Ryan's 100m back time the 4th fastest in the world in 2010

Ryan's time in the 100m back last night - 54.81 - is the 4th fastest time in the world so far in 2010. Nick Thoman's time of 54.40 is the fastest, tied with Hayden Stoeckel of Australia. Camille Lacourt of France has the 3rd fastest time of 54.52.

Info received from www.swimnews.com.

Last year Ryan's best time in the 100 back was 53.95, which he swam at the Speedo South Sectionals in Florida last March.

Ryan's time in the finals of the Missouri Grand Prix last year, in which he placed 1st, was 55.16.

Despite his injury and long time out of the pool, he seems to be in good shape so far this year.

Missouri Grand Prix - Sunday Scratch

Ryan scratched the only event he was entered in today at the Missouri Grand Prix...the 100 free. Hope everything is OK.

Don't know when Ryan is swimming again, but the Florida Spring Senior Championships are scheduled for February 25-28 in Orlando. He swam in this meet last year so maybe he'll enter again this year.

Ryan scratched Friday's finals

Just heard that Ryan scratched his finals for tonight's Missouri Grand Prix. He did really well in the prelims, so that should give him an indication of where he is at in training. Some people who are at the meet said it looked like he was limping after one of his races. Hopefully he is not injured!

Missouri Grand Prix - Prelim Results 2/12/10

The Missouri Grand Prix started today. Unfortunately Michael Phelps could not make it due to the blizzard on the east coast earlier this week. There are still a lot of Olympians there: Garrett Weber-Gale, Eric Shanteau, Ous Mellouli, Thiago Pereira and Ryan. Also, Nick Thoman from the national team is there.

Ryan swam the prelims for two events this morning, the 200m free and the 100m fly. He placed 4th in the 200m free and tied for 3rd in the 100m fly. Here are the results:

200m free prelims 2/12/10

1 Hayden, Brent 1:51.42
2 Johns, Brian 1:52.23
3 Di Giorgio, Ale 1:52.43
4 Lochte, Ryan 1:52.66
5 Mellouli, Ous 1:52.87

100m fly prelims 2/12/10

1 Kishida, Masayu 54.50
2 Russell, David 54.92
3 Janusaitis, Vyt 55.25
3 Lochte, Ryan 55.25
5 Pereira, Thiago 55.52

Also in the "A" final: Nick Thoman & Bradley Ally.

This is Ryan's first meet since last summer's world championships in Rome. For the sake of comparison, at last year's Missouri Grand Prix Ryan swam a 1:54.19 in the prelims of the 200 free and didn't make the "A" final. He swam a 55.08 in the 100 free and finished 2nd in the final. He seems to be on pace with his training from last year and we all know how well that turned out!

Finals start at 5:30 p.m. CST and can be watched live at www.swimnetwork.com

If you aren't following Ryan on twitter, you should. www.twitter.com/ryanlochte

Interview with Ryan's Coach, Gregg Troy

This interview appeared today on the swimmingworld.tv website: http://www.swimmingworld.tv/episodes/2010/1/6/mss-gregg-troy.html

In the interview, Coach Troy says Ryan is back in the water and training following "minor" surgery, although he hasn't been able to do a breast stroke kick yet. Ryan will enter a meet in February. My guess is the Missouri Grand Prix. It will be great to see Ryan competing again, but mostly I'm happy for all the fans who are planning to go to that meet.

Ryan wins 100 back at Santa Clara Grand Prix; 4th in 100 Free

100m Back
Thanks to my friend Lisa (calidreamn08) for the great screen shot from the 100 back awards ceremony. Yes, Ryan came in 1st and beat Michael Phelps for the first time in a long course event. This was way overdue and hopefully it will not be the last time it happens.

Ryan's winning time was 54.15. Phelps was 2nd with a time of 54.31. Ashley Delaney was 3rd with a time of 54.41. Matt Grevers was 4th with a time of 54.96. It was really close. Ryan was ahead at the 50m mark and held on to win despite a surge from Phelps in the final meters.

It is interesting to note that last year the Charlotte Ultraswim was held from June 5-8, 2008, around the same time as the Santa Clara meet this year. It was also a few weeks before nationals/trials. Ryan swam a 54.0 in the 100 back in Charlotte one year ago. He's right there again with a 54.15 same time this year.

Rowdy Gaines noted after the race that the times were not even in the top 10 in the world this year. I think it's OK given that other than Aaron Peirsol's 53.32, which he swam at the Charlotte Ultraswim, it appears that the other top 10 times were achieved in the world championship qualifying meets where the swimmers were tapered. It makes me feel good that Ryan's time is only .15 off of where he was a year ago at the same point in his training.

Nevertheless, I don't know what this means for nationals. Aaron Peirsol is still the guy to beat and with Grevers, Phelps, Hesen, Thoman, Marshall and others, it is easily the toughest event for the men. It's also the same day as the 200 free (events 9 and 10!!) I hope Ryan decides to swim the 100 back because he's such a great competitor but I hope he swims the 200 free as well. It's going to take a tremendous effort but I think he can do well in both events.

For now, I hope he savors the win and that it gives him confidence going into nationals in a few weeks.

100 Free
Ryan is not a sprinter, and I didn't expect him to win this event. Nevertheless, I hoped he would finish in the top 3. He almost made it, finishing 4th overall and 3rd among the Americans with a time of 49.18. It was Ryan's fastest time in the 100 free this year and he has to be pleased with the result. He had a great start and went out fast, and was in 3rd at the turn ahead of Phelps.

The event was won by Brent Hayden of Canada with a time of 48.44. Phelps was 2nd with a time of 48.87 and Nathan Adrian was 3rd with a time of 48.94.

I think this shows Ryan has a good shot at finishing in the top 6 in this event at nationals and qualifying for a spot on the 4 x 100 free relay. He finished 3rd among U.S. swimmers at this meet in a very strong field. Notably absent were Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones, but even if they are faster, Ryan would be right there in the top 6. Jason Lesak is not going to compete at nationals which is not great for the team, but increases Ryan's chance of making the relay.

Both Ryan and Michael had a great meet, but I'm happy to report that Ryan won the high point award with 3 first place finishes, 1 second and 1 fourth (out of 6 events). Michael won 2 events and had 2 second place finishes. That's really amazing for both of them.

I don't think Ryan has any more meets before nationals, which start on July 7. There will be a lot to speculate on before then.

ETA: Here's a link for the 100 back race on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0CAFMvFoPw

Santa Clara Grand Prix - June 14 Prelims - 100 Free & 100 Back

The picture of Ryan's gold medal in the 200 back is from http://www.swimstars.org/

100 Free
Ryan's prelim time in the 100 free was 50.00, good enough for 3rd fastest. The A finals are going to be so exciting as times for all 9 qualifiers were so close together.

Here's the A final for tonight:

1 Hayden, Brent 49.34
2 Adrian, Nathan G 49.85
3 Lochte, Ryan S 50.00
4 Brown, Adam T 50.01
5 Burnett, Simon A 50.03
6 Walters, David W 50.04
7 Phelps, Michael F 50.07
8 Grevers, Matthew C 50.09
9 Monk, Kenrick 50.15

100 Back
The 100 back prelims were almost as close as the 100 free. Ryan swam a 55.46, which tied with Michael Phelps for 4th fastest qualifying time (they were in different heats). The A final looks like this:

1 Grevers, Matthew C 55.15
2 Russell, David P 55.43
3 Delaney, Ashley 55.44
4 Lochte, Ryan S 55.46
4 Phelps, Michael F 55.46
6 Barnea, Guy M 55.83
7 Hesen, Benedict E 56.04
8 Hawes, Matt 56.09
9 Wollach, Pascal D 56.44

Peter Marshall just missed out on thet A final with a time of 56.64. It's too bad. I wanted to see him compete against Ryan ever since he broke Ryan's SC world record last fall.

200 IM
Ryan scratched the 200 IM. At first I was disappointed, but then I reconsidered. He already knows where he's at in that event because he swam it at the Ultraswim. Now he'll be able to conserve energy for the 100 free and 100 back.

In other news, Laszlo Cseh swam at the Mare Nostrum meet in Monte Carlo this weekend, winning the 200 fly and the 200 IM. His time in the 200 IM was 2:00.31. It looks like Laci did not swim the 400 IM. I'm wondering if he has given up on that event like Michael Phelps. If he has, it makes him more dangerous in the 200 IM.

Also, Paul Biedermann of Germany swam a 1:44.88 in the 200 free. That's insane. Ryan's swam the 200 free faster than that in a relay but not from a flat start.

Thanks to http://www.swimnews.com/ for the Mare Nostrum information.

Santa Clara Grand Prix - June 12 Finals - 100m Fly & 200m Back

100m Fly

Ryan placed 2nd in the 100 Fly with a time of 52.84, his personal best in this event by .02! It's also exactly 1 second faster than the 53.84 he swam at the Missouri Grand Prix, the last time he swam this event. Ryan should be happy with this result.

Masayuki Kishida, who also came in first in the 100 fly in Missouri, won with a time of 52.43. Ricky Berens came in third with a time of 53.00.

I'm so happy for Ryan that he came in 2nd and swam a personal best time.

200 back

Because this is Ryan's best event, it is always nerve-wracking to watch him swim it. Tonight was no different. He was in 2nd place the entire race until the last 50 when he had a fantastic turn and shot out ahead of Ashley Delaney of Australia. As Rowdy Gains said about Ashley Delaney in the last lap, "It was like he was standing still." Ryan won with a time of 1:56.83, almost 2 seconds faster than Delaney.

Ryan said in the interview after the race that his coach wanted him to swim the last 50 in the same time he swam in Beijing. Obviously, I had to check to see if he did this....

Tonight's time in the last 50: 28.33

Beijing time in the last 50: 28.88

He actually went .55 faster than in Beijing. This is awesome. It suggests that Ryan was holding back in this event and could have gone much faster. I'm so much more excited for U.S. nationals now.

ETA: Links to videos for both races on www.swimnetwork.com:

200 back: http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090613/santa_clara_men_s_200m_back_a_final-16706.html

100 fly: http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090613/santa_clara_men_s_100m_fly_a_final-16694.html

Santa Clara Grand Prix - June 12 Prelims - 100 Fly & 200 Back

100m Fly

Ryan finished fourth in the prelims of the 100m fly with a time of 53.62. Not bad considering he was seeded 8th before the meet.

The top 3 finishers were Jason Dunford with a time of 53.25, Tyler McGill with a time of 53.46 and Albert Subirats with a time of 53.55. Also making the A final was Ricky Berens with a time of 53.68 and Matt Grevers with a time of 53.97.

All of these times were very close. It's going to be an exciting final.

200m Back

Ryan also finished fourth in the prelims of the 200m back with a time of 2:02.99. This is more than 9 seconds slower than his fastest time. I know he can go a lot faster in this event.

Finishing 1st was David Russell with a time of 2:01.31, 2nd was Ashley Delaney of Australia with a time of 2:01.50 and 3rd was Matt Hawes with a time of 2:02.52. Also making the A final were Eugene Godsoe, Rex Tullius (Ryan's training partner at UF) and Brian Johns of Canada.

I'm thinking the final will be all about Ashley Delaney and Ryan. It's going to be exciting.

The photo, from www.swimstars.org shows Ryan yesterday after he received his gold medal for the 400IM.

Santa Clara Grand Prix - June 11 Finals - 400IM and 100 breast

400IM Finals

First the good news....Ryan finished 1st in the 400 IM in a very exciting race. Here's a link to the video on swimnetwork.com. http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090612/santa_clara_men_s_400m_im_a_final-16671.html Robert Margalis came in 2nd. Ryan's time was 4:18.62 and Margalis' time was 4:18.84. It was very close at the end.

It was an exciting race, but the times weren't that great. 4:18 doesn't make the top 25 times in the world this year.

100 Breast Finals

Ryan won the B final in the 100 breast, but was disqualified. Here's the link to the video from swimnetwork.com. http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090612/santa_clara_men_s_100m_breast_b_final-16654.html As usual, I can't get it to embed. The video does not say why Ryan was DQ'd and I have not yet been able to figure out the reason.

In his post-race interview following the 400IM, Ryan said he is not swimming the 50 free tomorrow. Good move! He needs to conserve energy for the 200 back and 100 fly.

One other interesting note....Ryan was wearing an old fashioned speedo in the 400IM final and everyone else was wearing a fast suit. I love it.

Prelims of 100 breast and 400IM at Santa Clara Grand Prix

Today at the Santa Clara Grand Prix Ryan swam in the prelims for the 100 breast and the 400 IM. He was seeded 11th in the 100 breast and 1st in the 400IM. The meet setup has 9 swimmers in each heat. Thus, the swimmers with the top 9 times in prelims make the A finals, the next 9 make the B finals and the next 9 make the C finals.

100 Breast Prelim

Ryan finished 10th in the 100 breast with a time of 1:04.49, qualifying for the B final. Ryan missed the A final by only .04. Not bad for an event not considered one of his best.

400 IM Prelim

Ryan finished 3rd in the 400Im with a time of 4:23.79, qualifying for the A final. Robert Margalis was the top qualifyer with a time of 4:23.50 and Jordan Hartney of Canada qualified 2nd with a time of 4:23.66.

Results can be found here: http://competitive.santaclaraswimclub.org/Meets/2009International/Results/

Santa Clara Grand Prix - June 11-14, 2009 Psych Sheet

Ryan has entered in a mind-boggling 8 events at the Santa Clara Grand Prix. The question is whether he will actually swim in all of them. I won't be surprised if he scratches several events or only swims in the prelims. Here is his schedule:

100 Breast - Event 4 (Friday)
Ryan is seeded 11th with a time of 1:02.39.

400 IM - Event 8 (Friday)
Ryan is seeded 1st with a time of 4:06.08. Ryan's main competition in this event is Robert Margalis and Ryan's UF training partners Bradley Ally and Clark Burckle.

100 Fly - Event 14 (Saturday)
Ryan is seeded 8th with a time of 52.86.

200 Back - Event 18 (Saturday)
Ryan is seeded 1st with a time of 1:53.94. Other swimmers entered in this event are Hayden Stoeckel and Ashley Delaney of Australia. I'm really looking forward to seeing where Ryan is at in his best event. Hope he swims it and doesn't scratch.

50 Free - Event 20 (Saturday)
Ryan is seeded 37th with a time of 23.51. It's interesting that Ryan's fastest 50m underwater time (on his back!) is about a second faster.

100 Free - Event 26 (Sunday)
Ryan is seeded 6th with a time of 48.65. This event should be an indicator of whether Ryan is fast enough to make the 4 x 100 free relay. Other U.S. swimmers in this event are Michael Phelps, Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian. It would be nice if Ryan could finish in the top 3.

200 IM - Event 28 (Sunday)
Ryan is seeded 1st with a time of 1:55.22. Ryan's main competition in this event is Alley, his training partner at UF. He should win easily.

100 Back - Event 30 (Sunday)
Ryan is seeded 5th with a time of 53.37. Lots of big names in this event: Phelps, Grevers, Ben Hesen, Peter Marshall, Stoeckel and Delaney. This is probably the premier event of the whole meet.

The sheer number of events Ryan has entered, and his high ranking in most of them, demonstrates not only his versatility but also that he is committed to swimming a large event schedule at U.S. Nationals.

The psych sheet can be found here:
http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/_Rainbow/Documents/e9a40c29-28d1-41e8-a02c-2c453eaaae43/Psych.pdf

"That is a much better swim for Ryan Lochte than it is for Thiago Pereira"

On the last night of the Ultraswim, Ryan finished 2nd in the 200IM with a time of 1:58.71. Thiago Pereira came in 1st with a time of 1:58.25, a new meet record.

What I liked best was how Ryan's competitive spirit came through in this race. Rowdy Gaines said it was a better swim for Ryan than it was for Thiago Pereira because Pereira was wearing a full fast suit whereas Ryan was wearing FS-Pro legs. (Ryan's suit was not a LZR so even though he wasn't wearing a Speedo brief, he was still sort of old school in his approach.) In addition, Rowdy said he knew how hard Ryan had been training the past couple of months and how exhausted he was at this meet. Moreover, Pereira just finished the Brazil nationals, and was still rested and shaved. This means that although Ryan finished 2nd, he is in a good place in his preparation for nationals.

Here's a link to the 200 IM race video and commentary from swimnetwork.com:
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090517/charlotte_men_s_200m_im_a_final-16618.html

Floswimming.org interviewed Ryan after the 200 IM. Ryan said he wants to get the WR back from Ryosuke Irie in the 200m backstroke. Although he was tired at the Ultraswim, Ryan feels like he's exactly where he needs to be in his training, which is great news. I could not get the video to embed, but the interview can be found at: http://www.floswimming.org/videos/coverage/view_video/235035-2009-charlotte-ultraswim/180200-ryan-lochte-wants-his-world-record-back

Gold Medal Mel posted a video on swimnetwork.com in which Ryan talks to reporters about how many events he plans to swim at U.S. nationals. He would like to swim 7 events at Worlds, including relays, which means 4 to 5 individual events events at nationals. When asked, Ryan at first seemed to back away from the idea of swimming doubles, but then said he would do it if it involved an IM and backstroke event. I'm thinking this means Ryan is preparing to swim the 200IM/200 back double again at nationals. The other possible double - 100 back/200 free - remains in doubt. It's such a hard choice because he probably has a better chance of qualifying in the 200 free, but the 100 back puts him in the medley relay. I'm not sure how he qualifies for 7 events without the 100 back.

I also could not get this video to embed, but here is the link:
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090518/ryan_lochte_from_the_charlotte_ultraswim-16634.html

In other news from the last day of Ultraswim, Aaron Peirsol won the 200m back over Tyler Clary and Fred Bousquet won the 100m free over Michael Phelps. The results for all Ultraswim events can be found here: http://www.charlotteultraswim.com/results09/index.htm

Charlotte Ultraswim Prelims Sunday 5/17/09

Here's a photo of Michael Phelps and Ryan at the Ultraswim that was posted on Floswimming.org. Thanks to Caroline for pointing it out.

Ryan swam the 200m IM this morning, finishing 1st in his heat and 8th overall with a time of 2:06.76. Ryan scratched his other two events - the 200m back and 100m free.

This has been a tough meet for Ryan and I think he knew it would be tough going in. Based on what the commentators have been saying during the finals, Ryan is in hard training and his body is worn out. I give him credit for going to Charlotte and trying to compete. It had to be difficult for him knowing that he was tired and probably would not do well but that peoples' expectations would nevertheless be high. Plus he knew a ton of media attention would be focused on this meet given Phelps' return. I'm sure he wanted to do well but knew the limitations he was facing given his training.

Someone in the press finally asked Ryan about Ryosuke Irie breaking his world record in the 200m back. Ryan said this:

Beijing Olympic champion Ryan Lochte lost his 200 backstroke world record a week ago to Japan's Ryosuke Irie.

"Records are made to be broken. Hopefully I will get it back," Lochte said. "I'm not too familiar with him. I'm just going to have to study. I know there is a lot more that I can still do so we will see."

Lochte wears simple briefs and sees no disadvantage.

"I still don't feel like I'm at a disadvantage," he said. "It's just crazy this technology, how far it has gone."

I'm still wondering if Speedo is going to come out with a suit to compete with the new suits from Arena and Jaked and if those new suits will be approved by FINA.

The source article can be found here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jeip_aZ7agyMKn6q7VNgIeRlbJRw

I will not be shocked if Ryan's meet is over. He may swim the finals of the 200 IM tonight, but he may skip it altogether. I'm not surprised that Ryan scratched the 200 back either. It's his best event and his WR was just broken last week. If he didn't feel good in the water, why swim it and risk a poor result. This was not the time or the place to do it.

Tyler Clary continued to have a good meet. He placed 3rd in the 200IM prelims with a time of 2:05.24 and he set a meet record in the 200m back prelims, finishing 1st with a time of 1:59.14. Even though Ryan will not be swimming in the 200 back finals, it will be a great race with Clary, Marco Loughran, Aaron Peirsol and Nick Thoman.

Ultraswim Finals - 100m back and 400m free (+ 200m fly)

Happy because I found another photo of Ryan at Ultraswim. A total of 2!

Ryan swam in the 100m back A final tonight and the 400m free B final. He placed 4th in the back and 3rd in the free. His 100 back time was 55.13 and his 400 free time was 4:01.53.

Neither time was near Ryan's best, but given the time of the season and the amount of training he is doing now, the times were good.

The 100 back race was really fun to watch. Aaron Peirsol finished first followed by Michael Phelps and Nick Thoman. These guys were all wearing "fast" suits whereas Ryan wore the old fashioned speedo. I don't think a fast suit would have helped Ryan win, but he may have gone sub-55.

I watched an interesting video on flowswimming.org of Patrick Murphy, age 17, who tied Ryan in the 100 back prelims. Patrick Murphy swam 10,000 meters in practice between prelims and finals! That's how hard these guys are training right now, Ryan included.

The video of Patrick Murphy, who ultimately finished 6th in the finals of the 100 back, can be watched here:


Tyler Clary had a great night. He came in 2nd in the A final of the 400m free with a time of 3:55.06, which qualified him for the world championship trials. Tyler also finished 5th in the A final of the 200 fly with a time of 2:01.74. He also qualified for the world championship trials in this event.

The announcers said tonight that the Club Wolverine team just finished altitude training. Tyler is having a great meet.

Finally, it was fun to watch Marco Loughran of University of Florida/UK win the 100 back B final by .02. Marco has his world championship trials coming up in Scotland in a few weeks and hopefully he will win the 100 back there.

Charlotte Ultraswim Prelims Saturday 5/16/09

The photo is from Universalsports.com, which had about 50 photos of Phelps at the Ultraswim and 1 photo of Lochte. Sigh.

Ryan swam in the prelims for the 100m back and 400m free today. In the 100 back he finished tied for 5th with a time of 55.98. He'll be in the A final tonight with Peirsol, Phelps, Thoman, and Hesen. It's going to be a great race to watch.

In the 400m free, Ryan finished 15th and will swim in the B final. His time was 4:03.33.

Tyler Clary scratched the 100 back and swam the 400 free. He finished 2nd with a time of 3:56.77. He will be battling PVK and 3 other Club Wolverine teammates in the A final tonight.

200 Free Finals - Charlotte Ultra Swim (+ 400 IM)

Ryan placed 1st in the "B" final with a time of 1:50.58. Michael Phelps won the "A" final with a time of 1:46.02. PVK was second with a time of 1:46.71.

Ryan was wearing a old-fashioned speedo brief whereas it looked like the other swimmers were in fast suits. Rowdy Gaines said Ryan is in hard training right now. He looked super tired at the end of his race, but he dug down and won which was really fun to watch.

Tyler Clary placed 8th in the "A" final with a time of 1:52.13, a little slower than he swam in the prelims but not much. He may be conserving for the 400IM later tonight.

ETA: Tyler Clary placed 2nd in the 400 IM. He struggled during the breaststroke and then ran out of gas at the end. Thiago Pereira won and looked really strong, even his freestyle which I've noticed in the past is his worst stroke. Thiago said afterward that he broke his arm 5 weeks ago. He made quite a recovery!

I wish Ryan had not scratched the 400 IM, but he clearly wasn't feeling it today. He looked pretty tired. Better to save it up for the 100 back tomorrow.

Charlotte Ultraswim Prelims Friday 5/15/09

Ryan was scheduled to swim in the 200m free and 400m IM today.

Ryan finished 12th in the 200 free and qualified for the "B" final tonight. His time was 1:52.85. It's disappointing that he won't be in the "A" final with Phelps, PVK, Peirsol, etc.

Ryan scratched the 400m IM. Hope everything is OK. Maybe he was having an off day.

Tyler Clary swam very well, finishing 1st in the prelims in the 400IM and 7th in the 200 free. He'll be in both "A" finals tonight.

The swimnetwork.com live feed was a huge failure. The site crashed about mid-way through the men's 200 free heats and I (and numerous others) were unable to see later heats or any of the later events. Hopefully they will get their act together for tomorrow's prelims.

Charlotte Ultra Swim begins (for Ryan) on Friday, May 15

According to the Charlotte Ultraswim psyche sheet (found at http://www.charlotteultraswim.com/results09/Psych.pdf) the events Ryan has entered on Friday, May 15 are:

200m free (Event 4)
400m IM (Event 10)

Ryan is seeded 3rd in the 200m free behind Michael Phelps and Peter Vanderkaay. Ryan is seeded first in the 400IM ahead of Thiago Pereira, Bradley Ally and Tyler Clary. Both of these races should be very competitive and entertaining.

According to this document http://www.charlotteultraswim.com/results09/Session.htm, the prelims for Event 4 will begin at 9:33 a.m. EDT. There are 118 swimmers entered in this race. My guess is Ryan's heat will take place about 10 a.m. or so. Finals for Event 4 will take place at 6:12 p.m. EDT.

There are 68 swimmers entered in the prelims for Event 10, which are set to start at approximately 11:33 a.m. EDT. My guess is Ryan's heat will happen around noon. Finals for Event 10 are scheduled to start at 7:21 p.m. EDT.

The good news is we can watch the races live. For those lucky enough to have the Universal Sports channel, the finals will be aired on tv. For the rest of us, we can watch the races online at swimnetwork.com.

According to this article http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=2425&mid=2943:

Universal Sports will air footage from the A, B and C finals Friday, May 15 through Sunday, May 17. Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines will provide color commentary for the broadcast and Steve Schlanger will handle the play-by-play duties.

Swimnetwork.com will provide a LIVE online stream of the Universal Sports broadcast. In addition, Swimnetwork.com will also webcast the finals on Thursday, May 14 and the prelims from each day of competition. Swimnetwork.com will also feature on-demand footage of the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night finals as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with Olympic gold medalist Mel Stewart.

In addition, realtime results will be posted here: http://www.charlotteultraswim.com/results09/index.htm

Ryan has not competed in a Grand Prix event since the Missouri Grand Prix in February...3 long months ago. I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

Next, I wasn't going to post this video because it doesn't have anything to do with actual swimming. However, it's entertaining so here goes:



Finally, in connection with the video posted above, Gold Medal Mel wrote an entry in his blog recognizing swimming fans who are not competitive swimmers. I thought it was so nice! Here is the link:

http://www.goldmedalmel.typepad.com/mel/2009/05/a-reezy-nation.html

Charlotte Ultraswim Preview - May 14 to 17, 2009

http://www.charlotteultraswim.com/results09/Psych.htm

According to the 'preliminary' psyche sheet for the Charlotte Ultraswim, Ryan has entered the following events:

200m Free - Event 4 - May 15 (Fri)
Ryan is seeded 3rd behind Michael Phelps and Peter Vanderkaay, which means that three of the four best 200 free swimmers in the world in 2008 are in this event (also 3/4 of the gold-medal winning 800m Free Relay at the Beijing Olympics). It should be a great battle.

400m IM - Event 10 - May 15 (Fri)
Ryan is seeded 1st ahead of Thiago Pereira, Bradley Ally and Tyler Clary. I would love to see Tyler Clary take 2nd behind Ryan.

100m Back - Event 18 - May 16 (Sat)
Many call this the premier event of the meet. Ryan is seeded 3rd behind Aaron Peirsol and Nick Thoman. Michael Phelps is seeded 4th, but did not use his personal best time of 53.01. Had he used that time, he would have been seeded 3rd rather than Ryan. Ben Hesen is seeded 5th. No doubt this is going to be an incredible race.

400m Free - Event 22 - May 16 (Sat)
Ryan is seeded 2nd behind PVK. Tyler Clary is seeded 4th and his Michigan teammate Matt Patton is seeded 3rd.

At last year's Ultraswim, which was held in June only 3 weeks before the Olympic trials, Ryan swam the 400m Free in both the prelims and the finals, finishing 1st with a time of 3:49.25. Ryan swam the 100m back in the prelims only, finishing 1st with a time of 54.0 and scratching the final. The time that ultimately won the 100m back in the finals was 2 seconds slower than Ryan's time. It will be interesting to see if Ryan scratches either the 100 back of the 400 free this year. I'll be disappointed if he elects to scratch the 100 back given the level of competition in that event.

200m IM - Event 28 - May 17 (Sun)
Ryan is seeded 1st ahead of Thiago Pereira, Eric Shanteau and Bradley Ally. Tyler Clary is seeded 12th. In the Olympics, Pereira came in 4th in this event and was really close to Ryan until the final 50 meters. Eric Shanteau's best time in 2009 is better than Ryan's. Bradley Ally won the 200y IM at the NCAA's and broke Ryan's record. Tyler Clary is better in the 400 IM but very good in this event too. Except for Pereira, who is from Brazil and Ally, who is from Barbados, the swimmers entered in this event will likely be battling for a place on the U.S. team for Rome.

200m Back - Event 30 - May 17 (Sun)
Ryan is seeded 1st ahead of Aaron Peirsol, Nick Thoman and Tyler Clary. Rex Tullius, Omar Pinzon and Marco Loughran, who train with Ryan at UF, are seeded 5th, 7th and 8th respectively. This is going to be a great race.

100m Free - Event 32 - May 17 (Sun)
This is Ryan's third event on Sunday, and the third in a row for that day. It's possible he may scratch from one of these events, but I hope not. This has a great field and Ryan is seeded 4th behind Michael Phelps, Nick Brunelli and Cullen Jones.

At last year's Ultraswim, Ryan scratched the prelims of all of his events on the last day and thus did not swim at all. Granted, it was 3 weeks before the Olympic trials and he was coming off an injury to his ankle. It would be understandable if he did not swim all 3 events on the last day, but hopefully he will not scratch it entirely like last year.

Here is a video of an interview of Ryan conducted by flowswimming at last year's Charlotte Ultraswim: