British Olympic Trials - Day 1 and 2 results

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Top two swimmers qualify for the Olympic team, as long as their times are top 16 in the world so far.

400m IM - women

Hannah Miley: 4:32.67 (#1 in the World in 2012)

Aimee Willmott: 4:37.48 (#4 in the World in 2012)

400m IM - men

Roberto Pavoni: 4:12.43 (fast!) (#1 in the World in 2012)

Joseph Roebuck: 4:14.48 (#3 in the World in 2012)

400m free - men

Robert Renwick: 3:46.73 (#5 in the World in 2012)

David Carry: 3:48.36 (#8 in the World in 2012) - don't think he went fast enough to qualify for the team*

**Carry didn't qualify because his time was not faster than the 16th fastest time in the world in 2011, which was a 3:47.58.

100m fly - women

Ellen Gandy: 57.25 (#2 in the World in 2012)

Francesca Halsall: 57:56 (#3 in the World in 2012)

100m breast - men

Daniel Sliwinski: 1:00.09 (#1 in the World in 2012)

Craig Benson: 1:00.47 (#3 in the World in 2012)

400m free - women

Rebecca Adlington: 4:02.35 (#1 in the World in 2012)

Jo Jackson: 4:06.47 (#4 in the World in 2012)

British Olympic Trials start today

I'm so excited for the Olympics, only 5 months away. The British Olympic trials start today.

Results can be found here: http://www.swimmingresults.org.uk/swimming/results/2012/bstrials12/index.php

The meet is being held in the Olympic pool, which is awesome. Qualifying for the British Olympic Team is a bit different from the U.S. According to the article linked below, not only does a swimmer have to finish 1st or 2nd at the meet, but he/she also has to have a time that is top 16 in the world. If a swimmer finishes in the top 2 but the time isn't fast enough, there will be another opportunity to qualify at a later meet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9118498/British-Swimming-2012-Olympic-trials-qualifying-bar-for-Games-raised-as-trials-begin.html

The meet is open to foreign swimmers who want to check out the Olympic pool. I will try to post results.

2010 Commonwealth Games - another big swim meet in 2010

The Commonwealth Games are held every 4 years and have many of the same events as the Summer Olympics, including swimming. Participating countries include England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Canada, Australia, and other countries that used to be part of the British Empire.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be held in Delhi, India from October 3 - 14. The swimming portion of the games will be held on October 4-13. Australia and Canada will be competing in both the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacs. I wonder if top swimmers will elect to participate in just one competition or both.

Australia's nationals, which serve as the selection trials for the Pan Pacs, will take place this coming week (March 16-21) in Sydney. The Australian team for the Commonwealth Games will be selected from performances at nationals and Pan Pacs.

The English team will be chosen from the fastest times at the European Championships (August 4 - 14 in Budapest, Hungary), the British Championships (March 29-April 3) and ASA Nationals (August 18-21).

German and Scottish National Championships this week

The German long course national championships are currently underway in Berlin. Yannick Lebherz broke the German record for the 400m IM with a time of 4:14.63 . This is the 13th fastest time in the world this year.

I think the 400 IM is going to be a very interesting event at the World Championships, particularly since Michael Phelps is not going to swim it anymore. There seems to have been a lot of improvement by swimmers who weren't in the finals in Beijing. Nobody has gone under 4:10 this year. According to the rankings at http://www.swimnews.com/, only 4 swimmers have ever gone under 4:10 in this event: Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Laszlo Cseh and Luca Marin.

More results for the German nationals can be found here:

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/21488.asp?q=German%20Long%20Course%20Nationals:%20Yannick%20Lebherz%20Smashes%20German%20Record

The Scottish nationals will begin tomorrow in Glasgow. This meet serves as the second chance for swimmers to make the British team for the World Championships. The psych sheet can be found here:

http://www.scottishswimming.com/assets/files/downloadfiles/Swimming/Scottish%20National%20Events%20Information/British%20Gas%20Scottish%20National%20Championships%20(50m)%202009/British%20Gas%20Scottish%20National%20Championships-Full%20Programme.pdf

British Nationals Results - 400m IM

400m IM
1. Thomas Haffield - 4:12.39
2. Lewis Smith - 4:14.06

These swims were really fast. Thomas Haffield's time was the best in the world so far in 2009 and Lewis Smith's time was 3rd best. The 3rd place finisher was James Goddard with a time of 4:16.05, the 5th fastest time in the world this year. Only Haffield qualifies for Rome so far. Smith and Goddard will have to battle it out at Scottish Nationals to see who will become the 2nd qualifier.

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.)

Finals 200m Back - British National Championships

The results are in for the 200m Back finals at the British National championships and Marco Loughran came in 3rd. :( Congrats to Chris Walker-Hebborn and James Goddard.

1. Chris Walker-Hebborn - 1:57.95
2. James Goddard - 1:58.34
3. Marco Loughran - 1:58.58

Marco must be disappointed. Hopefully he will have another opportunity to qualify for Worlds at the Scottish championships. I don't know if he is precluded from trying to qualify there given that he swam in this meet, but I hope not.

British & Australian National Results & US National Team Training Camp

Australian National Championships - 200m Free
1 MURPHY, PATRICK - 1:46.85
2 MONK, KENRICK - 1:47.27
(Leith Brodie came in 11th in the prelims and didn't swim in the finals)

British National Championships - 100m Back
1. Liam Tancock - 53.20
2. Marco Loughran - 54.51

53.20 is a really good time. Congrats to Liam Tancock.

I'm not sure if Marco qualified for the 2009 World Championships by placing second. Generally each team is allowed to send the top two swimmers in each event to an international competition; however, I believe Britain has one other qualifying meet - the Scottish Championships. My understanding is Liam Tancock qualified for Rome by finishing first in this meet, but if someone else swims a faster time in the 100m back than Marco in the Scottish meet, then I believe the other person would go to Rome.

I don't know if this means that all British swimmers other than Liam Tancock have a second chance to qualify for Worlds in the 100m back. For instance, is the Scottish meet only open to swimmers who did not compete at the British National Championships or is it open to all British swimmers who did not qualify for Worlds at this meet? If the Scottish Championships are open to everyone, then Marco will need to swim the event again and hope to win or hope that nobody else goes faster than 54.51.

U.S. National Team training camp
The U.S. National Team is participating in a 2-week training camp at the USOC in Chula Vista, CA. Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale are there, but I don't know who else is participating. I hope Ryan is there, but no word yet.

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.

British Swimming Championships - World Champ Trials begin March 16

The British National Championships/World Championship Trials begin tomorrow. The start list (psych sheet) can be found here: http://asa.sportcentric.net/db//files/serve.php?id=5036

The top competitors in Ryan's best events are:

100m Back - Event 106 (Prelims & Semis on 3/16; Finals on 3/17)
43. Marco Loughran (89) Guildford Ct 54.40
44. Matthew Clay (82) Chard 53.97
45. Liam Tancock (85) Loughboro Un 53.39
(Ryan's best time = 53.37)

200m IM - Event 205 (Prelims & Semis on 3/17; Finals on 3/18)
35. Joseph Roebuck (85) Loughboro Un 2:01.12
36. Liam Tancock (85) Loughboro Un 1:57.79
37. James Goddard (83) Stockport Mo 1:57.72
(Ryan's best time = 1:55.22)

200m Free - Event 209 (Prelims & Semis on 3/17; Finals on 3/18)
53. Robert Renwick (88) Co Glasgow 1:47.07
54. Ross Davenport (84) Loughboro Un 1:47.03
55. David Carry (81) Stockport Mo 1:46.47
(Ryan's best time = 1:45.61)

200m Back - Event 302 (Prelims and Semis on 3/18; Finals on 3/19)
39. Chris Walker-Hebborn (90) Team Ipswich 1:59.61
40. Marco Loughran (89) Guildford Ct 1:58.16
41. James Goddard (83) Stockport Mo 1:56.82
(Ryan's best time = 1:53.94)

100m Free - Event 401 (Prelims & Semis on 3/19; Finals on 3/20)
51. Adam Brown (89) Hatfield 49.50
52. Ross Davenport (84) Loughboro Un 49.12
53. Simon Burnett (83) Windsor 48.20
(Ryan's best time = 48.65)

400m IM - Event 503 (Prelims and Finals on 3/20)
36. Lewis Smith (88) Warrender Ba 4:19.42
37. Joseph Roebuck (85) Loughboro Un 4:18.04
38. Thomas Haffield (88) Co Cardiff 4:12.59
(Ryan's best time = 4:06.08)

Liam Tancock, James Goddard and Simon Burnett are familiar names from the 2008 Olympics and other international events. Until recently, Simon Burnett held the NCAA and U.S. Open record in the 200y free.

Marco Loughran, who has been training with Ryan at the University of Florida for a few months, is entered in three events: 100 & 200 back and 100 fly. He has the best chance of making the world team in the 200 back.

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.