Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Hannah Hecht.
MEN’S 200 FREE – FINALS
- Townley Haas, NOVA: 1:47.86
- Clark Smith, Texas: 1:47.97
- Clay Youngquist, Longhorn Aquatics: 1:48.48
Defending NCAA champion and 2016 breakout swimmer Townley Haas (who appears to be representing NOVA over the summer instead of the University of Texas) blasted his fastest long course time this season, swimming 1:47.86 to cut nearly half a second from his previous season best 1:48.35 from Mesa.
Second went to Haas’s Texas teammate Clark Smith, who is also coming off an NCAA championship (his in the 500), in 1:47.97.
Another Texas swimmer, albeit a post-grad, Clay Youngquist rounded out the top three, outswimming Michael Phelps for the bronze.
Phelps, meanwhile, took fourth in 1:48.73. Earlier this week, Phelps told Sports Illustrated that he wanted to swim fast enough this weekend to forgo the need to swim the 200 at Trials and still make the 800 relay squad, but he definitely didn’t make that mark tonight.
Nation’s Capital’s Jack Conger finished fifth in 1:49.54, followed by North Baltimore’s David Nolan in 1:50.36.
Phelps always wants to win. By the numbers, he had a very solid meet in Austin. His progression 2014 to ’15 to June ’16 is on point…. I think it’s frustrating for him, because he always has to do this dance explaining his training in-season. Phelps and Coach Bowman do one thing and they do it flawlessly…they taper twice, once for Trials and once for the big show, and Phelps always swims fast when it counts…… While Olympic Trials (or World Trials) are big event for us, swimNERDS, major media (and history) rarely remember the Trials meets. They remember who won medals in July/August at Worlds, Pan Pacs, the Olympic Games.
Mel, you’re getting off message. There is something else we need to remember. We’re supposed to doubt Phelps. Predict his defeat and demise. We know from experience this is what fuels his best performances. None of this logical historical context and grounded optimism. That’s not what we need. Be a team player!
Everyone is overlooking his 100 fly… 51.6 is a really good swim, even if you don’t consider how everyone is saying he didn’t put together a great swim (bad turn, slow going out, long on the finish). the 100 free wasn’t great, but wasn’t bad. Hopefully his free will round out by OT’s. But his fly and IM have been good all season.
I agree. MP’s 100 fly was pretty good, especially the back half. The time was also very solid. Schooling looks very quick, and I suspect his heavy workload made him feel, tight at the end. It’s going to be an incredible race in Rio, and Schooling is right in the middle of,the hunt for Medals.
Not only did Phelps finish behind these three in the 200, he also went slower than Dressel did at Knoxville. If he wants on the 4×200 relay, looks like he’s going to have to swim his way on at trials…..and I’m not sure he’s got the pop left to hold off the onslaught of young guns trying to unseat him.
Very Very mixed results over the weekend for Team USA…….Plumber great…..Franklin & Phelps and a few others not anywhere near the rest of the world.
u forget Adrian , Licon , Prenot , Murphy , Leah Smith , Schmitty , DiRado , Smoliga …. short sighted ? use new glasses lences , it helps a lot .
Oh sorry they swam too……didn’t do a lot..well American standards probably a fair bit.
u are being ridiculously sarcastic and lame – Sorry , u need glasses to watch swimming
Phelps is actually pretty close to everyone else in the world swimming at the moment and not on a taper. Le Clos swam a 51.58 100m fly.
Nice spot. Le Clos still swims 10km a day during Mare Nostrum. Like MP he is also nowhere near being tapered which will make for a great showdown in Rio. Schooling and Le Clos have already qualified for Rio so they have a slight advantage on team selection, and a big advantage on the age front. MP’s experience advantage has a lot to make up for. Cseh and Shields also fancy it. Somebody has to come 4th.
Phelps and Franklin don’t usually swim anywhere near their best unrested. But then I think you probably know that. Or at least I hope you do if you like to see yourself as an educated observer with even the slightest understanding of the sport.
I think the older you get the more reliant the body is on taper to swim fast. To me it looks like MP is a bit in the early taper “bubble” that happens to everyone. They just came down from altitude and his body now needs to adjust from a much higher workload than what he put into 2012 preparations. Rest is not the enemy. If anything, seeing him riding lower in the water and relying so much on his legs alone seems to indicate shades of some overtraining risks, if there is anything to pick on.
At his age and with his training base I am sure Bob will focus only on sharpening the details and isolating the… Read more »
Smoothswimmer, your immaturity and your stupidity are really pathetic to see. But it’s true you’ve got a great role model right now in America. Hopefully not all Americans are infected by the virus!
About MP, no reason to worry at all. He will deliver as always when it counts. With a big rest times will drop and he will swim a fast 200 free in prelims.
But messr Gigi, you ARE my role model.. you have such vast swimming expertise and are very generous in sharing it with the rest of us.
It pains me that you called me names… I don’t know if this kind of behavior is condoned at Swim Swam. I have done nothing but praise you since you converted me to your brand of swimming insights and theories!
By the way, what is this virus you said is infecting us? Is it Zika? Not sure I’ve heard many Zika cases here.. yet.
Smoothswimmer, did you not get enough love as a child? If you pursued someone like this IRL, we would call you a bully or a stalker. Simmer down.
LAZY OBSERVER, your post is nasty. Whatever Smoothswimmer has been doing, is no worse than what you are doing here.
I have no comment on any of the drama. No dog in this fight, but just wanted to point out that your use of the term “messr” is incorrect. “Messrs.” is used when referring to two or more men (“misters”).
I like this guy
Why, thank you mister!
BoBo GiGi is ok, very informed on swimming or know about current swimmers.I sometimes say odd things but I have Aspergers and only found out about that about 2 years ago.
Cynthia, I certainly concur! Messr. Gigi is more than just “very informed on swimming”.
Hope Bob has a good plan for MP to get him rested for OT in 3 weeks. Time is getting short. I agree with MP that it must be frustrating to swim slow this close in to Trials. Wish MP with best!!!! It seems when people are betting against Phelps, so who knows? Maybe Michael can surprise everyone by going 4 seconds faster in the 200 in 3 weeks. Would love to see him do a 1:46 at Trials. I think he will need to do a 1:46+ to safely make the top 6 because a lot of people are already at 1:47 and we are not even at Trials yet. Expect people to go faster at Trials. Breaking 1:47… Read more »
I repeat, if MP wants to win gold in Rio, he must NOT taper for the trials!
I hope Bob knows what he’s doing!
I can’t even handle your comments. I’m assuming/hoping that you’re just trying to troll at this point. If not, just know that I for one think that that notion is completely 100% ridiculous. A double taper is something that I have learned to master as a collegiate athlete, so i’m fairly certain that the greatest of all time could manage it.
I’m not trolling, I’m dead serious.
I’ve been converted by messr. Gigi’s highly persuasive arguments, and I trust his swimming knowledge is greater than all of us combined.
I too have been reading his very insightful comments, you know. I’ve been educated. and entertained.
u are trolling at this point and u are getting ridiculous – I feel u are not sincere in your words , its very obvious and devious . Up to you to take a new route … good luck
I am sorry, but how am I trolling?
I have been making positive comments, I have been praising messr Gigi left and right, and I even defended his strong stance on specific swimming issues!
why do you think that this “messr Gigi” knows anything about swimming? If he is just another commentator, it seems incredible ridiculous of you to assume that his swimming knowledge surpasses anybodys. People who know swimming are high level swimmers and coaches who have been around/in the sport for a long time.
I don’t see any high level swimmers or coaches writing any insightful comments/articles here. I have to make do with the most frequent and famous commentator who seem to have plenty of insights on competitive swimming. And that’s messr. Gigi. He also seem to be a nice guy, that is, until he started calling me names 🙁
That’s an interesting label for you to be throwing around Stephen given all of the chirping you’ve been doing.
I think SMOOTHSWIMMER is poking fun at BoBo again, but I could be wrong.
Well, you are wrong.
on the contrary, I revere messr. Gigi
this is hilarious
This is as hilarious as having to listen to Welcome to the Jungle at least once at every Pro Swim event.
A BoboGigi/SmoothSwimmer ticket would have higher approval ratings than the two current frontrunners
You kid, I hope. I am not worthy to be made as messr. Gigi’s partner .. in anything.
I would vote for BoboGigi/SmoothSwimmer ticket. Absolutely!
At least they are much better entertainment than the current candidates.
He’s still better off than he was in season last year and he should be able to drop 3-4 seconds in the 200 free at trials. Wasn’t he 1:57 in the 200 fly this time last year and was able to drop a good time in that after a taper.
He presumably had no rest coming off a tough training camp, so I’m not sure why he would be swimming any faster than he has in recent meets. He was happy with the work they accomplished so I’m still optimistic he’s right on track.
In the telecast on the longhorn network, Licon mentioned that Eddie rested them for a few days prior to this meet. i don’t know if that… Read more »
MP may feel differently as his training group seem to be swimming fast (Allison, Chase, Conor, Cierra) while he is not.
Looks like MP will need to swim the 200 free at trials, which is no bad thing. A meritocratic selection process is back in vogue, even though it never really went out of fashion in the US. He’s good enough to break 1:47, which should be enough.