Column by John Lohn, Swimming World senior writer<\/i><\/p>\n
BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey, June 20. FOLLOWING the conclusion of the Santa Clara Grand Prix, it would be easy to pick out a major star and analyze what went down over the weekend. And, there will be time for that later in this column. But for starters, we'll kick things off by looking at a youngster who is providing much hope for the future of American men's swimming.<\/p>\n
Out of the much-ballyhooed (and rightfully so) North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Chase Kalisz produced a phenomenal meet in Northern California. The 17-year-old, under the guidance of Bob Bowman, advanced to several championship finals, a tremendous showing considering the stacked field that showed up at the George Haines International Swim Center.<\/p>\n
Kalisz's top finish of the weekend was a third-place outing in the 400 individual medley, where he clocked 4:19.15 to place behind Brazil's Thiago Pereira and Ryan Lochte, the reigning Olympic bronze medalist in the event. Kalisz also touched sixth in the 200 breaststroke (2:16.60) and was fifth in the 200 IM, thanks to a mark of 2:03.06.<\/p>\n
The United States men are set to undergo a transition period after the London Olympics, what with the impending retirement of Michael Phelps. Heck, Aaron Peirsol has already left the sport, so the transition is already under way. Having a talent like Kalisz \u2013 among others \u2013 in the wings is a definite positive.<\/p>\n
**It's good to see Australia's Stephanie Rice back on her game after dealing with injuries last year. Rice put on a quality show, highlighted by her Saturday night triumph in the 400 individual medley. Contesting her prime event, the reigning Olympic champ in both medley disciplines touched the wall in 4:36.52.<\/p>\n
She couldn't, however, keep pace with Ariana Kukors in the 200 IM, as Kukors popped the fastest time in the world this year. Kukors' swim dipped below the 2:09.68 of Australian Alicia Coutts from earlier this month.<\/p>\n
**It can be argued that the most definitive statement of the Santa Clara Grand Prix was delivered by South Korea's Tae Hwan Park, the defending Olympic champion in the 400 freestyle. Park uncorked a freestyle triple, claiming top honors in the 100, 200 and 400 freestyles. His times in the longer events, 1:45.92 and 3:44.99, were extremely impressive, and for a mid-distance guy, his 48.92 in the 100 free was also eye-opening.<\/p>\n
With the World Championships in Shanghai just five weeks away, Park is well positioned to be one of the stars of the meet. Of course, Park is competing in absolutely loaded events at the World Champs, so nothing is a given. For now, though, he appears headed for a monster meet in China.<\/p>\n
**Question of the Week: Based on Tae Hwan Park's superb showing in Santa Clara, what do you expect from the Korean star at the World Championships in Shanghai?<\/p>\n
**The return of Brendan Hansen to competitive swimming after a near-three-year hiatus went extremely well, as Hansen placed second in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. For good measure, he won the 50 breast on Saturday night, edging Mike Alexandrov. Hansen actually had the fastest 100 breast time of the meet, thanks to his 1:01.37 effort from preliminaries.<\/p>\n
Entering the competition, Hansen hoped to get a gauge of his racing condition and where he stood after six months of training. Well, it seems fair to say that former world-record holder is in a good place and well on the way to once again being a global force. At the United States Nationals in August, we'll get a better feel for how Hansen's comeback is unfolding.<\/p>\n
Follow John Lohn on Twitter: @JohnLohn<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Column by John Lohn, Swimming World senior writer BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey, June 20. FOLLOWING the conclusion of the Santa Clara Grand Prix, it would be easy to pick out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-commentary","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n