Shanghai Day 5: Living up To Expectations

Nope, I'm not going with a picture of Phelps or Lochte here. Guess who?

If you thought the 200 free was a great race, I would guess you loved last night. The showdown between Phelps and Lochte in the 200 IM had chills going down my spine the entire way. It gave us our first World Record of the meet, which is also exciting, I guess. Remember what those felt like? Here's what else happened on night five:

Both Dana Vollmer and Natalie Coughlin made it through to finals of the 100 free. Neither one, however, feels like a medal contender. The winner has a fair chance of being Dutch between Heemskerk and Kromowidjojo but Jeannette Ottesen of Denmark looms. And by looms I mean I will go crazy if she medals in this event. Did you hear the live broadcast last night? I'm sorry

Rebecca Soni, as she did in the 100 breast, appeared to take a world record shot and come up short. She needed far less than 2:21 to advance but went for it anyway. Yuliya Efimova appears to be the best of the rest but Rikke Pedersen (Denmark) is another legitimate medal threat here.

James Magnussen broke the Austrlian curse on world record relay swims and came through with the victory. But far more exciting was Cielo Filho getting 4th, especially since we weren't treated to his tears after the conclusion of the race. Nathan Adrian finished 5th, which may cause a few tears for USA swimming fans. Take heart USAS fans- we finished 5th in 2007 too.

I boycotted the 200 fly because no Americans made the final. I felt like it was the sportsmanlike thing to do.

Watching Daniel Gyurta swim so fast in the 200 breaststroke I want to make an exception to a common theory. That common theory is that it is dicey to be the fastest swimmer while still an age grouper. I would argue, however, that if you make it all the way up to world class at 15 and you are male, your chances of being great are pretty high. Male swimmers almost can't help being better at 22 then they were at 15 and the three most recent that come to mind (Gyurta, Phelps, Thorpe) all seemed to do pretty well. 

Lastly, I said yesterday that Team USA women needed a bounce back and they got that. The Franklin medal in the 50 back was a nice bonus, and the 4x200 Relay was the icing on the cake. Congrats, WOMEN.