Cielo Swims On, And Other Shanghai Stories

CAS did, however, rule that in the future his dress clothes could only extend from the hip to the knee. No word on chest coverage

Well, the meet hasn't even started yet and already one of my fearless predictions is wrong. CAS ruled yesterday to uphold just the warning in Cielo's case and he will be clear to compete at the World Championships as they begin in three days. Ordinarily, guest blogger Tom Duke would be here with a reaction but he is currently under 24/7 psychiatric supervision following the decision. The Cielo decision is getting my meet juices flowing just a little bit early for this competition. Here are a couple of other things I'll be watching for on day one


-Relays can be huge momentum builders for teams. The US has been lying in wait all year. If they come out big on the 4x100 relay on the first night, look for them to steamroll through the rest of the meet. It should be a considerably easier task for the men than the women, given the presence of the two best swimmers in the world (Phelps, Lochte) on their relay and no team like the Netherlands to compete with.

-For other countries, relay lineups will reveal a lot about who is looking good. Teams like the Netherlands women and French men have a number of combinations they can employ and who they swim in prelims will reveal who they have the most confidence in.

-I'll be watching the 100 breast closely to see whether Dale Oen has the mettle to beat Kitajima. Don't jump on the bandwagon if Dale Oen puts up a huge time in the semi-final, however. Kitajima won't swim his fastest until he absolutely needs to. He let Dale Oen be the rabbit in Beijing in 2008 and we all know how that turned out.

-The 400 free is going to give us a final in one of the most highly anticipated races of the meet first thing. Sun Yang and Tae Hwan Park are expected to throw down and possibly challenge Paul Biedermann's world record. Expect Craig Lord to write about 10,000 words and remind us how horrible the suits were if they do. The last time the 400 freestyle world record resided in Asia? 1959.

Chime in! What are you watching for on night one of the meet?