It's tough.

Can't count Phelps out, but his last 25 hasn't been looking good at Trials or in Rio. Hard to bet against the guy.

Sentimental favourite is Seto.

Le Clos is gonna be tough.

and where the hell did Kenderesi come from. He wasn't on anyone's radar. Through heats and semi's he looks the best, but I think Seto has more in the tank, so does Le Clos (won't be tired) and Phelps has a way of stepping up.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Phelps.....cause.......'Murica!

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Watching the semis last night it seemed like Phelps made his statement dominating the first 150 meters and then packed it in a bit the last 50.

Le Clos looked like he was just doing enough to advance having raced a hard final earlier in the night. He was also very clearly trying to get in to Phelps' head. I don't personally know Phelps but the look on his face tells me "Don't poke the bear."

My prediction is that Phelps buries Le Clos tonight to take gold.

Phelps
Ceh
Le Clos

Le Clos sets a world record if he stops looking around in the middle of the race ;-)

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Le Clos poked the tiger with all his bs in the ready room yesterday. Phelps did what he needed last night, lookout tonight. Phelps/Cseh/LeClos

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Also very possible, I didn't even know people did that while racing the fly.

I was joking, of course.... Le Clos will never stop looking around in the middle of his race..

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I am pretty sure he increases his frontal area while turning his head sideways so he should also probably run a disc and he would do much better....wait......wrong sport. Are we still under the swimming-talk ban?

Same training squad as Cseh....

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

X2 -

Phelps
I think he was motivated for the 200 fly coming after the 2012 loss. Now after last night I think he wants to lay a smack down.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

The way Phelps swam in the 4x100 and also the way LeClos bolted out in the 200m free, I am not better against anyway, but in all the hype in between those two, can one of the Hungarians squeek in for the silver and relegate one of those guys to bronze? This is going to be a great final tonite. I am biased and have a soft spot towards South African athletes. Real bummer than LeClos could not put Sun Yang away in the 200 free finals.

Everyone seems to think Phelps has been "tired" on the last 50. I think he's just done what he had to do and has been purposely taking it easy. He knows this is his last rodeo. You can be damn sure he's going to give it everything tonight.

i think he's too competitive to "pack it in" intentionally when he's leading with <50m to go, semifinal or not. i think he was getting tired. however, i do think that if gold had been on the line, he might have found a bit more in the tank.

that said...while i'd love for him to win, i don't think it's gonna happen this time.

1. cseh
2. phelps
3. le clos

Didn't look like he eased up. He was tired. It looked the same at trials

However, today is a different day. I wouldn't bet against him, but for some reason I just like Le Clos. Le Clos isn't supposed to be a great freestyler, but he came away with a silver, even racing it "wrong".

I dunno who wins, but my prediction is 1st to 4th are separated by under 1 second..

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

He's not packing it in, he's trying not burn too many matches for lack of a better term. He also shut it down in London in prelims at times

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

So one data point could be a comparison of the times swam at last years WC in Russia (MP was serving a 6 month ban for the DUI and therefore did not attend... which was kind of BS... but I digress) and his times at the US Nats in San Antonio held at roughly the same time (August) where he had over half a second on Cseh's winning time. Given how focused his preparation has been since and what we saw in the relay.. so long as he and Bowman have nailed his taper, which we would hope they have after all these years of doing this... I am going to back MP for the gold tonight, followed by Cseh (S) and Le Clos (B) to round out podium.

i knew what was meant, regardless of the term used. i just disagreed. agree to disagree, and i hope i'm wrong :)

I'm rooting for the clean one. Which one is that?

Well the "clean" one raced for China in the 200 free and got gold last night....fortunately he is not in this race. <Pink font>

They're all clean. Can't help but be clean if you're in the pool all day...

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

who cares. It is guaranteed to be epic unless the announcers get in the way.

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Such a Bad Runner

I hope you're right but I am skeptical. Especially when you retire for 2 years and then unretire. Something tells me they don't test you after you retire.

I love that Cseh says "screw swim caps". It's hard to see anything else going on in the race when you are distracted by this shiny globe floating along the top of the water.