Tomorrow is (finally!) the start of US nationals in Indianapolis. The prelims begin at 9 a.m. EDT and the finals begin at 6 p.m. Gold Medal Mel is hosting a 30-minute preview at 5:30 EDT just prior to finals.
Links for the stream of the prelims & finals and GMM preview can be found here: http://www.swimnetwork.com/event/detail/20090608/conocophillips_national_championships_and_world_championship_trials-2336.html
The finals will also be shown on www.universalsports.com.
The following events will be held tomorrow:
1 - 100 fly (women)
2 - 400 free (men)
3 - 200 IM (women)
4 - 100 breast (men)
5 - 400 free (women)
6 - 400 IM (men)
7 - 4 x 100 free relay (men)
According to the psych sheet, Ryan is entered in 3 events on July 7: the 400m free, 100m breast and the 400m IM. I could be totally wrong, but from everything I've read, I think he'll only swim the 400 IM.
A guy named Bill Bell created a compilation of the 25 fastest times ever in each long course event http://65.110.72.225/SPIPDF/20090706bellmlcm.pdf.
I read about it here: http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/21578.asp?q=All%20Time%20Top%20Performers-Performances%20in%20Long%20Course%20Meters.
For the 400 IM, Michael Phelps has 6 of the top 10 times ever, including the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th best times. Laszlo Cseh has the 4th and 7th best times and Ryan Lochte has the 3rd and 8th best times.
Given that Michael Phelps has dropped this event, Ryan has the best chance of making the US national team and of doing well in Rome. Ryan's biggest competition is Laci Cseh and he won't be swimming tomorrow, at least not at US nationals.
The top 10 seeds are:
1 Lochte, Ryan 4:06.08
2 Margalis, Robert 4:13.85
3 Clary, Tyler 4:14.13
4 Gemmell, Andrew 4:17.97
5 Burckle, Clark 4:18.40
6 Brown, Jack 4:18.44
7 Clark, Ian 4:21.23
8 D'Innocenzo, Nicholas 4:22.25
9 Cregar, William 4:22.52
10 Walker, Michael 4:23.56
Many of the times listed above are from the 2008 Olympic trials: Ryan, Margalis, Clary, Burckle, Brown, Clark and Cregar. Gemmell swam a 4:21.85 at trials and improved to 4:17.97 at the Austin Grand Prix in March. D'Innocenzo did not swim this event at trials; he swam 4:22.25 at the Jr. Pan Pacs in January. Walker's time confuses me. He either swam a 4:27.18 or 4:23.56 at trials last year.
Ryan's best time in 2009 is 4:18.62 at the Santa Clara GP. This is the 3rd fastest time by a US swimmer this year, after Clary's 4:17.40 at the Quebec Cup and Gemmell's 4:17.97.
My prediction is that Ryan and Tyler Clary will finish 1-2 and that Clary will drop below 4:10 for the first time. They'll be close during the fly/back, but Ryan will get ahead of Clary on the breaststroke. I think Margalis and Gemmell will finish at least 5 seconds behind Clary.
I could be completely wrong but it's really fun to guess.
This is my favorite race ever.
2 comments:
I will sadly miss ALL of the live coverage (online) during the week due to work and such. Still pissed that DirecTV does not carry Universal Sports (a-holes). Will do my nightly catch ups and check back here and twitter for updates. Thanks again Kris for keeping us non-swimmers up to date. :)
Carolyn, Ugh, I'm probably going to miss a lot of live coverage too due to work. Twitter will definitely help!
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