2017 Arena PSS Mesa Day 2 Analysis: Ledecky Outsplits Kalisz

by Robert Gibbs 9

April 14th, 2017 International, National, News

2017 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES – MESA

With quite a few big names missing, and the challenges posed by swimming in an outdoor pool, most of the times from the second night of the 2017 Arena PSS stop in Mesa weren’t eye-popping.  That doesn’t mean, however, that there wasn’t anything worth talking about, and here’s a few of things we noticed this evening.  Here’s a few of the more interesting observations we had.  Feel free to comment with you own observations and analysis of anything we didn’t mention.

#1 – Ledecky Pulls a Ye Shiwen

Almost five years ago, Chinese teenager Ye Shiwen made waves in London when she outsplit Ryan Lochte, the men’s 400 IM, en route to winning the 400 IM.  Tonight, Katie Ledecky didn’t win the 400 IM, but she did outsplit the men’s winner, Chase Kalisz, over the freestyle leg, 59.50 to 59.94.  Now, this isn’t entirely shocking, as Ledecky is arguably the world’s greatest freestyler at the moment, and Kalisz appeared to go out a lot harder than he normally does.  Yet, it’s still not something that we see all that often, and with Ledecky essentially claiming that she’s not planning on adding the event to her international program, it’s probably not something we’ll see too often, and definitely worth noting here.

#2 – Chase Kalisz Looking Great In-Season

Speaking of Kalisz, the Olympic silver medalist is looking very strong this year.  A month ago, he broke his own 400 IM SCY record at NCAAs.  Tonight, he blasted a 4:11.01, which is his fastest in-season 400 IM LCM ever, by a solid half a second.  Kalisz looked particularly smooth on the backstroke, which is probably his weakest stroke, and he had the fastest split in the field on that leg, which bodes well.  That time ranks him #4 in the world this year, and with two months to go until the USA has its trials, and another month under World Championships, Kalisz may have his best shot yet of winning his first gold medal at a major international event.

2016-2017 LCM MEN 400 IM

ChaseUSA
KALISZ
07/30
4.05.90
2David
VERRASZTO
HUN4.07.4706/24
3daiya
SETO
JPN4.07.9906/24
4Jay
LITHERLAND
USA4.09.3106/29
5Max
LITCHFIELD
GBR4.09.6207/30
View Top 26»

#3 – Adrian Focusing on the 100 Free?

There’s been a lot of discussion here over the years as to whether or not sprinters can peak for both the 50 free and the 100 free at the same time.  A night after blasting the 2nd-fastest time in the 100 free in the world this year, Nathan Adrian looked a bit more pedestrian in the 50 free tonight.  He’s been known to throw down a sub-22 50 free in-season, so the fact that he couldn’t do that tonight, while going 48.1 last night, sure makes it look like he could opting to focus on the 100 free this season.  To win the gold in Budapest, he’ll have to overcome the Aussie duo that sandwiches him in the world rankings currently, Cam McEvoy and Kyle Chalmers.

 

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Nah
7 years ago

Who cares about one split when he beats her by almost 30 seconds. Chase would be done with the race by the time she even hit the 350 turn

Zemhaj
7 years ago

Can we stop? She didn’t even win the event… she’s doing a great thing for women’s swimming and for her repotoire in branching out to the IM but you can’t compare her to Kalisz. Even just compared to the world record for each gender, Kalisz is at 4:11.01 and WR is 4:03.84, held by the greatest swimmer of all time. Katie was at 4:38.16, WR is 4:26.36. Kalisz would’ve placed 4th at Rio with this time, Katie wouldn’t even have made finals. Compare her when it’s applicable, and give credit to others when necessary. Amazing swim for Kalisz, gold in Budapest

Attila the Runt
7 years ago

I wonder what the calculus is in Adrian’s decision to focus on the 100 free. (First of all, it’s pretty amazing that it consistently looks like you can be either the best 50 freer or 100 freer in LCM, but not both for the men and women). Is it his chances —- Dressel is going to own the 50 and Flo’s not going away? Is it to secure his spot on the relays, which he loves anchoring? Is it just for variety (tried focusing on the 50, now want to do the 100)? Pride (he was Olympic champ in the 100, but never the 50)? It’s just a more interesting race, because there are so many more technical/physiological elements (and… Read more »

gigglewater
Reply to  Attila the Runt
7 years ago

I would love to see him hold 50 100 free AR together! To hold it at once will be another great accomplishment to his already glorious resume. But eveything needs to come together for that 100 free…

Attila the Runt
7 years ago

Geez, if you’re Kalisz, how’d you like to wake up to this headline? MP is going to tease the heck out of him.

bobo gigi
7 years ago

It depends on how the swimmer swam his/her race before. It depends on strong and weak strokes of each swimmer.
By the way Ye Shiwen didn’t outsplit Lochte in London in the last 100. She outsplit him in the last 50. But Lochte’s last 100 was faster than Ye Shiwen’s last 100.
Lochte’s last 100: 29.55/29.10=58.65
Ye Shiwen’s last 100: 29.75/28.93=58.68
It reminds me of a headline at that time in a French media which said: “Ye Shiwen, the woman who swims as fast as the men”. 😆 Yes, she was 23.25 s slower than Lochte! I never understood the debate.
As you mentioned it, KL is the greatest female distance freestyle swimmer of all… Read more »

Shibly
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

i think Kalisz will win gold in Budapest…

Tm71
7 years ago

He will beat mcevoy but I am not sure about chalmers

Markster
Reply to  Tm71
7 years ago

McEvoy is the faster 100 freestyler

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