I wish her luck but it’s doubtful. If she’s at a 4:22 in a 400 free right now she’s still light-years away from what it will take to earn a spot on the team. In 2008 it took a 4:12 to make the finals at trials and even without the plastic suits I’ll bet it will be about the same this year.
For sprinters, like Dara Torres, it’s easier to be competitive at 40+. You just need to be fit, splash around for a few months and you’re good. Speed is something you just have (or not) and it doesn’t require the same training as a distance swimmer.
Not even a chance
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wow. I just watched the video of her swimming in June
http://www.youtube.com/...&feature=related
I know everyone always talks about how bad her stroke is (above water)…but oh man that’s painful to watch.
I’m somewhat used to seeing people swim like that at masters, but they’d be swimming well over a 16 minute 800…and it would be yards.
Her 4:22 was from back in August, we’ll really see where she’s at this weekend at the Austin Grand Prix meet. Her current times are all from Master’s meets (not nearly the level of competition she will see this weekend). She’s had a lot of training since then. Her splits were pretty even from what I remember in August, looking at her times in the 800 & 400 she was pretty much spot on in the time slower than record, I think she was 12 secs off the 400 and 24 off the 800, but it all comes down to Trials in July. She will probably hit the trials cuts this weekend.
The magic numbers for this weekend are 4:19.39 and 8:50.49. (The Olympic Trials standards for the 400M free/800M free) Make them, and she’s got a very outside shot in the 800 free, though I don’t think she’ll have the speed to get past Hoff and Schmidt in the 400 in any case.
If she doesn’t make them here and has to go standards-chasing, then she’s toast long before Omaha because it’ll screw with the training schedule too much for peak performance.
Is there anyway to change the name on that video…then repost and ask Darkspeedworks and a few others…“critique my stroke”…Would be kind of funny to hear the responses
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Look carefully and notice how clean her hand entry is.
Then watch her underwater pull…beautiful! Totally awesome.
The kids you see swim like that in the age group ranks although not many are fast. They obviously are doing the right things at the right times. It’s like watching Jim Furyk swing a golf club, it’s not pretty but its in the right position at the right time and really that is all that matters. You can’t teach that it’s just they way she swims, and he swings.
Not a chance? She will swim in the mid 8.30’s this weekend. More than a chance after that.
Evans is an elite athlete. Therefore, it is forbidden to discuss her training or performance potential. Kindly delete the thread. Thank you.
I have no idea what her training has been recently, so I can’t prognosticate where she’ll finish. That training is a huge variable. That said however, I believe some of you are undervaluing a champions abilitiy to win. Winners at the Janet Evans level have not only physical capabilities that “normal” people (like me) can’t comprehend, but they have also honed the mental skills to win.
It is my experience that sprint speed is the first to go as we age, the endurance not-so-much. Now I understand that a 400 free and/or 800 aren’t exactly “endurance” events but they aren’t in the same relm as a sprint of 100m either.
All the above is to say that as an “old” guy I’m rooting for Janet and believe that she might just suprise a few kids. She KNOWS how to win - and, that’s worth something.
They never built a statue of a critic!
Happy new year ST studs,
keith
Looks like she didn’t swim the 400 at Austin, she’s more of an 800 /1500 specialist anyway. No 1500 for the women in the Olympics 
She will be swimming the 800 on Sunday morning.
Results here: http://www.utexas.edu/longhornaquatics/results/index.htm
The magic numbers for this weekend are 4:19.39 and 8:50.49. (The Olympic Trials standards for the 400M free/800M free) Make them, and she’s got a very outside shot in the 800 free, though I don’t think she’ll have the speed to get past Hoff and Schmidt in the 400 in any case.
If she doesn’t make them here and has to go standards-chasing, then she’s toast long before Omaha because it’ll screw with the training schedule too much for peak performance.
She just swam 4:17 for the 400 free. Go Janet!
I just looked at the link for the meet and can’t find her in the prelims.
What gives?
The meet is a split prelims format- ‘A prelims’ are the first 7 heats of 100s/200s and first 4 heats of 400 and longer. ‘B Prelims’ are all other qualifiers. The idea is to not make all athletes be there all day long because of some pretty huge field sizes. (Example- there were 220+ entries in the women’s 100M free.)
Unfortunately, the HyTek system isn’t showing the results from the B Prelims sessions, so neither Evans nor Anthony Ervin, international man of mystery, is easy to find on the results sheets just yet- you pretty much have to wait for the Finals heat sheets to be posted to really learn who’s in.
ESPN.com’s Q&A with Janet Evans
Q: You’re swimming at a weight that’s a lot closer to your teenage weight than your 1996 weight.
A: I’m higher in the water, and most importantly, my stroke is driven by my tempo, and when I’m heavier, I can’t get my tempo going. That was one of Mark’s big things, he said, “I always wanted to coach you at your fighting weight,” which was like 100. Right now, I’m about 108. I was about 112 when this started. … It’s kind of fun to be so fit, that’s the best part of it. My strength-to-weight ratio is really good. I feel really strong. I recover better when my weight’s good. My tempo’s really good in practice. Because my weight’s down, I can spend a little more time on literally being in the weight room or swim a little more, something I wasn’t able to do toward end of my career.
At the end of her heat, the announcer said she was in 14th place. I don’t think her time was beat by any of the other B prelim swimmers, so it looks like she will be back for the consol finals. Can’t wait to see her 800!
They’re currently merging the B Prelims into the Hy-Tek results, and the Ervin comeback bandwagon (vintage VW van with dancing bear and Phish bumper stickers) is now preparing for departure. Other results should follow shortly.
1 Louw, Gideon A 24 Auburn Aquatics- 48.74 49.21
2 Berens, Ricky C 23 Trojan-CA 48.94 49.73
3 Adrian, Nathan G 23 California Aquat 48.05 49.75
4 Grevers, Matt C 26 Ford Aquatics-AZ 49.22 49.89
5 Walters, David W 24 Trojan-CA 49.67 49.95
6 Ervin, Anthony L 30 Una Cal-PC 42.65Y 50.04
7 Burnett, Simon A 28 Ford Aquatics-AZ 48.54 50.14
8 Bousquet, Frederick T 30 Auburn Aquatics- 49.34 50.15
He’s a second+ faster what Thorpe went earlier today in the 100 free.
This is fantastic to see. I am no expert but if she really wants it and considering she is coming from the ability to do 8:16 for 800 in the past I really don’t see why she could not get back to 8:40? 8:35? 8:30?
We should start guessing what her time on Sunday for the 800 will be.
She has gone from 4:03 in 88 to 4:23 in June 2011 to 4:17 in the 400m
She did 8:59 in June and I will guess she will do 8:45 on Sunday.
guess you were wrong, huh?