We’ll forgo all the wind-related puns and cut to the chase: it was really windy tonight in Mesa. Â Michael Phelps claimed that the wind nearly knocked him off the blocks prior to the 200 fly, while Breeja Larson suggested in her post-race interview that swimming in Lane 1 helped spare her from some of the worst effects of the wind during the 200 breast.
It’d take a lot more analysis to give a truly determine how much affect the wind had on tonight’s swims, and we’re still awaiting the end of the C and D finals to get all the results.  But for now, here’s a quick breakdown of the 50 splits for each of the winning swims tonight compared to the winning swims from last year.  Tonight the win was blowing mostly from the turn end to the start end (except for the 50 free), and we bolded the even splits to reflect that.
Women 200 Fly
2016 – Adams – 30.06/31.55/33.95/33.03
2015 – Adams – 29.57/32.28/33.56/33.39
Men 200 Fly
2016 – Phelps  – 25.81/29.12/31.28/31.93
2015 – Croenen – 26.94/30.68/31.19/31.26
Women 50 Fly
2016 – Kennedy – 24.45
2015 – Vanderpool-Wallace – 24.84
Men 50 Fly
2016 – Adrian – 21.69
2015 – Schneider – 22.52
Women 100 Back
2016 – DiRado – 30.18/30.53
2015 – Hosszu – 30.12/30.60
Men 100 Back
2016 – Plummer  – 26.43/27.86
2015 – Vyatchanin – 26.58/27.26
Women 200 Breast
2016 – Larson – 33.00/36.97/37.57/39.10
2015 – Larson – 33.09/37.54/38.09/39.10
Men 200 Breast
2016 – Johnson – 30.86/33.77/34.77/34.76
2015 – Claverie – 30.38/34.35/34.13/35.45
Women 400 Free
2016 – Ledecky – 28.76/29.69/30.54/30.27/30.70/30.91/31.23/30.05
2015 – Ledecky – 27.83/29.73/30.39/30.83/30.98/31.24/30.90/30.05
Men 400 Free
2016 – McBroom – 27.45/28.60/29.06/28.96/29.10/28.91/29.02/27.94
2015 – McBroom – 27.00/28.79/28.92/29.15/29.37/29.48/29.40/28.27
Again, we’d really need to look at more swims and swimmers to better quantify the effect that the wind had tonight, and you can’t totally account for factors like race strategy. However, four of tonight’s champions won the same event last year.  In every one of those races tonight, every one of those even-numbered 50s was either faster than, or the same exact time as, the corresponding length from last year.
That pool needs a wall. Send the bill to Mexico .
And it needs to be HUUUUUUGE!
Or tax the money that is sent back over the border….both sound policies 🙂
It seems to affect Breastroke comparatively more than the long-axis strokes, which makes sense given the way most top breastrokers these days get so high out of the water on the in-sweep.
Why doesn’t this article mention the effect of swimming against the wind during the odd-numbered laps? The times are less consistent when viewing the four repeating champions but there is still a general pattern of slower laps swimming in that direction, especially during the first few 50s. Seems as though swimmers managed to adjust to the conditions after a while but the detrimental shock of the wind initially has to be considered if the positive impact of the wind is being discussed.
If Ledecky’s not under 4:00, then you know something’s wrong in the universe….
It’s inherently going to be hard to compare wind effect on times. Especially when we don’t know wind speeds of the previous meet in Mesa. But I like the effort and it’s interesting to see. I’m going to go ahead and say if the swimmers on deck are reporting an effect, then there is probably an effect
Maybe they were just faster swimmers Adrian’s been 21 every final this year.
I agree.
Adrian looked very easy in the final while the rest were struggling.
I think Adrian will beat Manadou in 50 and can surprise mcEvoy in 100 the way he surprised Magnussen in London.
you’re dreaming to high my friend i’m afraid. He’ll get 2 silver medals. Which is not a bad result imo.