What We Learned From Pan Pacs

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.

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