Missy Franklin kicked off the final night of competition at the Mel Zajac International with a win in the 100m back giving her a sweep of the backstroke events. Franklin’s time of 1:00.97 was good enough to take down both of her training partners: Rachel Bootsma and Elizabeth Pelton from Cal who finished second and third behind her. Rounding out fourth through sixth were some of Canada’s best backstrokers. Brooklynn Snodgrass swam a 1:02.19 to finish fourth behind the Cal girls followed by Dominique Bouchard and Genevieve Cantin. The Cal girls have showed a complete domination at this meet by going 1-2-3 in that order in every single backstroke event.
On the mens side there was also a backstroke sweep, this time at the hands of Russell Wood. Wood rocketed to a 56.68 tonight to finish over a second ahead of runner-up Markus Thormeyer who got his hand on the wall in 57.70. Sneaking in for the bronze was UBC’s Coleman Allen who touched in at 58.36.
With the warm-down pool at the competition currently unavailable, Missy Franklin had a quick turn around from the 100m backstroke final to the 100m freestyle final considering that she couldn’t warm down. Franklin was still able to turn on the heat however and trumped PPO’s Victoria Poon 55.71 to 55.93. Sandrine Mainville rounded out the top three with a swift 56.12.
Geoff Cheah from Club Wolverine who’s been having a fantastic meet up in Canada tallied up another win tonight after churning in a 50.54 to win the mens 100m freestyle final. Top qualifier Stefan Milosevic was unable to catch Cheah after the 50m mark despite making up some distance on him. Milosevic had to settle for silver in 50.80.
In the womens 50m breaststroke final Marie-Solei Jean-Lapachelle took down Tera Van Beilen who’s been on fire this meet in the breaststroke events en route to a big win. Jean-Lapachelle swam a 32.18 for the win. Rebecca Terejko picked up the silver, and Van Beilen had to settle for the bronze.
Richard Funk was able to come away with the breaststroke sweep after winning the 50m breaststroke tonight in 28.55. Funk has truly seperated himself from the rest of the field this competition showing no mercy for competitors by absolutely tearing up his races. Last night, Funk won the 200m breaststroke by over five seconds.
Noemie Thomas has been on a roll this weekend taking down her two rivals Katerine Savard and Audrey Lacroix in both the 50 and 100 flys. Tonight, Thomas wasn’t able to produce another stunner as fly veteran Lacroix stole the show with a 2:09.80. That time was just under a second slower than the time she posted at Canadian trials a few weeks back. Savard ended up coming in second, Thomas third.
Mack Darragh took home a win for the Oakville Aquatic Club in the mens 200m fly racketing up a 2:01.80. Thomas Jobin finished way back in second lace with a 2:03.98 followed by Darragh’s teammate Evan White in 2:04.05. White has been truly incredible this season with his slaughter of age group records and expansion of his event repertoire.
Missy Franklin picked up her third and final gold of the night as the University of California girls threw together a winning 4x100m medley relay. The team of Elizabeth Pelton, Caitilin Leverenz, Farida Osman, and Franklin put together a 4:10.58 to beat the UBC Dolphins team by over five seconds.
The UBC Dolphins won the mens 4x100m medley relay in 3:52.20.
For full meet results click here.
I LOVE SWIMMING
dont get me wrong.phelps was really good at the 100 fly but was simply unbeatable in the 200 fly.
i agree that height is important for freestylers but is not everything. i think the sprints,that is the 50 meters and 100 meters freestyle,butterfly,backstroke and breaststroke is more about speed and turns than technique.there are swimmers who are pretty good on certain strokes in the sprints but are not too good in the 200 meters. i dont think it,s just about training for certain events. i dont think missy franklin will ever be a sub 53 100 meters freestyler bcos she doesn,t seem to have raw freestyle speed. i think she is a better backstroker than freestyler.what i mean is that it will be easier for her to be beaten at the 200 meters freestyle than at the 100 and… Read more »
there,s some difference between someone who,s 5,10 and 6,1. a 3 inch difference is not small. height is quite important for freestylers and it,s especially so for the 100 and 200 meters freestyle but there are tall swimmers who are not too good at the 100 meters freestyle.yannick agnel is 6,8 and sun yang is 6,6.both of them are good in the 200 free but average in the 100 free.matheus santana is 6,3 and is better than both agnel and sun yang in the 100 free despite the fact that he,s shorter than the both of them. bronte campbell( cate,s younger sister) is just 5,10 but she,s faster than missy franklin who,s 6,1 at the 100 freestyle.
As I said in the above, being tall is not everything (technique and fitness are paramount), but it is definitely an asset.
Sun Yang is slower than Santana because Yang specifically trains for the distance.
Same goes with Agnel. In 2011 when he was still training for 400, his 100 was not fast, but in 2012 when his training was geared for 100-200 with emphasize on 200, he swam 47.
As for Bronte and Missy, well Bronte only trains for the sprints, while Missy trains for the backs and 100-200 free. Who’s to say Missy won’t be faster if she only trains for 50-100 free?
Also, maybe there’s possibility that in 100 free Bronte has better technique?
… Read more »
aswimfan missy franklin is 6,1 not 6,2. There have been a lot of elite tall swimmers who haven,t won anything in the sprints.sun yang is 6,6 and yet he,s not good in the sprints.ranomi kromowidjojo is 5,10 and she has beaten cate campbell in the sprints.libby tricket was only 5,6 and she became the first woman in history to go sub 53 seconds in the 100 free.
There’s little difference between 5’10” and 6’1″, I was making a point between 5’5″ and 6’2″ or 6’1″ (Missy’s height).
In fact, since Barbara Krause in 1978, all 100 m free world record holders have been 5’10” or taller with the exception of Jodie Henry (5’9.5″) and Trickett.
Since Krause, there have been seven world record holders in the 100m freestyle: Otto, Thompson, Le, De Bruijn, Lenton, Henry, and Steffen. If two of those were under 5’10, that’s nearly 30 percent, which is not an insignificant number. Speaking of Krause, who was her biggest rival? The diminutive Sippy Woodhead, who stood all of 5’5 and was world ranked #1 in the 100, 200, 400, and 800 freestyles entering the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics.
It should also be noted that Natalie Coughlin, who is tied with Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for most decorated US female Olympian of all-time with 12 medals, is only 5’8. With a best time of 53.3 from a flat start and a slew… Read more »
Barbara Krause was 5’11”, so why not include her too?
So the short one is Trickett (Henry was almost 5’10”), so that’s one out of 8, which is 12.5%, nowhere nearly 30%.
As I said, for one trickett, there were dozens of tall sprinters. FYI, in the women 100 free final in Barcelona, no one was shorter than 5’10”. There bounds to be one or two really great and not very tall sprinter like Trickett, but they are exception to the rule, and Trickett was great despite her height.
bigness and muscles isn,t everything in sports,maybe it,s an american thing bcos we americans think bigger is better.the rate of obesity here in the US is legendary.kosuke hagino is 5,9 and yet he outswims bigger guys in the individual medleys.his backstroke times are good too.i always thought the freestyles were for taller guys but hagino,s 200 and 400 freestyle times are pretty good. 1.45 in the 200 and 3.44 in the 400,not too shaby.
Of course being tall is not everything (technique and fitness are paramount), but it is an asset.
Do you really think Missy would have been as fast as she is now if she were 5’5″ instead of 6’2″?
Or that Cate Campbell would have swum 52.3 were she as tall (or rather, as short) as her sister Bronte?
Libby Trickett (Lenton) is 5’6 and it didn’t seem to hurt her ability to sprint.
For one Trickett, there are dozens of Sjoetroms, Torres, Thompsons, Campbells, Steffens, De Bruijns, Alshammars, Ottos, JIng yis, Van Almsicks, Kromowidjojos, etc etc.all of whom are at least 5’10” or taller.
Don’t want to be the one, who brings that news, but magic was in air, Altitude in Colorado ,she should be 1sec off on 100s this summer and 2sec on 200s. even she in great program right now.
I saw her swims on the last night at the Zajac and she looked tired. That said, everybody did, especially the university / college athletes.
This is a tough time of year for those athletes. Studying for finals, finals themselves, moving out of residence and going home plus heavy training… Not ideal circumstances for fast swimming. Plus, as noted other people posting here, there was no warm down pool.
Her 100 free was very impressive, I thought. Out in 27.3 and back in 27.8. She crushed the other girls on the way back.
On another note, Missy is a big girl! She looks bigger than 6’1″ and she’s very muscular for a woman of her size. And… Read more »