Women’s 2BA and 8FR finals are on the same night, with the brutal 4IM the following (and last) day. After seeing her backstroke in the IM last night, you have to think the 2BA is on the table. I think the first night 4FR could be the race of the meet, hope KL has something special to be in the mix. Summer is the all-around best swimmer in the world LCM right now, it’s her stage. Hard-core swim fans want to see the 2FL go down as well.
If they’d get rid of semis we could truly see a special meet. I have no idea why prelim/final is not good enough. When WA (FINA) made that decision they put the best in a real bind for schedule-making.
I would agree in distance swimming, but from the 100 on down there is another best in the world who will likely win more medals than Summer with 50’s now added to the olympic schedule. To me it looks like the 200 back would be a harder race for her to win, the 800 she just has to beat Ledecky, who she just out swam this week by a hair. And she is so close to that WR I bet she can taste it, and it will be the clash of the titans from two generations. Some would avoid that kind of pressure with her options, but I think she has that mindset of bring it on, just a feeling.
And I dont think she has to worry about that 400IM, other than the 1500 for Katie, that is the lock of the meet. No one in the same zip code and she could win it with a meh type of race. She has to be on fire as you pointed out for that first 400, it will set the tone for the meet. Can’t wait!!
What do you think of Finke and the 400IM. He beat Foster in trials but declined his place and has the second fastest time this year after Marchand. 4:07.11 v’s 4:07.46. Too much to take on with 800 and 1500. FR?
It appears that Finke thinks so but, if I had the 2nd fastest time in the world, I think I would go for it. In any case, this year’s World Champs are shaping up to be quite the meet.
I think for Finke it is more of a what can I train for scenario. You do 400IM and that is a lot of stroke work, turns, and underwaters. And in the end he probably doesnt medal anyway. In the distance events he has a lot of guys right there with him, so he will need total focus on the 800/1500 double to have any chance. Just think he and his coach probably think it will dilute him just enough to not be great at anything, and get a bunch of 4th place finishes…
I wonder if it is worthwhile chasing and taking down world records at a relatively unimportant meet (for her). Or maybe its “so easy” that she’s not even going deep into the tank for peak performances and this is not even close to her peak for this year.
She’s a 3:54 400 and her best stroke is fly. She should easily have the record. I love Katie Ledecky, but I think the only way she wins the 800 in 2028 is if they put the 200 IM on the same day again.
There is no going into the tank in swimming, but there is targeting particular meets. And this meet was important because coaches mess around with tapers and these times get compared to the rest of the countries having their trials. And no world record is “easy”, just look how long those were on the books before she broke them, and the couple she just missed.
Swimmers also play with event schedules and try and see how their bodies will react at the big meets. Especially ones like her, where there are so many events that she could swim and be a medal contender. And all success for her in this meet, hit a perfect taper, got herself some more confidence, and put a psyche on her competition.
And AJ, you are getting ahead of yourself, lets just see if we get this clash of the titans in the 800 at this years worlds, which I see as a coin flip. But yes, 2028 is a long way off and Katie isn’t getting any younger(but she is getting faster!!)
She certainly has a shot at it. I’ll gladly be wrong but I don’t think she gets it at Worlds. Semifinals, relays and a full schedule of events is pretty tough. I think that’s why she went all in for this meet.
Maybe it was relatively “easy” for her to hit all these records without being in peak championship form. Or she’s in championship form too early and won’t be able to match these later. I’ll bet that she’s not even in top form YET, so these were not even her best times she can post this year. But we’ll see.
But there is alway going too deep into the tank in EVERY sport. It’s not just the physical part, but I think she has the mental game screwed on where this is not even taxing her mental game that much.
They mentioned on broadcast during the 4IM that she was not on full taper, for whatever that’s worth. And UVA were breaking ARs last winter during heavy training. Swim coaches have gotten as trustworthy as an NHL injury report.
ajt, I agree the Worlds schedule is a different animal. She may have to pick and choose what to go after. 2FL should be in a good spot. Not sure what CAN hopes for in relays should could possibly have to waste some energy in 4x2.
question for you. Why do some people truncate events (ex 2BA vs 200m backstroke for 4x2 instead of 4x200m) or I even see people truncating times and just listing the final second and decimal field rather than the entire time.
I get from a swim meet context you can scan the sheets posted on the wall and see the event name and the last few digits in the psyche sheets with a quick scan, but outside of that usage, it seems a bit archaic.
Ya I heard that, but as always you take that with a grain of salt. Tapers are so weird and they are far from an exact science. Look at when Katie broke her own WR at a TYR meet, certainly not a full taper, proabably not even close. And now for the trials where she should be 90+% tapered, she doesnt match those times. For sure frustrating for coaches and hair pulling for the athletes.
Whatever taper Summer did, they should take note and try and reproduce it. I think the last time all these top ladies got together, she wasnt able to match her in season times in the big meet in some events. I suppose it is also how one deals with pressure too, but all those top ladies seem to do quite well in that dept, and being off seems more like a physical thing…
And the comment that because the meet is so long that by the end and that 400IM, that she was probably near her full taper. I know in the 4 day meets I have done lately I have felt that too, doing better towards the end than the beginning…But I got old man shit going on too, so there is that…
