Nowadays, everybody wanna talk like Phelps is the bomb, but everybody act like they forgot about Tom.
See what I did there?
And away went Tom Shields to tie Michael Phelps for the win in the 100 fly at the 2014 Santa Clara Grand Prix in both swimmers’ signature event (at least at this point of their careers): the 100 fly.
Both swimmers raced to matching 52.11’s, and it’s hard to imagine that either swimmer will walk away unhappy with the result. For Phelps, coming down out of the infamous Bob Bowman altitude training in Colorado Springs, that’s the best time of his comeback so far. He hit 52.13 in Mesa, 52.13 in Charlotte, and now 52.11 here, with amazing consistency to boot.
For Shields, that’s the 4th-best time of his career and the fastest he’s been outside of the Olympic Trials and the 2013 U.S. Open. It’s one more step in the development of one of the truly nice guys in swimming who with each stride gets further-and-further away from that guy who “is only a short course swimmer.”
This is a little reality check for Phelps fans. Phelps, surely, is aware of the situation, as is his coach Bob Bowman knows the situation. They don’t lack for confidence, of course, but they know that Phelps is not guaranteed a spot in anything on this summer’s Pan Pacs team and next summer’s World Championships team.
Shields seems as good of a bet as any to push Phelps for the win in the 100 fly. Shields has done a ton of racing and a ton of high-density racing at series like the FINA World Cup and Mare Nostrum.
It’s looking more-and-more like Ryan Lochte’s knee is going to cause him problems through Nationals. He might show up and race, but it’s hard to imagine what kind of shape he’s in as he continues, 7 months later, to fight with his ACL injury. That could leave a motivational gap, domestically, before Phelps gets to go after South Africa’s Chad le Clos.
And so shy of Lochte, and the Phelps-Lochte rivalry in which both seem to thrive, Shields might be the best swimmer for Phelps to race, specifically because of how good he is underwater. If Phelps is going to be the best in the world, his underwaters have to be sharp. His underwaters is what demoralized his competition for so long, especially coming off of the turn. And if he wants his underwaters to be sharp going into international competition, Shields will be the perfect competition against which Phelps can race.
In just over a month’s time in Irvine, watch that turn. Watch Shields and Phelps go for it underwater, and Eugene Godsoe too. If Phelps looks good there, then Phelps is back.
Tom’s underwater on the turn was awesome. He came up well ahead of Phelps.
I saw that Phelps didn’t even look at Shields after the race.
go tom! i love you!
Phelps did not look happy with that swim. He didn’t even look at Shields or shake his hand after the swim, like he would have done with Lochte.
Nobody around here forgot about Tom.
52.1 is by no means a terrible time, but am I wrong to assume Phelps will be discouraged by his failure to improve since Mesa? He definitely wasn’t thrilled with a second 52.13 at Charlotte.