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.

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 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.

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.

Is Ryan still going to Australia in February to train with Leith Brodie?

Leith Brodie on left and Ryan Lochte on right at 2008 World Short Course Championships in Manchester, England

I've been saving this photo in case there is news that Ryan is in Australia training with Leith Brodie. Ryan said in an interview at SC Nationals that he planned to travel to Australia in February.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMHlT4PbzXE

However, now that Ryan has entered in the Missouri Grand Prix on Feb. 13-16, it is possible that the travel to Australia has been cancelled.

The Australia national championships (and trials for the 2009 world championships) will be held on March 17-22. I guess there is time for Ryan to train with Leith between the end of the Missouri Grand Prix and the start of the Australian championships, but I'm beginning to think it is doubtful.

Ryan to Compete at Grand Prix in Long Beach, CA - January 16-19, 2009

I just read on Daily Reezy that Ryan is going to compete in the next Grand Prix event, which is a short course meet in Long Beach, California from January 16-19, 2009. No information yet on what events Ryan will swim.

It's really exciting to hear that Ryan will be competing again so soon. I guess this means his training with Leith Brodie in Australia will not start until some time after this meet.

The source cited by Daily Reezy did not indicate if the meet will be SC yards or meters, but I'm guessing it's yards given that $1,000 will be awarded for each American record broken at the meet and nothing was said about world records.

The source also stated that a $20,000 prize will be awarded to the swimmer with the highest point score at the last Grand Prix event in 2009. Ryan is currently tied for 3rd place with 13 points, having won two golds and a silver at the Minnesota Grand Prix event in November. Mary Descenza is in first place with 30 points (wow!) http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewMiscArticle.aspx?TabId=162&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&mid=564&ItemId=2991

Swimnetwork.com is going to have race footage and interviews, which is really great. They did a fantastic job at the SC Nationals and hopefully it will be the same type of coverage.

Source: http://swimming.about.com/od/swimminggrandprixmeets/qt/socalgp_109meet.htm

Leith Brodie - Training Partner

Leith Brodie is 22 yrs old and lives in Brisbane, Australia. At the 2008 Olympics he swam in the 200 IM, making it to the semi-finals and coming in 14th. He also swam in the prelims of the 800 free relay, and won a bronze medal because the Australian team placed 3rd in the finals. Finally, he swam in the prelims of the 400 free relay and received a bronze medal due to the team's 3rd place finish in the finals.

At the 2008 U.S. SC nationals in early December, it was announced that Leith is training in Florida with Ryan. It was also announced that Ryan will go to Australia in early 2009 (Jan or Feb) to train with Leith. At the SC Nationals, Leith entered in a ton of events and achieved the following results: 200y IM - 8th; 200y free - 7th; 50y free - 8th ("B" final). In the prelims he qualified "C" finals of the 100y free, but elected not to swim in the finals.

It seems like Ryan will push Leith in training a lot more than the other way around. Nevertheless, Leith is certainly a world class swimmer and it should be very interesting for Ryan to experience training in Australia to see if there is something different he can try to help him increase his speed.