In This Story
- James Magnussen
James Magnussen
- Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
- Nathan Adrian
Nathan Adrian
- Ryan Lochte
Ryan Lochte
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Matt Targett, Australian Olympic 4×100 Insider Info
Matt Targett, Aussie 4x100 Relay World Champion, gives insight into Team USA's chances at the London Olympics. (photo: presswire)
Saw Magnussen swim at Olympic trials, when asked what others should think about his swim – he said “brace yourselves”
I realise that anything can happen at the Olympics but consider some raw stats. He is 0.5 seconds ahead of his closest rival (James roberts) and he’s been racing (and beating) this guy since he was 12. His next closest rival is over a second behind which in 100metres is an eternity. He has also opted to remove himself from the media which is genius on his part. I don’t merely think he won’t choke I think he will break the wr and make the biggest winning margin ever seen in the 100m freestyle.
…something to consider. A lot of Olympic first-timers pop, emotionally, from the pressure. Maggie Missle has an enormous amount of pressure for a first go at the biggest competition in swimming. Will he pop? What are the chances?
Less likely for Magnussen to capitulate than, say Feigen. Or even Berens, since US 800 relays have never been in doubt.
You should see how calm and relaxed Magnussen and how calculatingly deliberate he was in slowing down taking off his tracksuits (as he was the last person to be called in) was during the introduction to the start of the men 100 free final in Shanghai. By then, he was already the absolute favorite to win it.
Personality wise, I think Magnussen is even more balanced and stronger to withstand pressure than Thorpe, who had to withstand pressure unlike any other swimmer has ever been in Sydney 2000.
But we’ll see in London.
We should probably worry about the French as well here. They will have three guys that can go 48.0 on a flat start and we currently just have 2 (Adrian and Phelps). The french and Russians could surprise us and keep us off the podium altogether.
If James Roberts 47.63 was not a fluke then only a big mistake by the Aussies will prevent them from getting the Gold. Magnussen went 47 flat and he was not 100%! Lets be a bit realistic folks.
I agree, we must not forget about the french.
Last year they were only 0.14 seconds behind the Aussies, and that was with Bernard swimming 48.75!!
Had they swum Agnel instead of Bernard, they would have won it.
and now Agnel is even a lot faster than last year.
Unlike the previous years, I feel this time the french is actually underrated.
…I’ve heard from a several elite US swimmers and coaches that they are eyeballing the French team as well. They certainly have a lot to prove after Lezak’s peformance in 08.
This may not be a popular opinion, but I think Yannick Agnel may be better than Nathan Adrian this summer. I say this in light of his recent performance in Canet- 49.0//145.2.
He was a full second off his best in the 100free, yet only 0.8 off in the 200free. Obviously the world doesn’t work perfectly, but it is difficult to see Agnel not being AT LEAST a full second better than 145.2 when he is fully tapered. What this suggests to me is that Agnel has improved his second half speed as the (48.0/<144.2) combination is faster than the (48.0, 144.4) he showed at French Nationals. Based on this, I think its quite possible that Agnel is going to… Read more »
Exactly Mel , with a tapered Feigen , Berens , Adrian + Phelps and maybe Lochte …Us has a potential great 400 free relay . I beleive they can do something special again . With the olympic head coach of that quality , something great will be tuned up . Maybe a dave walters will show up in good shape as well , after he recovers from his injury . wishfull thinking all the way …
With a great Jimmy Feigen or a Ricky Berens on fire , all is possible here ! I predict a special new Us relay to be born , just to challenge the Aussies to their limits .
After Feigen’s 48 at the Austin Elite Invite, he could be 47+ with a good taper. Eddie Reese trains his men a little harder during the season than most coaches. Feigen should taper well. That would be a star-making swim for him….and Eddie’s been saying Feigen’s going to be a superstar for a long time. Omaha may be his moment.
I definitely see both of these guys in the mix for the top 6. The problem is that the guys that make spots 4-6 will be fully tapering for the US trials and will have to be at their bests to make just to make it. The question is can they hold that through the Olympics and perform at the same “best time” level again (or better) a few weeks later? I think adrenalin will take you so far but the Brazilians and Aussies will be full of adrenaline too! Folks are talking about pressure on the Missile but on the 4×100 relay the real pressure will be on the 3rd and 4th swimmers for the US.
Chris Clark….great point. Feigen (college swimmers/a lot of younger swimmers) will have 3 tapers, maybe even 4 tapers this year; conference, NCAAs, OTs and the OGs…if they make it. That’s a lot of up and down training.
I hope for Feigen’s sake that he wasn’t tapered for NCAAs, because his times were thoroughly unimpressive.
Aussie can break world record 400m free relay with Magnussen “missle”
It is highly unlikely that the men 4×100 WR will be broken in London. Not gonna happen.
I think there’s a shot… ASWIMFAN, I say they will. I’ll take that position. Let’s regroup after Trials on this and after the OGs to see who’s right…
To be under the WR, the Aussies need to swim the following splits:
Magnussen: 46.7
Robert 46.9
Sullivan: 47.3
Targett 47.3
Which, to be perfectly honest, is not outside the realm of the possibility. It’s insane to think how much of a better team they have than last year. Even the older guys seem to be swimming better and there is definitely less of a question mark over their consistency (I’m talking about Sullivan’s frail body here). Without a doubt, this is the most powerhouse 4x100free relay in recent memory
Ofcourse those splits could be adjusted.. add 0.1 to this guy, minus 0.1 from that guy.
I dont think they’ll break this WR, they would… Read more »
Hard to argue with your reasoning. 1 second or .5 from it? Got it. I’ll take the WR position at the OGs, knowing that US OTs is still a question mark…. the story evolves
I sort of agree with you. I think the winners of the men 4×100 free in London will be around one second of the WR.
Unless something dramatic happens in the next few weeks (ie. Magnussen pops his knee), my opinion of who’s going to win at the Olympics is unlikely to change until the US trials.
It is very nice to see that the Aussie time is not overly confident about their chances even though on paper, they currently sit almost a second faster than any other country. Both Targett and Magnussen have expressed sentiments suggesting that they see the US as the team to beat. Until the final touch, they seem to be working in that state of mind, which I think is probably what they need to do to maximize their chance of winning.
Although a lot of us feel that the… Read more »
john26,
i am with you.Aussie team is the clear favorite, but all depends of everyone bringing all together AT THE SAME TIME.
Just one guy underperform and BOOM!I dont know how good some of US young guys are in relays.There is always someone delivering an absurd time out of nowhere comparing with individual leg.
JOHN26, having OTs early in the year is a huge advantage for the Aussies! I do not understand why the US has them right before the OGs. My cynical side goes to the obvious answer that there must be some kind of financial advantage (though I don’t see how as having “official” Olympians for a longer period of time in an Olympic year would seem to be more profitable). Can anyone answer this for me? There could be a very simple answer.
Also — I think the Aussies have another big advantage being that their highest priority is the 4×100 relay. They will hang much of their success as an Olympic squad on a 4×100 win and Maggie’s potential win… Read more »
I think the primary motivation for having a late trials is to have the best team at the time. For the 2007 and 2011 Worlds, the team was chosen well in advance to let the chosen swimmers have at least another training cycle. In 2007, the US had a great meet and everybody liked it; in 2011, the improvement of young swimmers like Franklin and Pelton (and decline of some other swimmers) in certain events led to someone at the top saying “we’ll never do this again”. Imagine if we had our trials this past March: young/college swimmers like Feigen, Schmitt, Messerschmidt, Lia Neal, LaTourette, Beisel, and Leverenz probably wouldn’t be as fast as they will be this June because… Read more »
…that’s what I was looking for! Thanks, Chris. That’s a 360 explanation.