Breeja's first swim is Monday (100 Br) and Cammile swims on Wednesday (200 Fly), I believe.

It's been fun seeing their tweets and pictures as they've been sightseeing around Barcelona.

Some good races coming up in a few hours. The 4x100 free relays are today. Always fun to read about it all on swimswam.com.

Results, both live and post event are easy to find at www.omegatiming.com

Results from prelims today in 200IM: Erica Dittmer 23rd, Sycerika McMahon (signee) 18th.

At a meet today for my daughter (future A&M swimmer?) so I can't watch any of it.

Dittmer will also be competing in the 100 Breast prelims tomorrow, Heat 4. Alia Atkinson will be next to Breeja in Heat 5.

Breeja was slow in prelims. Well over her trials time. I hope it is just part of her plan to build into the races. The field is fast. I'd like to see a 1:05 mid-high in semis so she has a lane close to Meilutyte and Efimova for finals.

Atkinson 10th in prelims; I'd be surprised if she doesn't final. Dittmer at 35th.

Monster swim in the 1 breast by the Lithuanian.

I don't think Larson has it - at least not in the 100. It will take a 1:05 low or mid to medal. Meilutyte just slammed the WR in semis. And Efimova is 1.4 secs ahead of Breeja. Unless she has a monster Finals swim planned....

Hardy is getting slower as she often does.

Yeah, the times put up by the Lithuanian and Russian are amazing.

24hrs is a lifetime to the next race. It would take a miracle for Ruta not to win gold, but Breeja can still make the podium if she puts it all together tomorrow.

Her lifetime best is 1:05.92. Compared to that swim, her swim today is almost as fast on the 1st 50, but definitely slower on the 2nd 50. The strange thing is Hardy is closing the race faster than Breeja. I expect the opposite since Hardy would lose to Breeja in the 200 by 5 seconds.

If she swam that 1:05.92 time, she would be 3rd fastest.

Katie Ledecky is not of this world.

Sorry Ags. Breeja's swim in finals was worse than her semis. Does not bode well for the 200, since the 100 is Breeja's better race. Something is wrong.

Hardy whipped her. Meilutyte just off her new world record.

Ledecky's swim was incredible. Has to be one of the greatest distance swims ever.

Hardy took bronze and Larson came in 5th.

How will she do on the 200?

Ready to see how Adams does tomorrow in the 200 Fly.

quote:

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"I do not think Hardy will ever beat Breeja in the 100 in a race that counts. Hardy's WR was 4 years ago and she hasn't really been close. Breeja is still inexperienced long course and I think she is still figuring out the pacing."

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Remember that Spice?
(Sorry, just had to dig it up!)
But in all honesty, I probably would've said the exact same thing a month or 2 ago. :-)

Anyways, a few things so far :

1) Lochte not as 'in the mix' in his off events as he used to be. Seems to have lost some edge somehow.

2) Looking at how dominant Grevers looks in that back, and then realizing he's a still a full second off Piersol's WR really puts into perspective just how good Aaron was...

3) Ledecky (recently), Meluityte, Hosszu and Franklin have to be the most dominant swimmers in their categories right now, bar none. Some amazing swimming, right across the board.

4) Agnel is extremely impressive when you consider he's only 20/21.

5) I thought Cordes would be better here, but it is worth noting that the 2 USA breaststrokers were the only ones in the final that were born in the 90's. Everyone else is a fair bit older. Bodes well for the future.

It's been an interesting meet so far.
It's clear that the US men are not as dominant as they once were, and the women have become much stronger than previous years.

Only just hit me how many Olympic medallists are there and performing - compared to the world champs after '00, '04 and '08 where the number of, and performances by, Olympic medallists was much sparser.

quote:

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Seems to have lost some edge somehow.

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1) He's a meathead. Even mainstream America has figured that out by now.
2) He lost his foil.

Paging Mr. Phelps. Mr. Phelps, come in please.

But seriously, one more year of sitting on the sideline (and watching the U.S. lose relays he could help them win) and Phelps will get back in the game. After watching Sunday's coverage, he clearly still has the competitive fire inside him. He's only a month older than Lochte and he's four years younger than Ervin.

I hope he comes back. The one thing you can never get back is time. When you're as blessed as he is, why not go for it?

Aquabullet - Yup I said that. I really thought Hardy didn't have it anymore. But she said she rededicated herself to breaststroke after the Olympics and it shows.

Breeja seems to have stalled post NCAAs. I think she looked very good at Trials - and assumed she was not really rested. So I fully expected her to crush her times from Olympic Trials. But maybe she is just not 100%. Her lack of speed on the first 50 suggests she is tired.

LOB - I agree with you about Lochte. He is too cocky to get away with beating guys who have been in the pool instead of on TV.

The Americans are both hot and cold right now. Cordes is a huge disappointment so far. Fiegen was a disaster. Ervin is an iron man. And Ledecky is will overshadow anything Franklin does this week. Did you see Ledecky's last turn? She pulled a Phelps-like underwater after swimming 1450 meters and put a body length on Lotte.

American women are terrible in 200 IM. Not very good in breaststroke. Strong in backstroke and freestyle. Maybe good to OK in fly.

American men great in backstroke and freestyle. Fly is OK. Breaststroke is a disaster now.

It is amazing the US sucks in the stroke 50s. A country that races short course most of the year should be able to do better at 50s.

The Chinese are doing nothing except for Sun Yang.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 7/30/2013 3:36p).]

quote:

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American women are terrible in 200 IM. Not very good in breaststroke.

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I wouldn't call third and fifth terrible. I'd call it close. Sometimes people just have a better meet. Sometimes you run into a someone who is incredibly good. We're not far away. Keep in mind this is only Breeja's second major summer season as well. How many people can say they finaled at the Olympics and World Champs in their first few summers of serious swimming? She will continue to improve.

LOB - You're right. I was too harsh about breaststroke. Based on past history, something must be wrong with Breeja at this meet so far. She is almost a full second slower than she was a year ago. She neither started the 100 well or finished it well.

Meilutyte could be the sprint breaststroker of this decade (though Efimova is very close).

We ARE terrible in the 200 IM.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 7/30/2013 6:35p).]

In other news, Sarah Henry with an excellent 800 free at U.S. Open. 8:26.39 for second place.

Cammile had a nice swim in prelims this morning to finish 6th fastest. Only 6 tenths separates the top 7. As usual she had a strong last 50. Her 3rd 50 however was slowest of the top 8.

Adrian was really slow. Feigen was just slow in 100 free prelims.

Another nice swim by Cammile in semis. Won her heat, and dropped over 1 sec from prelims. Her 3rd 50 was much faster and she moved from 7th after the 1st 50 to 2nd at the 150. She goes into finals 2nd fastest.

Cammile is in good position to medal but I think at least three others are capable of going sub 2:06.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 7/31/2013 12:10p).]

Adrian and Feigen stepped up their games in semis.

Breeja's 200 breaststroke prelim swim was at best OK. She went out pretty fast; last 50 was the slowest of the top 11. Looks like she is hurting.

Feigen.

Efimova breaking 2:20 is great. Also, America has 4 guys under 1:56 in the 200 back. Pretty nice to have that.

[This message has been edited by Thesituation80 (edited 8/1/2013 12:41p).]

Not a good day for Aggie swimmers in Barcelona. 'Nuff said.

New WR in womens 200 breaststroke - Pederson.

Awesome swim for Feigen. Where was that speed in the 4x100? I think this proves he simply choked in the relay.

No American men in 200 breaststroke finals. But Americans 1-2 in 200 back (USA produces backstrokers!).

So, it was just a bad day at the office. Having our swimmers competing at this level represents extraordinary progress of the program and provides wonderful publicity for Texas A&M.

So where did Breeja place?

And Adams in the 200 ?

[This message has been edited by BigJim49 AustinNowDallas (edited 8/2/2013 3:29p).]

Breeja did not make finals in the 200 breaststroke. She finished 12th in semis and her time was well off her trials time.

Adams was seeded 2nd for finals but finished 7th, adding about a second.

I did not get to watch either race. I have to guess that Breeja just wasn't 100%. I doubt if Steve rested her completely for Trials. Even if he had I'd think Breeja could drop a bit between trials and Barcelona. Based on the splits it looked like Breeja attacked the 200, but just didn't have it on the back half.

Adams' times looked good through semis. She had a day to rest for finals but just didn't have it. I don't know if Bultman coached her or Marsh. I'd be interested to learn what Marsh did for her at SwimMAC vs. staying at A&M over the summer.

Hopefully both girls can enjoy the remaining time at Worlds and rest up a bit before NCAA starts again.

I gotta give kudos to Sarah Henry at the US Open. She swam very well considering she raced at the World University Games just a few weeks earlier. It is damned difficult to hold peak performance for that long.

Lochte had a great day today - two wins plus top 100 fly time in semis. Missy had a win. And the US owned the 4x200 relays yesterday and today.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 8/2/2013 4:44p).]

Breeja still has the 50 and the medley relay prelim (my assumption) to go tomorrow and Sunday.

Lochte really showed up in that semi of the 100 Fly. Had no idea he would be that good there.

Clear then what he's been working on lately and why his individual mid-distance free wasn't quite as good as in the past?

Breeja just didn't have a good swim. It happens.
We've got so used to her just dropping time whenever a really big meet rolls around - fact is that it's not gonna happen every.single.time.

Thanks guys !

Breeja made the 50 finals in spite of another WR swim from Ruta Meilutyte. Alia Atkinson didn't make the final.

Do y'all think she will swim the relay or will Hardy?

I think Breeja will swim prelims. Hardy will probably swim finals since she was faster in the 100 race.