After the prelim session at the 2010 Pan Pacs, we have already seen the huge effects of a special Pan-Pacs rule that allows a country to enter as many swimmers as it wants (within its roster limit) into each event, but allows only 2 swimmers from each country to advance to the final.
The first huge blow to the Americans came in the form of Dana Vollmer, who many (including me) expected to win the 200 free. As the third-placing American–despite being the third best overall time–however, she was left out of the A-final and will have to prove herself from the B-final tonight.
A similar situation happened to Aaron Peirsol–and Nick Thoman for that matter–who finished 4th and 5th in the men’s 100 back, but were left out of the A-final thanks to awesome swims from David Plummer (top seed, 53.33) who proved that Nationals weren’t a fluke, and Ryan Lochte (2nd seed, 53.88).
Peirsol was saved this time, however, as SwimmingWorld has reported via its twitter feed that Ryan Lochte is going to scratch the 100 back. The move makes sense, as Lochte can now focus on the 200 free, an event he is much more likely to challenge for a world-best time in. Now Peirsol, the World Record holder in this event, will have a chance to make up for a lackluster preliminary performance in the A-final.
Thoman, Vollmer, and a handful of others who were victimized by this rule will still have a chance to put up World Championship qualifying times in the B-final.
For Full results from the Day 1 morning session, check out omegatiming.com. As results and lineups for tonight’s finals become official, they will be posted there under “Start Lists” under the evening session.
Not a clue, haven’t heard anything. I had a feeling that she wasn’t going to show up, which is part of the reason that I didn’t pick her.
Thanks for the updates Braden. What happened to Liu in the women’s 200 fly?