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: