Ryan has qualified for 2012 Olympic trials in 10 of 13 individual events

According to the "2012 Olympic Trials Preview" at USAswimming.org, Ryan qualified for the 2012 Olympic trials in 10 of 13 individual events. The only events he hasn't qualified for are 1500m free, 100m breast and 200m breast. He's swimming 100m breast this weekend, maybe he'll qualify in that event too!

Read the list here:

http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/6871e7e7-9fb0-4319-9397-b961be16a098/2012%20Olympic%20Trials%20Preview%20-%20Men.pdf

British & Australian Nationals Results

British Nationals
Yesterday I updated the British Nationals results. Tonight is the finals for the 400m IM. As of the prelims, nobody had a time fast enough to meet the minimum qualifying time for Worlds. I will post the results once they are available.

As for the British team selection process for Worlds, I finally found that rule that sets out how it works. http://www.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,,5157-1-1-147242-0-file,00.pdf

Two swimmers can qualify for each individual event. The 1st place finisher at the current meet("Trials") automatically makes the team. The 2nd qualifier for each individual event is the person with the next fastest time, which can be achieved either at Trials or at the the Scottish Nationals ("SN") in June.

Any swimmer who did not place 1st at Trials will likely swim at the SN. If a swimmer places 1st at the SN, and the time is faster than the 2nd place time at Trials, then the SN winner will go to Rome. It's nice for swimmers to have a second chance meet, but it must be stressful for those who finished 2nd at Trials.

Australian Nationals
100m Free
1 SULLIVAN, EAMON - 48.34
2 TARGETT, MATTHEW - 48.63
(Leith Brodie finished 14th in the semi-finals and thus did not make it to the finals and will not be on the 4 x 100m free relay)

400m IM
1 PARKES, STEPHEN - 4:18.64
2 FRASER-HOLMES, HUNTER - 4:22.07
(The minimum qualifying time for Worlds is 4:18.40, which is .24 seconds faster than Stephen Parkes' time - ouch. I don't know if this means he could go to Worlds if he swims faster than 4:18.40 another time before the meet starts or if this means he does not qualify.)

British & Australian National Championships have begun

Results can be found at:

(British) http://www.swimmingresults.org/liveevent/index.htm

(Australian) http://www.clubsonline.com.au/uploads/swimresults/National/2009AUS/index.htm

Hope Marco Loughran and Leith Brodie both do well.

Australian Swimming Championships and World Championship Trials Begin March 17

The Australian national championships take place from March 17-22. The start list can be found here: http://www.swimming.org.au/

The top 3 swimmers in each of Ryan's best events are:

200m Free (Prelims & Finals 3/18)
1 MURPHY, PATRICK, (AIS) 25 MEV 1:45.95
2 FFROST, NICHOLAS, (AIS) 22 SOUTHPORTOLYMPIC 1:47.47
3 BRODIE, LEITH, (QAS) 22 ALBANY CREEK 1:47.47

100m Free (Prelims & Semis 3/19; Finals 3/20)
1 SULLIVAN, EAMON (NSWIS) 23 SOSC 47.52
2 TARGETT, MATTHEW, (VIS) 23 MEV 47.88
3 LAUTERSTEIN, ANDREW (NSWIS) 21 SOSC 48.99
4 BRODIE, LEITH, (QAS) 22 ALBANY CREEK 49.19

200m Back (Prelims & Finals 3/19)
1 STOECKEL, HAYDEN 24 NWD 1:56.39
2 DELANEY, ASHLEY, (AIS) 22 NUNAWADING 1:57.18
3 HURLEY, ROBERT, (AIS) 20 WIAQ 2:00.39

100m Back (Prelims & Semis 3/20; Finals 3/21)
1 STOECKEL, HAYDEN 24 NWD 52.97
2 DELANEY, ASHLEY, (AIS) 22 NUNAWADING 53.31
3 HURLEY, ROBERT, (AIS) 20 WIAQ 54.67

400m IM (Prelims & Finals 3/20)
1 POTTS, DECLAN 17 NWD 4:23.08
2 PARKES, STEPHEN (QAS) 20 ST PETERS WESTER 4:23.77
3 FRASER-HOLMES, THOMAS, (AIS) 17 HUNT 4:23.82

200m IM (Prelims & Finals 3/21)
1 BRODIE, LEITH, (QAS) 22 ALBANY CREEK 1:59.90
2 PARKES, STEPHEN (QAS) 20 ST PETERS WESTER 2:02.91
3 ASHBY, SAM, (VIS) 20 NUNAWADING 2:02.93

Leith Brodie was Ryan's training partner for several weeks at the end of 2008. It would be nice to see him qualify in a couple events. His best chance is in the 200m IM, and he likely will qualify for both the 400m and 800m free relays, provided he places in the top 6 in the 100 free and 200 free.

Hayden Stoeckle placed 6th in the 200m back and won bronze in the 100m back at the Olympics. He also has the best time in the world thus far in 2009 in the 200m back. Ashley Delaney placed 10th in the 200m back and 5th in the 100m back in Beijing.

The "A" qualifying standard for the 400m IM is 4:18.40 and the "B" standard is 4:20.98. Unless there is some significant improvement in times, it is possible nobody from Australia will qualify to swim in this event in Rome.

Upcoming World Championships Qualifying Trials

The U.S. National Championships (and World Championship trials) take place on July 7-11 in Indianapolis. Other countries have their national championships and world trials much sooner, with two taking place in March 2009.

British Championships - March 16-20, 2009 in Sheffield, England. The start list (psych sheet) has not yet been released; however, some information can be found here: http://www.britishswimming.org/

Australian Championships - March 17-22, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The start list has been released. The start list and additional information can be found at http://www.swimming.org.au/

I will report on the results at these championships along with the NCAA championships that take place at the end of March.