hiro11 wrote:
I think many members of the US team tapered for nationals and missed their peak at this meet. The majority of times are slower. Kathleen Baker, Alison Schmitt, Jay Litherland, the butterflyers etc, etc... all are looking overcooked.
Also, WTF is up with the relays?
- Schmitt went a 1:58.6 lead-off in the 4x2 final. That's frankly a catastrophic swim for her, is she sick or something? There were at least three US swimmers in the stands who could beat that time by 1.5+ seconds.
- Dressel leads off with a 48.8 in the 4x1? WTF? He had a (self-proclaimed) terrible swim at Nats and still turned in a 48.5. His free has looked bad all summer.
- they ran the wrong swimmers in the mixed medley. Absolutely stupid selection.
-
the fiasco of swimming the wrong order in the men's 4x1. That hasn't happened in a major competition for any team in over a decade. Inexcusable. As has been beaten to death in a prior thread, I think this all goes back to the weird-ass selection criteria for 2019 worlds. Lastly, I feel terrible for Ella Eastin. Has a breakthrough season and then comes down with mono at exactly the wrong moment. She just missed qualification for worlds.
Overall, this is far from the (almost) unqualified disaster of 2015 Kazan, but let's hope the US team looks a bit sharper next year.
The whole wrong order thing just kind of defies comprehension; i hope we'll hear some semi-decent explanation of this in the next few days. Agree 100% that the selection criteria are just bizarre, as after every final swimswam has to adjudicate on who Q'd for Worlds and who did not. Way too complicated. :)
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."