It kind of pisses me off when people ask questions like the title of this post. I mean, if you've been paying attention, you should know that although Tae Hwan Park has been around forever, he's still the age of your average college senior. He's seeded second in the 100 freestyle, displaying pretty good speed at 50.0 for a swimmer known far more for his middle distance and up swimming. Here are the other stories to watch for tonight at the Santa Clara Grand Prix:
Rebecca Soni had a slow (by her standards) prelim swim to seed first in the 200 breast at 2:28. Remember last summer when she could seemingly threaten the world record at will? I'm still trying to figure out whether she will be a lot faster at Worlds this year or whether she's struggling a little.
Brendan Hansen had a solid 2:15 and is seeded second. He fell off significantly on his final 50, and that will be significant to watch tonight whether he was just loafing it or whether his conditioning it isn't quite there. In related news, Kosuke Kitajima decided to do an all out 200 at practice, went 2:14 and then screamed as loud as he possibly could.
Ryan Lochte is your 8th seed in the 100 fly. It's pretty impressive when you consider he swam the equivalent of an English Channel crossing in workout yesterday and followed it up by a strongman competition with Magnus Ver Magnusson. When reached for comment, Ver Magnusson said "Hver í fjandanum er Ryan Lochte?" and then went back to tugging a plane down the runway. We're still working to find an Icelandic translator.
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"Who the devil is Ryan Lochte?". You're welcome ! :-)
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