2009 World Championships in Rome - Tentative Schedule

The swimming portion of the 2009 Worlds in Rome starts on July 26 and ends on August 2. A draft schedule of events has been issued, and it is not favorable to Ryan.

Here are the events Ryan may qualify for and the dates they will take place:

Sunday, July 26
4 x 100m Free Relay
prelims and finals

Monday, July 27
200m Free
100m Back
prelims and semi-finals

Tuesday, July 28
200m Free
100m Back
finals

Wednesday, July 29
100m Free
200m IM
prelims and semi-finals

Thursday, July 30
200m Back
prelims and semi-finals
100m Free finals
200m IM
finals

Friday, July 31
4 x 200m Free Relay
prelims and finals
200m Back
finals

Saturday, August 1
nothing

Sunday, August 2
400m IM
prelims and finals
4 x 100m Medley Relay
prelims and finals

I really doubt Ryan will qualify to swim the 100m Free as an individual event. Thus, the doubles he may face are:

200m free and 100m back - prelims & semis on 7/27 (4 races!) and finals on 7/28. This is essentially the same dilema Ryan faced in the 2008 Olympic trials and he chose to concentrate on the 100m back and not the 200m free. It will be interesting to see if he chooses one over the other this time, if he makes the same choice, or if he elects to swim both events.

200m back and 200m IM - prelims & semis in the 200m back and finals in the 200m IM on 7/30 (3 races). It's not the same as having two finals on the same day, but it's a lot of races nonetheless.

4 x 200m free relay and 200m back - prelims & finals in the relay and finals in the 200m back on 7/31. Ryan probably wouldn't swim in the prelims of the relay, but there's a good chance he'd swim in the finals of both the relay and 200m back. Two finals in one day is tough, even if one is a relay.

400m IM prelims and finals and 400m medley relay prelims and finals on 8/2. Ryan likely would swim in either the prelims or the finals of the relay (and not both) but it's probably too much to swim two 400m IM races and one relay in the same day.

This schedule blows. To me, it suggests that Ryan should forego the 100m back and concentrate on the 200m free as an individual event. If he can qualify for the 4 x 100m free relay, then he may be able to swim 4 individual events (200m free, 200m back, 200m IM and 400m IM) and 2 relays (4 x 100 free and 4 x 200 free).

Alternatively, he could forego both the 200m free and 400m IM as individual events and try to qualify for the 100m back. Under this scenario, he could potentially qualify for 3 individual events (100m back, 200m back, 200m IM) and all 3 relays. Either way, it looks like the schedule will allow him to swim 6 events at most.