2012 Olympic Champion, Nathan Adrian, will face off with Australia’s James Magnussen (Olympic silver medalist) in the 50 and 100 meter freestyle at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
Adrian’s 100 free at US World Trials didn’t fan the flames of excitement for US fans. He won in 48.10. Most anticipated a 47 something. Adrian himself wasn’t happy with the swim. He explained in the post race interview that the meet was not as exciting as US Olympic Trials and the event (100 free) was early in the meet schedule, something he was not use to. Adrian’s words carried weight when he dropped a 21.47 in the 50m freestyle later in the meet, but questions remain about whether or not he is the top freestyle heading into 2013 World Championships.
Magnussen has netted four of the top-five 100 freestyle times so far this year, notably going 47.53 back in April, and 47.67 as recently as the French Open merely days ago. Magnussen has a lot to prove after his chest thumping predictions before the 2012 Olympic Games…from which he won silver.
The men’s 100 freestyle, the blue ribbon event, will be one of the most anticipated of 2013 World Championships.
PREDICTION: Both go 47.3 or faster in the 100m free.
You can follow Nathan Adrian on Twitter here.
You can follow James Magnussen on Twitter here.
Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. He is also the co-founder of SwimSwam. This video series is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com.
I dont know if this has been said, but nsw sc last week magnussen went 46.4 100m free
could you post the link to that?
I don’t get the excessive fascination with Magnussen, who was clobbered twice by Adrian when it mattered most. Its going to happen again Summer. The winning time will likely be not be too different from last year. The times being thrown around by you guys are just pure fantasy!!
Magnussen was clobbered by Adrian twice?
0.01 seconds is called clobbered now?
you are living in a fantasy.
My prediction: Neither Magnussen nor Adrian win the 100 free! OoOoOoOoOoOo!
It seems that a race with this much hype seldom has the expected result.
Who else is going to win? Vladimir Morozov? NO! Adrian has been 48.08 untapared!! Vlad shaved was 47.93. Magnussen has swam 47.5 and 47.6 consistently. Vlad has never done so. Adrian or Magnussen will be one two!
Yikes, I don’t know if I’d say Adrian has been 47.5 and 47.6 ‘consistently’. He did it once in the Olympic final, and outside of that race his best is 47.89.
Prelims: 47.89
Semis: 47.89
Finals: 47.52
No Magnussen has been 47.5 and 47.6 this year.
Oh ok I gotcha, misunderstood your comment. Thought we were talking about Adrian. :-).
I figured you misunderstood its all good!
Not correct. Vlad went 47.62 untapered. The Worlds camp starts on Friday.
Adrian is one of my role models as a swimmer, but I don’t think he’s capable of breaking the world record anytime soon. James has shown he is, physically. Mentally, it depends on which Mag shows up, so this race will go one of two way.
Confident: James 46.8-47.0
Nathan 47.3
Garcia/Vladdy 47.6ish
Little girl: Nathan 47.3low
James 47.3high
Garcia/Vladdy 47.6ish
As an American I’d like to see Nathan win and keep improving toward Rio, but seeing someone bust another suit record would rock. Besides, James could get the world record and still fall apart at Rio, remember that even though Tom Jager had a fantastic career and held the 50 free record for… Read more »
we need a “Like” button for comments… just saying. Loving all the comments, but RAGNAR’s putting it down.
Putting it down…. if you are an american
for international swim fans, that might not be true
So Ragnar calling James – a little girl – is not just ok it is ‘putting it down’.?
Can you all get over it – James did not win . Life goes on & little girls face a struggle across the globe even to be born ( thank you ultrasounds) & then further face mutilations & barriers.
I used to think swimming was one place they were respected.
I’m calling this race as follows:
Gold: Maggie, 47.45
Silver: Adrian, 47.54
Bronze: Morozov, 47.59
Perhaps I’m being optimistic being I was one of the biggest supporters of Magnussen’s raw talent last year, and lets not, forget, so was Pieter Van Den Hoogenband:
“”Those guys like the American guy Adrian and Cielo they were very good in the suits (which gave them extra support) because they are powerful, they can benchpress 140kg or so … if you see the muscles of James, how he’s built, if you want to make a picture of the best swimmers, it’s James.””
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/not-even-thorpe-can-stop-king-james/story-e6frg7mf-1226104563521
I firmly believe from what we’ve seen this year, it is likely that Magnussen will swim faster this year than he did last year. He has already dropped a… Read more »
JOHN26, a world record from Maggie? This year? I’d love to see it…hope to see it, but I don’t think he can drop that much. If he does, he’ll own 100 free for many years to come.
Sorry John26 but Nathan Adrian has never been for me a suit swimmer. 48.46 in 2008 and 48.00 in 2009. He was “slow” during these years. Many of his opponents have much more improved their PB’s than him during the period of the magical suits. I can talk about Cesar Cielo or Dave Walters for example.
Walters is a pure suit swimmer.. he never even did something remarkable without suits.. while Cielo was the first to match PVH 100 free without suits and he has a 21.38 also.. he got benefits ( a lot especially on 100 ) by the suits.. but I don´t think he is a suit swimmer.. and in 2009 I would not doubt he would have go 47 mid or 21 low (for me that was his best year suited or not )
Rafael,
Cielo is NOT the first to match PVDH without the suit.
Magnussen already went 47.49 BEFORE Cielo went 47.84
In fact, Magnussen went 47.49 and 47.63
Also, Nystrand was the second swimmer under 48 if I remember correctly, 47.91 in 2007.
PVH is wrong on that one, Adrian is not a suit swimmer. He almost matched his PB in the 50 free (missed it by 0.01) last month and is a 47 mid (although just once) textile swimmer. Cielo is way more of a suit swimmer.
Note that _I_ did not call Adrian a suit swimmer lol,
although Adrian was only 48.00 in 2009 off flat starts, he was going 47.8s in practice and split a 46.8 on the relay. What Hoogenband was referring to was race strategy, he preferred Magnussen’s style (the long loping 200free stroke) to the power strokes used by Cielo et al.
I believe that Magnussen will set a new personal best this year, based on how he is swimming, and I believe if he swims according to his race plan, he can set the WR this year. I feel that the margin of victory will be signfiicant.
The most remarkable thing I got from that article was Hoogie’s assertion that Popov was swimming 80K/week, and his implication that to be successful in a LC 100 w/o suits, one needs to put in a similar volume of work…Really?
Magnussen wins, Adrian second, and third I don’t know, perhaps Vlad. Winning time: 47.4 low, Adrian about a 47.6 low.
Just a word to all these great sprinters. Take the opportunities now before Mr Manaudou comes in your race! He begins the serious training for the 100 free after Barcelona. And he will make serious damages in this race very quickly. Already 48.41, untapered, and without the specific training! I’m sure he dreams of the double 50 free/100 free in 2016.