Michael Phelps’ freestyle is looking more and more confident every time he jumps in to race. His 100 freestyles looked really good, swimming a 49.99 in prelims and then moving up to second in finals with a 48.80.
At the Charlotte Grand Prix, Michael Phelps was entered to swim the 200 freestyle and the 100 fly on the second day of the meet. After a not so great 200 freestyle, he decided to scratch and focus on the 100 butterfly. He went on to win the fly but we missed the opportunity to see him re-do his freestyle.
After a long wait, we finally had that chance this morning. His 1:51 from Charlotte wasn’t what he was hoping for, so he was more aggressive in the first 100 of his race today. He mentioned in interviews that he expected his teammate, Yannick Agnel, to be a little more aggressive in prelims than he was. Yannick finished right at the same time as Phelps’, but was ultimately disqualified.
Comparing his entry times from Charlotte to Grand Prix even shows his confidence level. In Charlotte, he entered with a 1:49.09, compared to his 1:45.70 entry time this morning. That entry time put him in the middle of the pool next to an eager Mitch D’Arrigo.
Phelps’ and D’Arrigo were out in the front 0f the pack by the 75 meter mark, and Phelps was at the 100 in 54.06. He looked fairly smooth, pushing the pace through the first 150. On the final 50, D’Arrigo rose to the occasion and touched out Phelps.
Phelps’ final time was 1:49.61 behind D’Arrigo’s 1:49.57. I have no doubt that Phelps has more in the tank for tonight’s final. D’Arrigo touched him out, but he didn’t appear to be fighting for the wall as he was last night when Tom Shields pulled ahead in the 100 butterfly. There was no way he was letting Tom beat him last night, and that was not the case this morning.
Phelps has always been able to get up and go when he needs to, and tonight shouldn’t be any different. Phelps is hungry and enjoying freestyle again.
Here you can compare his splits from Charlotte’s prelims to his swim this morning.
Charlotte:
- 26.28
- 28.62
- 28.95
- 27.84 – 1:51.69
Santa Clara:
- 25.78
- 28.28
- 27.88
- 27.67 – 1:49.61
prediction
1:47 mid for Phelps in the final!