ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES AT MESA
- Thursday, April 14 – Saturday, April 16, 2016
- Skyline Aquatic Center
- Mesa, Arizona (same as Pacific Daylight Time, GMT -7 hours)
- Prelims 9AM / Finals 5PM (12PM/8PM Eastern Daylight Time)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Stream
- Live Results
- Meet Central
- Friday Finals Program
There was only one major ‘new’ scratch, ignoring swimmers who are clearly not present at the meet, for the final day of the 2016 Arena Pro Swim Series meet in Mesa, Arizona.
American Missy Franklin has scratched out of the 200 backstroke, an event in which she’s the World Record holder in long course meters, leaving the defending World Championships bronze medalist Katinka Hosszu, Maya DiRado, and Lisa Bratton as the top three seeds.
That leaves a #2 seed in the 100 free as Franklin’s only entry on the final day of a meet that has been a step-back for her after encouraging results in Orlando in February. Franklin was only 5th in the 100 back in 1:01.28, and swam in the B-Final of the 200 free in 1:58.64.
She’ll face an unexpected competitor in that 100 free. In a move we don’t usually see, the Hungarian Hosszu has been added to the 100 free as the 3rd seed behind Simone Manuel and Franklin. Hosszu scratched the 200 free earlier in the meet, and now has three day 3 morning swims: the 200 IM, the 200 back, and the 100 free.
It was quite obvious something was wrong with missy. She had swam a lot better in the few previous meets in the winter so it was strange to see her struggle here. Hopefully it was just an illness and she isn’t suffering from an injury. With a little over two months from the trials this would be a very bad time to suffer an injury and not being able to train properly
Looking forward to seeing Missy Franklin in Rio.
I love Missy Franklin’s energy and spirit, but am having serious doubts about her ability to qualify for the Olympic team beyond maybe a spot in the 4×200 relay. At this point, medaling in any individual event is looking rather improbable. She’s such a great ambassador for the sport, I hope I’m wrong.
She went a 2:08 a month ago. She is probably actually sick. It happens to the best of us. Don’t think it is time to retire just yet.
Sick? She practices 2 hours practices 12 times a week plus conditioning. She is training for the Olympics and she is really tired right now. Give her some credit. She’ll go fast when she needs to go fast.
Is it some sort of character flaw to be sick? Or a put down to speculate she might be? She said she wasn’t feeling 100% in her tweet. I took that to mean she wasn’t feeling well, hence possibly sick. I thought my post showed my faith that she will be swimming just fine when it counts. Your post to me really makes no sense
Maybe, just maybe, she no longer has it in that event or in any event and should retire , or her back injury suffered at Cal was worse than everyone thought. It is tough to watch a once great swimmer fall on such hard time.
How bout we hold off on this kind of rhetoric until after trials at the very least.
Hosszu and DiRado swim the 200 IM just before.
I know that Hosszu is a beast but maybe Kaitlin Harty could benefit from that to win the race. I pick her for a top 5 at trials.
Not happy.
But on the other hand Missy would have finished 3rd or 4th and I hate watching her lose in that event, her baby event.
I’m confident she’ll deliver when it counts.
In Todd Schmitz we trust!
Bobo, I am loving your new motto “In Todd Schmitz we trust!”.
Talking about Backstroke and Freestyle being loaded, 200 Im is another loaded field on the women’s side.