Day 1 of the 2011 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool (25 meter style) was a slaughtering. There’s no-more polite way to put it than that. The Americans put a good-old fashioned beatdown on the European All-Stars.
At the end of the first day of competition, the Americans were up 93.5-28.5. The Europeans will have to put a serious dent into the 2nd day of competition just to avoid the worst defeat in series history.
Tons of records went down in this meet, including beginning with a World Record in the women’s 400 medley relay.
Women’s 400 Medley Relay
Full breakdown of this relay can be found here.
Men’s 400 Medley Relay
The men’s medley didn’t quite live up to the shock-and-awe of the women before them, but the Americans still cruised to an easy win (though not as dominant as the womens’ 5+ second win) in 3:23.55. That’s a new U.S. Open Record (which will happen a lot as this meet, as the last big SCM meets in the U.S. were in 2004 -NCAA Championships and 2004 Short Course Worlds). Nick Thoman took the squad out in 50.02. That takes down short-course specialist Peter Marshall’s U.S. Open Record of 50.32 (U.S. Open Records are any swum on U.S. soil by a swimmer of any nationality).
Brendan Hansen swam the breaststroke leg splitting 56.59 to put some space between the two relays. If he comes close to that in the individual race, he could take down Mike Alexandrov’s American Record of 57.16. Tyler McGill gave up some ground on the butterfly leg (50.68), but Matt Grevers had more than enough to take the Americans to victory. It almost looked as though Grevers backed off on the close of this race, as the coaches suggested they might, to save some energy for a tightly-packed event schedule.
The European squad of Radoslaw Kawecki (50.36), Giedrius Titenis (58.28), Konrad Czerniak (50.34), and Adam Brown (46.79) was 2nd for no points in 3:25.77. A runner-up performance in a relay isn’t worth any points at this Duel.
Women’s 400 IM
This race was a mini-preview of what the 400 IM should be at the NCAA Championships this March. The top three (USC’s Katinka Hosszu, Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz, and Florida’s Elizabeth Beisel), are all current collegiate swimmers, but all were at different points and places at their big winter invites. Hosszu put up some humongous times at the Texas Invitational, and Leverenz did some great things in long course at Winter Nationals (while Beisel, also at Nationals, raced through heavier training than the other two).
Here again, Hosszu (the best short course swimmer of the three) showed why she’s the defending NCAA Swimmer of the Year in short course swimming with a huge freestyle leg to win in 4:24.37. That crushes the U.S. Open Record of Kaitlin Sandeno by 6 seconds.
Leverenz took 2nd in 4:24.62. That breaks the American Record held by Julia Smit. (Note, that’s not the fastest time done by American – Smit was much faster at the 2009 Duel but in an odd quirk of the rules, that World Record swim wasn’t recognized as an American Record. Leverenz has the American Record, and Smit has the fastest time ever by an American – key, confusing distinction). Beisel took 3rd in in 4:26.48, and Kathleen Hersey had a very strong, very surprising swim for 4th in 4:27.97 (don’t count her out in the 200 IM at the Olympic Trials).
The aforementioned World Record holder Smit had a bad swim to finish 7th in 4:32.08. The Czech Republic’s Barbara Zavadova touched in 4:31.73. She’s only 18, but many expected better from her than that.
Men’s 400 IM
This was the front-half of a two-in-three for Ryan Lochte, and he raced it exactly as that. He hung behind Tyler Clary for 350 meters, and on the final 50 expended just as much energy as he needed to for the win (he basically kicked the last 4 meters into the wall). His final time was 3:59.52. Clary took 2nd in 4:00.35, with Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh taking 3rd in 4:02.91 (insert bad joke about Cseh playing bridesmaid to the Americans).
Women’s 100 Free
Even with the Netherlands’ Marleen Veldhuis finishing in a disappointing 8th-place (53.49), this set an early standard as the best final of the meet. Veldhuis’ Dutch countrymate Ranomi Kromowidjojo posted the 4th-best time ever in textile to win in 51.87 to win ahead of Fran Halsall of Great Britain in 51.95. After Halsall, there was a surprisingly large drop off, with American Natalie Coughlin taking 3rd in 52.40.
For a moment, it looked as though the Europeans might make this meet a battle after this race, at which point the women had actually taken a 13-12 lead (though the men were getting crushed still).
Men’s 100 Free
The men’s 100 free was a Longhorn-USC connection on the (mythical) podium. Former Longhorn, and current Trojan Aquatics swimmer, Ricky Berens took top honors in 46.60, which was one of the few swims that didn’t break the U.S. Open Record. That’s a pretty good outcome for his first ever short course meters swim.
His former teammate Garrett Weber-Gale took 2nd in 46.79, which is a career-best for him, and current USC collegian Vlad Morozov was 3rd in 47.21.
American Olympic hopeful Jimmy Feigen was 7th in 47.74, but keep in mind that he’s the only swimmer in this field who has to worry about two more tapered meets before the Olympics (NCAA’s and Olympic Trials), so he probably trained harder this week than his competition.
Women’s 200 Back
It was Missy time again in the 200 backstroke, with huge expectations of her breaking her own World Record set two months ago in Berlin (especially after her amazing anchor in the 400 medley). Franklin would come up just short of that time, but still went the 2nd-fastest time in history in 2:00.14 for the victory (and another U.S. Open Record).
Though with a similar result, Franklin went after this race with a much different tact – she was out half-a-second slower than she was in her World Record swim after 100 meters. That showed in this race as she sat in 2nd place through about 175 meters (versus Berlin, where she was in the lead the whole race). But coming off of the final wall, Franklin rocketed past British swimmer Elizabeth Simmonds and stormed her way to the victory.
Simmonds’ swim was very strong as well, as she touched 2nd in 2:00.83 which is a personal best and a new European Record. That swim moves her into 3rd on the all-time list. Simmonds didn’t have a very good meet in Shanghai (like most of the Brits), but she’s only 20-years old. Missy is the hot swimmer in this 200 backstroke right now, but don’t forget about Simmonds. For this meet, at least, she was the only good performance from the Europeans.
Liz Pelton took 3rd in 2:02.16.
Men’s 200 Back
As we alluded to earlier, Lochte was saving his energy for this 200 backstroke, and being his final race of the night he didn’t hold back. He took this race in a wire-to-wire victory in 1:48.90. His performances are much better than they were at Nationals in this meet overall. A large portion of that is probably because it’s easier to “fake” short course meets while in heavy training that it is long course (because of the extra walls and underwaters), but I think he was driven in this meet. Nobody expected him to win every event at Nationals, but I think he probably was still expecting better than C-Finals.
The best backstroker in Polish history, Radoslaw Kawecki, touched 2nd in 1:50.12. He’s coming off of the 2nd week of a taper, on top of travel, so that’s a good time for him. Clary, who was also on the same tough double as Lochte, was 3rd in 1:51.22.
Nick Thoman put up a “remember me” swim in 1:51.26. He’s known mostly for his 100 backstroke skills, but he’s got the endurance to be a good 200 backstroker as well (he closed faster than anyone, including Lochte). Matt Grevers, who won this event at the 2009 duel, scratched it here to focus on the 100 fly.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
After a timing malfunction was straightened out, the Americans ended the 200 breaststroke with a 1-2-3 finish for the maximum 9 points. (The scoreboard originally showed Beard as placing 4th, though she was clearly in the top 3). Rebecca Soni continued to struggle on her start (which is the only sliver of hope anyone has of beating her in the 100 or 200 in London).
She sat in 4th after the first 50, but that was all of the time it took her to make up for the slow start. She took the lead around 60-meters in, and then just put distance between herself and the field. She would touch for the win in 2:17.69 (another U.S. Open Record). Beard’s ultimate time, once corrected, was 2:19.72 to just out-touch Leverenz in 2:19.84 for the American sweep.
The top American finisher was Rikke Moeller Pedersen in 2:22.67. She was three seconds faster just one week ago at the European Short Course Championships, so this was quite a disappointing swim for her that sort of epitomized the day of swims for the Europeans.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Brendan Hansen continues to get better, and as we discussed during Nationals, the vast improvements he’s showing in the 200 breaststroke is the biggest sign that he’s back. He lurked and lurked behind the hard-finishing two-time World Champion in this event Daniel Gyurta, which is a risky strategy. But coming into the final stroke. Gyurta’s unconventional stroke shortened up, while Hansen had a final burst to get his fingers on the wall first.
Close finishes seem to be the biggest drawback of Gyurta’s herky-jerky motion that otherwise works very well for him, and in this case Hansen was able to recover quicker and get his fingers on the wall first. Hansen’s time was 2:03.62, which is a full second faster than he ever went when he was in his prime, and Gyurta was 2nd in 2:03.64.
Out of all of the comebacks we’ve seen worldwide this year, nobody has a better shot at an Olympic medal than Hansen right now.
This race injected some life back into a crowd that was sitting uncomfortably on their hands because of the American rout. The atmosphere really ramped up for some awesomely exciting races to finish the meet.
Women’s 100 Fly
This finish was extremely tight, and though Natalie Coughlin’s head was well out in front headed into the wall, she was a little bit long on her final stroke, which almost cost her the victory. She would get to the wall first in 56.23, which is a personal best. There are no start lists yet available for tomorrow’s session, but everyone will be laser-focused on if she will swim the 200 IM.
Jeanette Ottesen coming off of a great European Short Course Championship meet took 2nd in 56.24. Dana Vollmer took 3rd in 56.27.
Men’s 100 Fly
When thinking of this 100 fly final and the names in it, Grevers is not the big-name butterflier. He is, however, just big, and an underrated butterflier. Scratching the 200 backstroke really paid off in this race as he held on for a 50.54 win, though Tyler McGill was closing very quickly. With one more stroke, McGill would have taken the win, but as it was he touched in 50.56.
Tied for 3rd were American Davis Tarwater and Poland’s Konrad Czerniak in 50.70.
Women’s 400 Free
Denmark’s Lotte Friis took the early lead in this 400, and with her distance background, it wouldn’t seem as though she would give that up. There were other swimmers in this race, however, with strong backgrounds as well. At the halfway point, Chloe Sutton jumped out to a lead, but there was still one more swimmer stalking her. Countrymate Katie Hoff would take the lead with only 100 meters to go, and it didn’t look like she was going to give it up.
But remember that out of the top 4 finishers in this field, Hoff has the least distance background (Sutton, Friis, and Ziegler). Sutton, almost from out of nowhere, kicked her swim into 5th gear on the last lap and came back for a shocking victory in 3:58.07. Hoff took 2nd in 3:58.21, and Friis was 3rd in 4:00.88.
Similar to Franklin, Sutton has been knocked for her poor turns in long course competition. Like Franklin, however, it doesn’t seem to hurt her as much as it seems like it should.
Men’s 400 Free
Michael Klueh, who has for years been right on the verge of making a major US National squad, may have finally turned a corner over the last few months. With yet another come-from-behind victory in the final 50, Klueh touched in 3:40.05 for the event victory. In this race, he bettered two of his biggest competitors for Olympic spots in the 400 (which is his best opportunity at the team) in Conor Dwyer (2nd – 3:40.66) and Matt McLean (3rd – 3:42.11).
Klueh may have nudged himself into a strong mental position, at least, for an Olympic spot behind Peter Vanderkaay, though Dwyer and McLean are certainly still developing themselves.
Vanderkaay was 5th in 3:43.61. The top-finishing European was Denmark’s Mads Glaesner in 3:43.40 for 4th.
Full Meet Results available here.
It’s at 8 PM for me tonight.
Ok, I’m correcting. Why is there a photo of Michael Phelps? He doesn’t participate at this meet.
Big night for Brendan Hansen. He says the 200 breaststroke at Winter Nationals was a big breakthrough for him. And now with these two very good races, in the medley relay and in the 200, I think it must be a big boost of confidence for him. I’m waiting for his 100, he can beat the american record. And this guy is very interesting to listen in interview.
Good night for Missy too. Of course, I was waiting for a world record. But we don’t beat a world record easily. She was perhaps too slow in the first part of the race but as usual what a finish. Yes she isn’t instead of most of american swimmers a natural short… Read more »
I was the last night in front of my computer at 1.00 AM. And there was no way to find a live streaming of Duel in the Pool. I tried universal sports on the website and I had to pay. Goodbye. I believe it’s very difficult for swimming fans outside USA like me to watch this meet. Ok, I have a resume of 45 minutes on a tv channel for every day here in France but many races where not there and commentaries are very bad. If someone has an advice for tonight to watch in live I take it. It will be at 8.30 PM for me.
Why is there a photo of Michael Phelps? He don’t participate at this meet.