Last weekend, the Jamail Swim Center at the University of Texas played host to one of the all-time sports legends in Michael Phelps. This weekend, it played host to one of the few men walking the earth who can challenge his ubiquitous sporting fame: Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong made his official pool-swimming debut at this weekend’s Longhorn Aquatics New Year’s Classic meet with a 5:08.11 to place 21st in the 15 & over division of the 500 free against predominantly high-school aged competitors. The race was split fairly well (by 100):
57.5
1:01.4
1:02.5
1:03.5
1:03.3
He had good, even pacing that is similar to what one might see in a triathlon – where there’s not usually a finishing kick to the swim portion. In terms of pool swimming, would’ve liked to have seen a bit-more of a finishing kick, but that’s a bit nit-picky.
The 40-year old Armstrong has been a very good triathlete since retiring from professional cycling, and has also recently become active in Masters Swimming (though, this is his first meet as an adult. As a high school swimmer, Armstrong claims to have gone a 4:51 in the 500 free.
For those curious, the 500 free record for the 40-44 age group is a 4:39, set by Alex Kostich in 2010.
And for those who are big-time swim geeks, another blast-from-the-past made an appearance at this meet – former Longhorn Chris Kemp. The now-30-year-old was an All-American from 2000-2003, where he was a part of three NCAA Championship relays. His best swim was the 200 free, where he took the top seed in the morning heats in 1:43.25 (he scratched finals).
Tony Diers (also swam with Kemp at UT)picked up his OT cut in the 50 Free at Gulf Champs back in December. He also has the 100 Free cut from this past summer.
Whoa. Great catch TSC!