I’m going to presume Armstrong will anchor tomorrow based on Alexy anchoring this morning (I just cannot imagine Giuliano getting that spot).
FWIW: bowman trains every 200 stroke swimmer for the 400/500 freestyle. You may recall we talked about that a few months ago? Which is why he did the 500 at ncaa.
Leon looked tired, only 59.1. Let’s see what happens tonight though. The anchor for French’s medley this morning swam on my son’s club and lived a block over from me. He’s coming back to Texas to swim with Bob.
I don’t know about Armstrong anchoring, think it is a flip at this point. Looks like Murphy, Finke, Dressel and ??. Guys looked good with a horrible fly finish, so should be competitive in the final.
France is going to be out of its mind, and I would bet we see a 58 low from Marchand. I think even Peaty only swam a 59 too, that water is super slow in the relays with all the waves. But man, it could be a 4 or 5 way race to the last 50 really, so many good mens teams evenly matched. China and Australia will be up there as maybe a couple more.
The women were good too, and we will see lot of subs tonight to tighten it up and approach that olympic record. I dont think the US even swam 1 A final swimmer in the morning? Did Oz do the same?
50 free can be mailed to Sweden I would say, one of the pre race locks, especially since she won the 100 too, an event she almost didnt even enter.
And how about Tunisia in that 1500!! They lose the top guy in the world to who knows what??? And replace him with another guy that just keeps getting faster and faster, gonna be a great final. Gonna be hard to beat the Irish here though, guy is determined and on a roll.
So do we have Titmus giving Ledecky a race in that 800 this time around, was she playing possum? I mean she crushed her in the 400, but Ledecky has that diesel engine, so perhaps finally a race to the finish. Really wish Summer was in the one too, her preseason 8;11 was pretty remarkable, and that time alone will likely get a medal, never mind dropping just a couple seconds off of it…Oh well…
Pretty awesome day for Canada at 100 fly. Josh and Ilya with silver and bronze. Solid games for Ilya with two fly bronzes at 19. Milak gets redemption after being wr holder in 200 fly !!!
Add Summer’s 200IM to a solid day for team Canada . I thought the win was gone after the breast stroke leg. It looked like a not so great breast to free transition for Summer
SPOILER
Gutted for Dressel
A no-good, very-bad-day for America’s Caeleb Dressel. He didn’t make the podium in the 50 free final and now he hasn’t even made the final in the 100 fly. He won gold in both of those events in Tokyo just three years ago.
You say you’re gutted for Dressel. Well, the guy took almost a YEAR OFF from training so it is no wonder he does not have endurance he used to have. I am not gutted for him at all.
As for me, I am gutted for Alex Walsh, DQ’d by that stupid back to breast turn rule. Kristin Quance was DQ’d under that same effing rule back in the '96 Trials in the prelims of the 400 IM. She was the WR HOLDER in the 400 IM but there was no mercy, she was out. She still made the team in the 200 IM and managed a bronze but the 400 was her best event. I mean, it just makes no sense to keep a rule that even top swimmers, who’ve done that turn 1000s of times before, still slip up and violate. Just let them turn on their stomach, flip, and go out swimming breast. I don’t even understand the purpose of the rule.
SPOILER
Gutted for Dressel
A no-good, very-bad-day for America’s Caeleb Dressel. He didn’t make the podium in the 50 free final and now he hasn’t even made the final in the 100 fly. He won gold in both of those events in Tokyo just three years ago.
You say you’re gutted for Dressel. Well, the guy took almost a YEAR OFF from training so it is no wonder he does not have endurance he used to have. I am not gutted for him at all.
As for me, I am gutted for Alex Walsh, DQ’d by that stupid back to breast turn rule. Kristin Quance was DQ’d under that same effing rule back in the '96 Trials in the prelims of the 400 IM. She was the WR HOLDER in the 400 IM but there was no mercy, she was out. She still made the team in the 200 IM and managed a bronze but the 400 was her best event. I mean, it just makes no sense to keep a rule that even top swimmers, who’ve done that turn 1000s of times before, still slip up and violate. Just let them turn on their stomach, flip, and go out swimming breast. I don’t even understand the purpose of the rule.
Oh wow. I was watching soccer (Canada vs Germany) and they had a screen open up to show the 200IM and they changed the audio over to the swim and then shortly after it was done over to the audio for soccer, so did not even realize that Alex Walsh was DQ’d. That is a real bummer at that level (having been DQ’d on fly to back due to assymmetrical 2 hand touch and back to breast for too many screw ups at a much much lower level)
McEvoy puts it down to finally turning a “gut feel” into a legitimate thesis that has seen him drop his weekly training distance to just 3km from what was once 70km as a 13-year-old.
3k per week for an Olympic gold. Yes, that is correct.
Gary Hall Jr probably wasn’t doing much more than that at times when he was at peak form.
SPOILER
Gutted for Dressel
A no-good, very-bad-day for America’s Caeleb Dressel. He didn’t make the podium in the 50 free final and now he hasn’t even made the final in the 100 fly. He won gold in both of those events in Tokyo just three years ago.
You say you’re gutted for Dressel. Well, the guy took almost a YEAR OFF from training so it is no wonder he does not have endurance he used to have. I am not gutted for him at all.
As for me, I am gutted for Alex Walsh, DQ’d by that stupid back to breast turn rule. Kristin Quance was DQ’d under that same effing rule back in the '96 Trials in the prelims of the 400 IM. She was the WR HOLDER in the 400 IM but there was no mercy, she was out. She still made the team in the 200 IM and managed a bronze but the 400 was her best event. I mean, it just makes no sense to keep a rule that even top swimmers, who’ve done that turn 1000s of times before, still slip up and violate. Just let them turn on their stomach, flip, and go out swimming breast. I don’t even understand the purpose of the rule.
Oh wow. I was watching soccer (Canada vs Germany) and they had a screen open up to show the 200IM and they changed the audio over to the swim and then shortly after it was done over to the audio for soccer, so did not even realize that Alex Walsh was DQ’d. That is a real bummer at that level (having been DQ’d on fly to back due to asymmetrical 2 hand touch and back to breast for too many screw ups at a much much lower level)
Ya, they even said on Swimswam that the replay clearly showed that she turned over on her stomach before her hand hit the wall. As I said before, I think they should change to be more like the backstroke turn rule except that obv you come out on your stomach for breast. Well, Alex can tell her story and it was clear that she finished 3rd, DQ or not. So in two Olys, she has in my mind a 2nd and a third. (She won the silver in the 200 IM in 2021.)
You may be the only other STer who cares about the IM events.
Hey I care about IM swims, think a few others here too appreciate the hardest, and most technical of swimming events…(-;
How about that mixed relay? So many head fakes from the morning swims, but one thing consistent was you swim a woman last. Even if you have the world record holder in the mens, who by the way just crushed everyone by a second+. So Dressel gets another gold medal, that’s nice, along with the other 3 who got them there…Havent seen any splits as of yet, but must have been pretty good to get a rare WR at this games.
And I can’t believe so many here gave up on Ledecky after seeing that 1500 swim where she averaged 1;02’s flat the entire way. Lets just say the 800 is waaaay close to that 1500 than it is to the 400. But dam she muscles her stroke compared to all the other ladies. She reminds me of an old world Tri champion Spencer Smith. Dude swam like a rock plowing through the water, but could just hammer the same pace 100 after 100. But like I said before, think Summer may one day do that event serious, think she will inherit it and be the next to break that our of this world WR…
Ya great day for Canada for sure, love that they have folks in every event in just about every final, mens and womens. The start of a dynasty??
So your proposed rule change would be back stroke to just before wall, turn onto stomach, no touch of wall with hand and then exit flip turn spining onto stomach then the regular breast stroke pull out? That would be ideal and no one gets DQ’d and its just a natural transition.
i just watched the 100 fly finals replay. Just wow on Josh. He was insane off the wall. Milak was a cool cucumber. I’ve enjoyed the 100 fly finals since Seoul 1988. That’s when Anthony Nesty beat out Biondi and Gross (I was just swimming for tri then, had no clue about all this).
Now he is US team head coach and Josh’s coach at Florida
Hey I care about IM swims, think a few others here too appreciate the hardest, and most technical of swimming events…(-;
How about that mixed relay? So many head fakes from the morning swims, but one thing consistent was you swim a woman last. Even if you have the world record holder in the mens, who by the way just crushed everyone by a second+. So Dressel gets another gold medal, that’s nice, along with the other 3 who got them there…Havent seen any splits as of yet, but must have been pretty good to get a rare WR at this games.
And I can’t believe so many here gave up on Ledecky after seeing that 1500 swim where she averaged 1;02’s flat the entire way. Lets just say the 800 is waaaay close to that 1500 than it is to the 400. But dam she muscles her stroke compared to all the other ladies. She reminds me of an old world Tri champion Spencer Smith. Dude swam like a rock plowing through the water, but could just hammer the same pace 100 after 100. But like I said before, think Summer may one day do that event serious, think she will inherit it and be the next to break that our of this world WR…
Ya great day for Canada for sure, love that they have folks in every event in just about every final, mens and womens. The start of a dynasty??
I remember Spencer!!! I had a Coke with him after a race in FL back around '94, the year after he won the ITU Oly dist champs, which was (as you know) back in the old non-drafting days. He was a nice guy, not at all stuck up.
So your proposed rule change would be back stroke to just before wall, turn onto stomach, no touch of wall with hand and then exit flip turn spinning onto stomach then the regular breast stroke pull out? That would be ideal and no one gets DQ’d and its just a natural transition.
i just watched the 100 fly finals replay. Just wow on Josh. He was insane off the wall. Milak was a cool cucumber. I’ve enjoyed the 100 fly finals since Seoul 1988. That’s when Anthony Nesty beat out Biondi and Gross (I was just swimming for tri then, had no clue about all this).
Now he is US team head coach and Josh’s coach at Florida
Exactly, it would be a very natural back to breast turn. I do this turn myself in my workouts in anticipation of a future rule change. With the current rule, I think they are trying to preserve the “old tradition” that you have to touch with your hand at the end of the back leg before you can flip for breast but, given that you no longer have to touch with your hand in backstroke events (which you did have to do back 30 or so yrs ago before they changed the rules), why do we need this archaic rule??? No reason at all.
I guess in theory at the end of 100 back you finish the race touching wall with hand so the archaic rule may just be you are finishing a legal 100back event and then starting the 100 breast with an wall push off start that you do starting every length of breast that is not started from a dive
.
With the current rule, I think they are trying to preserve the “old tradition” that you have to touch with your hand at the end of the back leg before you can flip for breast but, given that you no longer have to touch with your hand in backstroke events (which you did have to do back 30 or so yrs ago before they changed the rules), why do we need this archaic rule??? No reason at all.