Saturday, July 30, 2011

Shanghai Day 7: Don't Cry For Me

Well, I guess there was no avoiding it. After the top swimmer in the 50 free from 2010 (Fred Bousquet) missed out on the final we all knew where we were headed. Most notably, Nathan Adrian was far off where he was in Irvine. Cielo won handily, then shocked the onlooking crowd by quickly drawing a syringe and plunging it into his left bicep with a primal scream. I made up one of the two statements in the last sentence. Let's look at the rest of day 7 finals:


Missy Franklin continued to carry the US women on her 16 year old back with a victory in the 200 backstroke. In honor of Shawn's post from yesterday, here we go: OMG THAT IS THE MOST AMAZING 200 BACKSTROKE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. MY ENTIRE NOTION OF A GOOD PERFORMANCE IN THAT EVENT HAS CHANGED. COULD WE SEE A TEXTILE 2:04 NEXT SUMMER? THIS IS CRAZY.

Phew. In the 100 fly the "textile world record" survived. Something tells me Ian Crocker doesn't even watch these races anymore. He's just somewhere hanging out and relaxing, content that he was once far better.

The women's 50 free is coming down as a battle for Northern Europe. Kromowidjojo was the favorite coming into the meet, but now Ottesen and Herasimenia have upset that probability. I'll be watching to see if the US women fall behind Denmark in a 4th freestyle event. The first three are the 1500, 800 and 100. Friis added the 800 this morning when she broke Kate Ziegler around the 400 meter mark of the 800 to earn silver.

Lastly, the 400 medley relay was never in doubt, especially with the US coaches using their discretion to insert Franklin onto the end. I think I need about three more of these before I'm not terrified of the Australians from when they had the best last three legs. Now, that's definitely the US. Nice feeling, eh?
Posted by Chris DeSantis at 4:53 AM

5 comments:

  1. Reezy NationJuly 30, 2011 at 5:01 AM

    sky is the limit for Franklin.. I cant wait to see the program they put together for her ... 100/200 fr, 200 back and the relays.. or is that too much for her.. The olympics are always a different animal..

    ReplyDelete
  2. JonJuly 30, 2011 at 5:02 AM

    100 fly "lost it" for me when Crocker retired :(

    NC was awesome again in the 400 mr.

    NC will win the 100 back in London.

    ReplyDelete
  3. momJuly 30, 2011 at 5:19 AM

    I saw the posting at 4:53 AM and realize now that that is why I get no responses to my emails. I am glad you are able to get the coverage in the US that we could never get in DK with the slow internet in the summerhouse.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 30, 2011 at 5:31 AM

    aside from 200, i think american men freestylers need to get their sh*t together before london or there will be some big disappointments...

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 30, 2011 at 6:08 AM

    A little more respect for Michael Phelps and his third-in-a-row title in 100 fly, 25th over all. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)