fun for the swimmers to do something so different and so out of the routine.”

With FINA attempting to petition the International Olympic Committee to add new events to the Olympic swimming schedule, Franklin said she believed the mixed relays would add an entirely new dimension to the way spectators look at the sport.

“I think it could be really, really fun,” she said. “I think it’s awesome how it’s bridging the gap of men’s and women’s sports and having them compete together on a stage like the world championships. It’s a great motivator knowing that men and women were racing together (and) empowering each other.

“There’s this incredible mutual respect and it’s awesome.”

She also talked

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Swimming Winner
8 years ago

Sweet :

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