Olympic swimming star Ricky Berens retired from swimming after the 2012 London Olympics…for a mere seven weeks. He wanted to end his career on a high note, on a gold medal performance. (Berens won gold in the 4×200 freestyle relay and silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay in London.) In theory retirement made sense, but in reality he missed the pool, missed being in shape, missed the competitive action. Moveover, his college coach, Eddie Reese, offered him a graduate assistant coaching position at the University of Texas that enabled Berens to stay with the program in a supportive way that also allowed him to train for world-class competition.
Olympic gold medalist, Ricky Berens, is now among the older members of Team USA, but he is not backing off his mid-distance training. While Berens made the 2012 US Olympic Team in the 4×100 free relay and split a 48.52 at the London Olympics on that relay, Berens says he must train for his main event, the 200 free, to be competitive in the 100 free.
Follow Ricky Berens on Twitter here.
Like Ricky Berens on Facebook here.
And here is Ricky Berens’ HQ on the web.
This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.
Velimir Stjepanovic,Serbia, won gold medal today, Mediterranean Games, Turkey, on 400 m free with 3:48.33 which is an A cut for Worlds. Osama Mellouli was second.
1:46 might make top 6 for a relay, but it’s not going to get you an individual spot.
That’s right.
Unlike the Olympics, USA will probably not take 6 swimmers per free relay. Read the selection process. They can only take 26 total per sex. 4 automatically go (along with 2 per Olympic event), then another one per non Olympic events, then the 5th if they haven’t reached 26. Without Phelps’ doubles, I think they will reach it earlier!
1:46 will make it to the team for sure.
The USA’s 200 free field seems to be quite a bit weaker without Phelps and compared to the rest of the world so far this season.
One favorite for the 200 free at trials and a sure lock for the 800 free relay .
Lochte, Dwyer, Berens. 3 guys for 2 spots.
PREDICTION: Dwyer’s going 1:45.4 or faster at WC Trials.
Agree. Based on the new speed he has, he will probably swim 1.45 next week.
agree too , Dwyer is very dangerous now on 200 free and did clock a very intersting 100 free time 3 weeks ago . Training with Agnel and Bowman can only improve his speed for the years to come .
Not new speed.He went a 1.43+ short course in December. No surprise that he would be in the 145 range this summer.
I agree…it wasn’t new found speed, but rather he put on a racing suit instead of wearing a speedo for a GP meet. Makes a big difference physically and mentally.
At the start of the year the PB of Conor Dwyer in the 100 free was 50.12. Since Santa Clara it’s 49.59 and he has done it untapered. If it’s not a new speed how do you call it?
I agree with Bobo.
Also 1:43+ SCM is no where near 1:45+ LCM. So if he swims 1:45+ in Indy that means he has new speed.
Dwyer has always had speed.You are forgetting that he was 42.5 scy in the 100 and 18.8 (relay) in the 50 a few years ago at UF. He has just been so beat with Troy, it never came out. Leaving UFtraining has got to feel like an extended taper.
And a 143scm definitely equates to a 145+lc
The times are the times. Conor Dwyer is faster than ever in the 100 free. And it’s good for his 200 free. Nothing to say more.
And 1.43 in SCM is far from 1.45 in LCM. I would say 1.41.50 in SCM equates to around 1.45.00 in LCM in terms of quality. It depends of course if you are more a short course swimmer or a long course swimmer but generally it’s around 3 and 4 seconds of difference between SCM times and LCM times. Yannick Agnel, for example, fully tapered each time, has swum 1.39 high in SCM and 1.43 low in LCM.
Also Ian Thorpe, whose turn was not that great (in fact, Phelps broke Thorpe’s 200 WR on the turns although Thorpe was faster on the water), swam 1:41.10 SCM when he swam 1:44+ LCM.
Another example: Grant Hackett’s PB was 1:42.48 SCM and LCM was 1:45.61
Another example: Tomasso D’orsogna has 1:42.26 SCM although his LCM PB is only 1:48.00, but that’s because he is a sprinter.
American college swimmers whose start and turns are so good should have even better SCM times.
Example:
Ryan Lochte’s SCM is 1:41.08 while his LCM PB is 1:44.48
(notice how his SCM is faster than Thorpe’s although his LCM is slower, due to great turns).
Conclusion: 1:43 SCM is definitely… Read more »
@Aswimfan
You are f**king joking, right?? Grant Hackett NEVER went under 1:46 in a LCM 200 Free. His best 200m freestyle came from the ’01 Worlds where he led off the 800 free relay, trouncing the Yanks by at least 8 seconds. Get your facts straight before you make your input on a race decision…