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Nathan Adrian is used to being in some of the most intense ready rooms at the biggest international meets in the world. “Intense” wasn’t one of the words he used to describe the atmosphere before the mixed 400 freestyle relay Saturday night in Kazan, Russia, at the FINA world championships.
“The ready room is completely different than anything I’ve gotten used to,” he said. “With it being mixed genders, it’s maybe a little more relaxed.”
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Adrian a hard time verbalizing the atmosphere of a ready room before the mixed free relay, saying on multiple occasions that it’s “different.”
The relay came after a 50 freestyle final in which Adrian earned the silver medal behind France’s Florent Manaudou. Adrian talked about the intense 50 free final and commented on Manaudou’s time.
“He’s a very, very capable athlete,” Adrian said. “Very explosive. 21.1 is fast, but not the fastest he’s going to go in his career.”
Adrian said his start was the main reason why he’s two tenths slower in the final, but he wasn’t thinking about that in such a fast event.
“I knew (the start) wasn’t very good (shortly after),” he said. “As much as I work on my 50 stroke, and as much as I do it, there are still certain things I have to be cognizant of as I’m going through the race. So, I had to put it to the back of my mind and really focus on trying nailing my stroke.”
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