Day 4 Thoughts from Indy.
Here's somethings I thought about while trying to figure out whether the Universe would blow up if Brett Hawke were on the US World Champ coaching staff:
1. What was Matt Grevers wearing, part deux? So earlier this week I noticed Matt going off his endorsement contract to wear an x-glide for the 100 back. Last night for the 100 free, Matt was wearing a TYR again, except it appeared to be some TYR I'd never seen before in my life. I shrugged it off and said "ah, that must be the A7". Except then I looked at pictures of the A7 online. This suit Matt was wearing had some bright red panels on it. I don't see any bright red panels here:
http://www.tyr.com/A7/
Can anybody get a hold of a picture of what this was? I'm intrigued.
2. The race that wasn't: Coming into the night, I was overwhelmingly pumped to see Tyler Clary race Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM. Their 400 IM battle had not disappointed and Tyler had gone on to have an unbelievable 200 fly. So this was naturally going to be great as well, right? Wrong. Lochte grabbed this one by the neck from the very beginning. He was so far ahead that most of the crowd because obsessed with the world record line and forgot that Eric Shanteau was blowing by Clary on breaststroke and steamrolling home. In the end, Lochte just missed the record and Shanteau dropped a couple seconds to secure another individual spot. Look out for a monster 200 breaststroke today.
3. Hoping for a second taper: With this meet so very close to Worlds, I am cautiously hopeful that some of America's best gambled on not being fully prepared for Trials. I'm hoping this because in some events, our winner has performed a time that will simply not be good enough to medal in Rome. The 200 backstroke tonight was another example. Elizabeth Beisel swam a veteran race to snatch victory from Elizabeth Pelton on the final 50. However, her final time (2:08) is well off her pace from last summer, as was her 400 IM. I haven't asked Elizabeth or her coach Chuck Batchelor about it, but I am willing to bet they are trying to avoid the situation from last summer, where Elizabeth swam amazing to make the squad but couldn't repeat those times in Beijing.
One more day!
Tyler Clary 1:55.3 200 back!?! That will be a good race.
ReplyDeleteHats off to the Elisabeth!
ReplyDeleteI'd put my two coins on Beisel despite her so-so clocks. As for, Pelton, she pocketed 4 tickets to Italy! Unbelievable!
P.S. Mister Senior Elite Paul Y standing his last round of drinks before leaving Baltimore? Haha!
It's the TYR Sayanora designed especially for Matt ... which makes you wonder what the definition of "availability" is, a requirement for a suit being legal here.
ReplyDeleteDid it look like this?
ReplyDeletehttp://tyr.com/shop/sayonara-fullbody-swimskin-p-900.html
I thought this is what became of the Titan after fina baned it - Tyr changed the name and relegated to a triathalon suit (look at the description...its the Titan just with red panels). Maybe after Fina reversed their decision Tyr didn't have time to get the suit produced to meet the demand so only a few people, like Matt, were able to get a hold of them.
That 200 back will be a good race, but once again Peirsol's swagga will prevail. That man refuses to lose. Although, Lochte has looked fantastic................
ReplyDeletehopefully viking and chris won't mind my posting this link here.
ReplyDeletegarrett's posted a couple of interviews on youtube and they're just what you'd expect from the ex-floswimming main man.
get your "fix" here:
http://texasswimming.blogspot.com/2009/07/cant-go-cold-turkey.html
Bob,
ReplyDeleteSo excited to have some Garrett videos. I know he has more! Don't hold out on us!
Another great blog post. Hope to see more in coming future.
ReplyDeleteChris, are you going to worlds and do you know if Garrett plans on keeping doing news for the swimming community?
Andrew
Could somebody please tell me why team Usa didnt pick swimmers for the other 50s than free and for the men's 800 and women's 1500? Isn't it stupid not to have a swimmer in every event?
ReplyDeletekatie hoff is dead...i would say this meet was the end of her career...another flash in the pan falls off the charts...
ReplyDeleteUSA Swimming does enter people in the 50s and the non-Olympic distance events. They just enter people already selected for the team...usually the people selected for the 100 of that stroke and the 400/1500 or 800 (gender depending).
ReplyDeletei dont believe Matt Grevers is wearing the TYR Sayanora, which is a triathlon "swimskin." i thought it looked like he is wearing an Arena, possibly a Jaked? here is a pic of Roland Shoeman wearing a suit very similiar to what Matt wore.
ReplyDeletehttp://arenainternational.com/en/team-arena/athletes/roland-schoeman/img_or_swf
also, am i crazy or didnt FINA make it illegal to wear multiple caps? i know they don't allow swimmers to wear multiple suits, even for "modesty." am i making this up, or are the officials not enforcing this rule?