Swimming World Magazine 2009 American Swimmers of the Year

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/22830.asp?q=%3Ci%3ESwimming%20World%3C/i%3E%20Names%202009%20American%20Swimmers%20of%20the%20Year

Swimming World Magazine announced its 2009 American Swimmers of the Year. The top 5 men were:

1. Michael Phelps, USA
2. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
3. Ryan Lochte, USA
4. Aaron Peirsol, USA
t5. Ryan Cochrane, Canada
t5. Eric Shanteau, USA

I did not see what the criteria was for this award, but assume it was based solely on the 2009 World Championships. If it was, then Ryan should have been ranked above Cesar Cielo. Cielo won two gold medals in Rome and set one WR. Ryan won four gold medals and set two WRs. Ryan also won a bronze.

Also, and I forgot to include this in my argument why Ryan deserved U.S. Swimmer of the Year, it cannot be emphasized enough that Ryan won the 400 IM and helped the US finish 1st in the 4x100 free relay. Ryan won golds in a sprint event and a marathon. He deserves higher than 3rd place for what he accomplished in Rome.

If the award wasn't based solely on performance in Rome, then Ryan deserved to be in 1st place for all of the reasons

Swimming World tv put up interviews of most of the swimmers who attended Golden Goggles. Unfortunately, they did not interview Ryan. Here is where the Swimming World tv interviews can be found.

http://www.swimmingworld.tv/2009-golden-goggles-archive/

Ryan wins 400 IM, Clary 2nd....Ryan finishes World Championships with 4 Gold & 1 Bronze

The times were kind of slow, and nobody swam a personal best, but Ryan Lochte won the 400 IM and Tyler Clary came in second, which was a great result for the U.S. Laci Cseh came in 3rd. Cseh must have been affected by his illness earlier this week because he looked completely gassed at the end.

The final results were:

Ryan Lochte - 4:07.01
Tyler Clary - 4:07.31
Laci Cseh - 4:07.37

Great swim by Clary, especially catching Cseh at the end.

Here is a comparison of the splits:

Fly:
25.59/30.03 (Lochte)
25.87/29.71 (Clary)
25.79/29.72 (Cseh)

Back:
31.16/31.10 (Lochte)
31.68/30.34 (Clary)
31.85/31.72 (Cseh)

Breast:
34.69/35.97 (Lochte)
36.42/36.42 (Clary)
35.04/35.70 (Cseh)

Free:
29.51/28.96 (Lochte)
29.39/27.55 (Clary)
29.37/28.18 (Cseh)

I think this is the last time Ryan will swim this event, although he did not have his best time so maybe he'll continue to try to do better. He did not seem to enjoy it at all though. Clary's swim was the most impressive to me. If he can improve on his breaststroke, he will be unstoppable in this event.

400 IM finals today - Ryan 4th in prelims, Clary 1st, Cseh 2nd

The prelims for the 400 IM took place this morning in Rome. The 8 qualifiers for today's finals are:

1 CLARY Scott Tyler - 4:10.04
2 CSEH Laszlo - 4:10.33
3 KIS Gergo - 4:10.99
4 LOCHTE Ryan - 4:11.05
5 HAFFIELD Thomas - 4:11.32
6 NEVO Gal - 4:11.51
7 MARIN Luca - 4:12.66
8 PEREIRA Thiago - 4:13.05

Ryan finished first in his heat, ahead of Luca Marin and Thiago Pereira. Pereira led most of the way, until the last 100 when he was passed by Ryan and Marin. From the splits, it looks like Ryan took it easy on the middle 200. He'll be able to go a lot faster in the finals.

Ryan will be in lane 6 in the finals, with Clary in lane 4 and Cseh in lane 5. My prediction is Ryan will finish 1st, Cseh 2nd, Clary 3rd.

Interview with Ryan Lochte after 800 free relay & medal ceremonies

he talks about the 200 back too. He went out faster than ever and paid for it at the end.



Video of the medal ceremony for 800 free relay


Video of the medal ceremony for the 200 back

More on the 4 x 200 free relay

I'll add videos once I find some.

Ryan 3rd in 200 back, anchors 4 x 200 free relay to new world record!

Ryan placed 3rd in the 200 back with a time of 1:53.82, .11 seconds faster than his previous personal best in Beijing.

Aaron Peirsol won with a new WR time of 1:51.92. Ryosuke Irie was second in 1:52.51.

Ryan was in 1st after the first 100 and in a close 2nd after the 150 (and a full second ahead of Irie) but then he died in the last 50 with a time of 30.14. I will need to watch his interview after the race, but hope nothing bad happened. His legs just may have been really tired from yesterday.

Ryan anchored the 4 x 200 free relay, which set a new WR by .01 with a time of 6:58.55. The splits were:

Michael Phelps: 1:44.49

Ricky Berens: 1:44.13

Dave Walters: 1:45.47

Ryan Lochte: 1:44.46.

Ryan has now swum in 4 events and won 4 medals, 3 gold and 1 bronze. His last event is the 400 IM on Sunday. Hopefully he can place 1st and have the most successful long course meet of his life!

Ryan wins 200 IM, sets new World Record

I'll post more about it when I get home from work. So happy!! Laci Cseh second, Eric Shanteau 3rd.

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Video from French tv of 200 IM Semi-Finals

Lochte & Cseh tied for 1st in 200 IM Semi Finals with time of 1:55.18!!

Here are the swimmers who made the finals:

1 LOCHTE Ryan - 1:55.18

2 CSEH Laszlo - 1:55.18

3 BRODIE Leith - 1:56.75
4 GODDARD James - 1:57.12

5 SHANTEAU Eric - 1:57.16

6 PEREIRA Thiago - 1:57.35

7 TAKAKUWA Ken - 1:58.09

8 KIS Gergo - 1:58.11

The splits for Ryan and Cseh were:

Fly: 24.85/24.72

Back: 28.91/29.06

Breast: 33.52/33.62

Free: 27.90/27.78

I didn't get to watch it yet, but people said Ryan did not even look winded after the race. He's definitely holding back for tomorrow's final in every part of the race. When he swam his personal best of 1:54.56 at U.S. nationals his splits were:

24.78 (fly)

28.67 (back)

33.43 (breast)

27.68 (free)

Ryan predicted at the time he could go a second faster in Rome.

Ryan wore a full-body LZR for the semis and Cseh wore his full-body x-glide.

So glad Eric Shanteau qualified for the finals as well. He can definitely swim a lot faster and will be in strong contention for a medal.

Finals for the 200m IM tomorrow!! Also, Ryan has the 200m back prelims and semi-finals on Thursday. It's his busiest day of the meet.

200 IM - Prelim Results - Laszlo Cseh isn't sick anymore

Ryan qualified 5th in the prelims of the 200 IM with a time of 1:57.94. The top 16 qualifiers advance to the semi-finals later today. Laci Cseh finished 1st with an extremely fast time of 1:56.34. Eric Shanteau was 2nd with a time of 1:57.65.

Those advancing to the semi-finals are:

1 Laszlo Cseh - 1:56.34
2 Eric Shanteau - 1:57.65
3 Leith Brodie - 1:57.66
3 Thiago Pereira - 1:57.66
5 Ryan Lochte - 1:57.94
6 James Goddard - 1:58.40
7 Gergo Kis - 1:58.48
8 Gal Nevo - 1:58.55
9 Ken Takakuwa - 1:58.60
10 Alessio Boggiatto - 1:58.81
11 Yannick Lebherz - 1:58.94
12 Darian Townsend - 1:58.96
13 Henrique Rodrigues - 1:59.21
14 Takuro Fujii - 1:59.26
15 Joseph Roebuck - 1:59.65
16 Martin Liivamagi - 1:59.95

A comparison of splits between the top 5 qualifiers is:

Fly: Cseh - 24.90
Shanteau - 25.84
Brodie - 25.57
Pereira - 24.74
Lochte - 25.13

Back: Cseh - 29.30
Shanteau - 30.63
Brodie - 30.38
Pereira - 29.23
Lochte - 29.21

Breast: Cseh - 34.29
Shanteau - 32.28
Brodie - 33.71
Pereira - 33.67
Lochte - 34.40

Free: Cseh - 27.85
Shanteau - 28.90
Brodie - 28.00
Pereira - 30.02
Lochte - 29.20

Looking at the splits, I think Ryan took it easy on the last 50, knowing he was fast enough to qualify for semi-finals and not wanting to waste too much energy. He can go a lot faster in the semis.

Laci Cseh is clearly over his illness, which is good. I can't wait for the semis. Ryan is in heat 2, lane 3, right next to Cseh who will be in lane 4. Brodie is also in the same heat, in lane 5.

Cseh wore a full body Arena x-glide and Ryan wore LZR legs. Cseh's time was a new European record and a personal best...better than his time in the Olympic finals.

200 IM - Prelims and Semi-Finals on July 29

Ryan will finally be swimming his first individual event at the world championships tomorrow - the 200m IM. The prelims are in the morning and the semi-finals are in the evening. For the prelims, Ryan is the top seed and will swim in Heat 11, Lane 4.

Although Ryan is seeded first in this event, as we've seen in the past couple of days, that does not automatically ensure he will advance to the semi-finals or the finals. In order to advance, I think Ryan will have to swim very fast in both races.

Here's what has happened in the prelims and semi-finals of some big meets in the past year:

At the 2008 Olympic trials, Ryan swam a 1:59.49 in the prelims (1st seed ahead of Michael Phelps' 1:59.70) and a 1:57.57 in the semi-finals (1st seed ahead of MP's 1:58.05). Then in the finals, MP finished 1st with a new WR of 1:54.80 and Ryan was 2nd at 1:55.22. In each race they were the only ones to go under 2:00.

At the 2008 Olympics, Ryan swam a 1:58.15 in the prelims and a 1:57.69 in the semi-finals, qualifying 1st both times. He swam a 1:56.53 in the finals, placing 3rd after Laci Cseh (1:56.52) and Michael Phelps (1:54.23 - current WR).

At the 2009 US nationals, there were no semi-finals...only prelims and finals. Ryan swam a 1:57.06 in the prelims and a 1:54.56 in the finals.

If Ryan wants to end up with a 1:54 low/1:53 high and break the WR, I think he's going to have to swim a 1:56 in the prelims and a 1:55 in the semi-finals. It's going to be a very fast field.

The top 8 swimmers in the 200 IM are:

1-Ryan Lochte 1:54.56
2-Eric Shanteau 1:56.00
3- Laci Cseh 1:56.52
4- Ken Takakuwa 1:57.24
5- Darien Townsend 1:57.88
6- James Goddard 1:57.99
7- Thiago Pereira 1:58.06
8-Bradley Alley 1:58.57

Laci Cseh is shown above shaving his head. He's ready to go despite a bad case of stomach flu earlier this week that caused him to be temporarilly hospitalized. I read a poorly translated article from Hungary, which appears to state that Cseh has recovered and been able to keep food down. He's a huge threat in the 200 IM if he's healthy. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Ryan has been practicing outdoors to get ready for World Championships

At a press conference today in Rome, Ryan said he's been practicing outside for the past year to prepare himself to swim backstroke at the world championships, which will take place outdoors. Here's what he said (from http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/7073)

One other aspect of swimming outdoors was highlighted when Olympic champion Ryan Lochte (USA) revealed that he had been practising outdoors on backstroke for the past year specifically with a view to learning how to swim straight with only sky and sun above you. "It's going to be challenging for most swimmers because you don't have a ceiling to look at," he said. "When I was younger ... I never swam outside...so its hard for me but after Beijing I knew Rome was outside and have practiced mostly outside since amnd have learned to swim in a straight line."

I can barely back my car in a straight line. I can't imagine swimming straight without a point of reference. I hope practicing outdoors gives him an extra advantage.

Also, an article from Sports Illustrated today talked about how Ryan has a good shot at breaking the WR in the 200 IM. The article states:

"......don't be surprised if Phelps loses one of his world records in an event he has chosen not to swim. When Phelps set a personal best of 1:54.23 in winning the 200-meter individual medley at the Beijing Games, it marked the eighth time he lowered the world record in that event since 2003. Now Ryan Lochte, Phelps' relay teammate, is just three-tenths away from the record.

After six months of enjoying post-Olympic life as a self proclaimed late-sleeper and overeater, Lochte actually shocked himself when he won nationals in 1:54.56 earlier this month, beating the field by a second and a half. And watch the showdown between Lochte and Aaron Peirsol in the 200 back. That should be a one-two finish with both men challenging Peirsol's world record of 1:53.08."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/brian_cazeneuve/07/24/swim/

No mention of the 400 IM, which I think Ryan is going to win also.

Laszlo Cseh released from hospital

Laci Cseh is out of the hospital. According to this article, he was only "briefly admitted."

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/23072009/58/cseh-admitted-hospital.html

Hope he's feeling better. The world championships would not be the same without him.

Laszlo Cseh sick/rushed to the hospital according to swimnews.com

I'm not happy about this. The IM races will not be the same without him. Feel better Laci!!!!

http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/7067

US Coach's training camp blogs (Coach Greg Werner of Ohio University)

Coach Greg Werner, head swimming & diving coach at Ohio University, was selected as the head team manager for the US national team at the world championships in Rome. Coach Werner has been writing about his experience in a highly informative and articulate blog. There have been 9 entries so far, which can be found here:

http://www.ohiobobcats.com/sports/c-swim/ohio-c-swim-body.html

It's interesting to read about how the US team is preparing for the world championships. Coach Werner gives swimming fans a glimpse of what the team is going through, without revealing any information that would be useful to other teams. After reading his blogs, I am even more excited about what will happen in Rome.

The world championships begin on Sunday, July 26. Ryan will hopefully be swimming his first event that day, the 4 x 100m free relay. NBC is airing the finals live from noon - 2 p.m. EDT. Can't wait for it to begin!

Interview with Laszlo Cseh (poorly translated from Hungarian)

http://74.125.67.132/translate_c?hl=en&sl=hu&u=http://www.origo.hu/sport/egyeb/uszas/20090721-interju-a-romai-vizes-vbre-keszulo-cseh-laszloval.html&prev=http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26scoring%3Dd%26q%3Dlaszlo%2Bcseh%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhiYhIq6OnwYMABM-2fcY97MGWx61A

The translation is really bad, but it gives the gist of the questions Cseh was asked and his responses. Cseh now knows who Tyler Clary is! He will be competing against Clary in the 200 fly and the 400 IM and against Ryan in the 200 and 400 IM.

The article makes a big deal out of swimmingworldmagazine.com's prediction that Cseh will win the 400 IM. http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/21730.asp?q=FINA%20World%20Championships%20Predictions

Others have predicted this result as well. I don't know why people think Ryan will come in second in the 400 IM...he's definitely going to win it...no stomach flu this time.

Here's an article from the Miami Herald about Ryan's preparations for the world championships. http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/other/story/1150176.html He says he hasn't trained for a world record (no mention of which event[s] he's referring to) but it is possible. I think world records are most likely in the 200 IM and 200 back. I don't see how anyone breaks Michael Phelps' world record in the 400 IM for a long, long time.

Ryan tested the Jaked & Arena suits, but is sticking with the Speedo LZR

Below is an excerpt from an article published by the Washington Post's swimming column, http://reachforthewall.com/. The article identified what suits the swimmers were wearing at the US nationals and found that the majority wore the new Jaked and Arena suits. Nevertheless, the article concluded that "swimmers wearing older models — in most cases because of contractual obligations to the company Speedo — won more gold and silver medals than athletes in other suits and therefore earned more qualifying spots for the upcoming world championships in Rome."

Ryan Lochte was interviewed and revealed he tested the new Jaked and Arena suits but decided to stick with the Speedo LZR. The portion of the article pertaining to Ryan is quoted below:

Despite being a Speedo-sponsored athlete, Lochte said he had tested out all of the new suits. The Jaked, he said, worked particularly well on the underwater portion of races, such as starts and while coming off the walls. The Arena, he said, was the opposite, doing more to keep the swimmer above the water.

But Lochte, who won the 200 and 400 medleys in the LZR, said he actually preferred his old suit to the newer models.

“Everybody’s all hyping the new Arena, the new Jaked” suits, he said. “I’m kind of trying to stick it to them.”

Source: http://reachforthewall.com/2009/07/14/high-tech-suits-favored-at-usas-but-old-suits-won/

I'm glad Ryan tested the suits...this way he knows exactly what he's up against when racing someone wearing a Jaked and Arena. I'm also glad he stuck with the LZR, even if at the end of the day it was strictly for contractual reasons. Ryan does not need a rubber suit to help him perform well in Rome. If FINA allows the rubber suits to continue after 2009, then Speedo will improve the LZR and come out with something even better to compete with the Arena and Jaked suits. Ryan is better off sticking with Speedo and showing his loyalty.

In the videos for the 200 & 400 IM at US nationals, you can see that Ryan is the only one wearing a Speedo LZR, with all the other swimmers in Jaked, Arena, TYR in the 200 IM and the Jaked, Arena, TYR and Blueseventy in the 400 IM. Moreover, Ryan is wearing the LZR legs in the 400 IM and not the full body suit.

200 IM

http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090710/nationals_men_s_200_im_a_final-16846.html

400 IM

http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20090707/nationals_men_s_400_im_a_final-16794.html

Interview at US nationals with Tyler Clary

Garrett McCaffrey, formerly of floswimming, interviewed Tyler Clary about his swims in the 200/400 IM and the 200 fly. The video can be found here (can't get it to embed):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xsok5YB9g

He says a lot of interesting things about race strategy, particularly against Ryan in the IMs. Tyler is hoping to go 4:04 in the 400 IM in Rome!

Also, if anyone wants to follow Ryan Lochte on twitter, the address is http://twitter.com/ryanlochte. Hopefully he will be updating from Rome!

Irie wins 200 back at World University Games, misses WR with a time of 1:54.13

From Swimming World Magazine: http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/21651.asp?q=World%20University%20Games,%20Swimming:%20%20Day%20Six%20Underway;%20Ryosuke%20Irie%20Scares%20World%20Record%20in%20200%20Back,%20Kevin%20Swander%20Smashes%20American%20Record%20in%2050%20Breast

"Men's 200 back finals

Japan's Ryosuke Irie threatened the world record for the first time in an approved swimsuit with a time of 1:54.13. Irie missed Ryan Lochte's global mark of 1:53.94 by just .19 seconds. In an interesting situation, Irie is farther off her national record of 1:52.86 set in an unapproved suit that was ratified by Japan but disallowed by FINA.

Comparative splits:
Irie: 26.74, 55.81 (29.07), 1:25.21 (29.40), 1:54.13 (28.92)
Lochte: 27.24, 55.77 (28.53), 1:25.06 (29.29), 1:53.94 (28.88)"

Assuming Ryan qualifies for the World Championships in this event, he is going to have to be patient and swim a smart race in order to beat Irie. Ryan has proven he is more than capable of this after doing a similar thing racing Tyler Clary in the IM events at Nationals. Irie is sure to be quicker in the first 100, but Ryan can beat him in the last 100. I can't wait for this event in Rome.

International swimmers to watch for

I'm trying to keep track of what has been happening in meets in Europe the past few weeks in order to learn more about swimmers from other countries prior to Rome. It also helps to learn who else is good in Ryan's usual events.

Paul Biedermann - Germany - 200m Free
He's the one in the middle at this photo from the Olympics. Biedermann just swam the fastest 200m free time in the world so far at the German nationals - 1:44.71. That's unbelievable. It's not like he came out of nowhere - he finished 4th in this event at the 20008 Olympics - but his time was 1:46.0. He's improved by more than 1 second since then. He's definitely someone to watch for in this event in Rome.

Helge Meeuw - Germany - 100m Back
Helge Meeuw is in the photo above with the beard. He just swam the 4 fastest time in the world so far this year in the 100 back - a 53.08. He competed in this event at the 2008 Olympics, but did not qualify for the semi-finals. Some say it was because he did not shave his beard. In 2008, prior to the Olympics, Meeuw set the Euorpean record in the 100m back with a time of 53.10, a record that was broken by Aschwin Wildeboer last week. He will be a serious contender in this this event in Rome and I bet this time he will shave.

Aschwin Wildeboer - Spain - 200m back
We know that Wildeboer broke the WR in the 100m back last week at the Mediterranean Games. He also swam a super fast time in the 200m back - 1:54.96. This was the 2nd fastest time in the world this year, behind only Ryosuke Irie's 1:52.86 in an illegal suit. This time was .03 slower than the European record, which is held by Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia. I know who Vyatchanin is because he won bronze in this event in the 2008 Olympics behind Ryan and Aaron Peirsol. He also led the race most of the way until Ryan (and Aaron) pulled ahead in the last lap. Much has been made of the suit he was wearing when he set the WR in the 100m back, but Wildeboer is really good and has been for a while. He placed 7th in the 100 back in Beijing and qualified in the 200 back but did not swim it. There's no doubt he'll be someone to watch in the backstroke events in Rome.





















Marco Loughran - Great Britain
Marco qualified in the 50/100/200m back events at the Scottish nationals. His times in the 50 and 100 back did not make the top 25, but his time in the 200m back was a 1:58.47, which is the 24th best time in the world this year. Marco trains with Ryan at UF and hopefully will do well in Rome.