Streamlined News: Santa Clara Recap, Austin Preview, Water in Omaha Pools, USA Water Polo on to Semis

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 1. TAE Hwan Park kicked off the Santa Clara International Grand Prix yesterday with a very fast 800 freestyle. The Korean won the event in 7:52.07, a lifetime best for him and fourth fastest in the world. Keep in mind, though, that the 800 is not an Olympic event. Canada's Ryan Cochrane was second with a 7:57.19, with Australian freestyler Ryan Napoleon a strong third with a 7:59.10. Comments on our Reaction Time section on swimmingworld.com speculate if Park will swim the mile at the Olympics, and we won't get any indication of that this weekend. Park is not in the 1500 at this meet, nor is Cochrane for that matter.

Lauren Boyle of New Zealand won the women's 1500 free with a 16:21.73, holding off Emily Brunemann from the FAST team. Brunemann and Boyle are in the 800 on Sunday, but Australian Olympian Kyle Palmer will be the one to watch there.

Today's prelims featured a one-off swim for Nathan Adrian in the 100 free. Adrian swam a 48.50 in prelims, then boarded a plane to attend his brother's wedding in Seattle. That swim is his fastest of the year, about four hundredths faster than he went in April's meet in Mission Viejo. He just fell a hundredth short of being the fastest American in the event this year, a spot still held by Michael Phelps.

Dana Vollmer was the only swimmer under 55 seconds this morning in the 100 free prelims with a 54.38. Natalie Coughlin and Emily Seebohm will be challenging Vollmer in tonight's finals.

Prelims was still going on as we taped this show, but we'll bring you a full recap of tonight's finals on swimmingworld.com.

The Santa Clara Grand Prix isn't the only big meet to watch this weekend. Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, Brendan Hansen and Allison Schmitt will be some of the top swimmers at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite. The meet is smaller in size than the Santa Clara meet, with fewer than 50 swimmers in each event as opposed to about 100 per event in California. This will likely be the last chance to see Michael Phelps in an in-season meet before he retires and he'll have his hands full, especially in the 200 fly against China's Wu Peng, who has been beating Phelps in-season and could be a major challenge in the Olympics. Nothing major took place in the prelims today in Austin, but we'll bring you a report on finals on swimmingworld.com.

Large hoses began filling the Olympic Trials competition pool at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha today with the help from the Omaha Fire Department. These photos were provided to us by Harold Cliff, the Executive Director of the Omaha Sports Commission, who was on hand to witness the moment. It's going to take about 10 hours to put 1 million gallons of water into the pool, which will then be treated and heated to competition regulations in time for next weekend's Swimvitational.

The United States is having very little trouble getting through the FINA Water Polo Super Final, winning the quarterfinal over Italy 14-2 today. In tomorrow's semifinal they will play against Greece, and likely advance to the final with the winner of the China-Australia semifinal match.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use