Whatever funk, illness, or whatever has plagued American Nathan Adrian through his first two swims in the Palau seems to have been shaken; he came out for this semi-final looking very focused and comfortable as he won heat 1 in 47.95. That puts him as the top overall seed. But his wasn’t even the best bounce-back story of these semi-finals.
Immediately afterward, Longhorn Aquatics’ Jimmy Feigen stepped onto the blocks and won heat 2 in 48.07 – the best swim he’s had of this meet after getting a lot of criticism for his performance on the men’s 400 free relay. The ability to channel his struggles into that sort of swim speaks well for his future as a professional athlete, where that sort of amnesia is a huge hallmark of success.
They weren’t the only two that recovered from poor prelims swims; Brazil’s Marcelo Chierighinibarely snuck into the 100 free semi-final as the 15th seed, but will be 3rd in the finals with a 48.11 behind Feigen.
Vlad Morozov and James Magnussen were matching 48.20′s, with Magnussen playing with fire a little bit after having easily taken the top swim in the morning. That means the four big favorites coming into the meet, plus Feigen, will hold center stage.
France’s Fabien Gilot, who was great in France’s 400 free relay victory, is the 6th seed in 48.21, followed by Australian Cameron McEvoy in 48.43 and Italy’s Luca Dotto in just 48.46. With the way this race came in seeded, nobody would have guessed that a 48.46 would have final’ed, but alas it did.
That means Cuba’s Hanser Garcia, whose potential has so many swim fans in the western hemisphere excited, failed to advance to the finals with a 48.54 for 11th, as did the Netherlands’Sebastiaan Verschuren, who scratched the 200 free final earlier in the meet to focus on this event. Verschuren was tied for 13th in 48.73.
Morozov will win the 50 no doubt. Going out in a 21.94 ON THE FEET, is absurd.
He sounds reasonably confident but no real insight here or emotion. I’d like to see a swimmer do an in your face interview like the heavyweight boxers used to do, Ali or Tyson. Or like Mr. T in Rocky. “I pity the fool!”. What’s your prediction for the race? “Prediction?… PAIN!!”
if anything in swimming, we need more rivalries. i mean we still have to be nice to each other as a whole, but in some sense missy franklin and cate campell hugging each other regardless of placing and time is not the most exciting outcome
look at cavic and phelps in the 100 fly: it was bloodsport, cavic would run his mouth and say anything to provoke Phelps, and the media (I distinctly remember sportscenter showing Phelps’ 2009 100 fly) and then Phelps would fire back in the pool. I think a little good old fashioned animosity would make the sport a little more interesting for swimming fans, and non-swimming fans
Then he will take one look at Adrian, and he will buckle!