Night number three from the 45th Annual Santa Clara Invitational saw Tae Hwan Park continued his hot streak, winning his 4th event of the meet and Tyler Clary winning two races on Saturday night.
In one of the most anticipated matchups of the weekend, world record holder Stephanie Rice of Australia took the win over NCAA Swimmer of the Year Caitlin Leverenz of Cal in the Women’s 400 Individual Medley. Leverenz showed some surprising early speed, staying with Rice on the butterfly leg but the defending Olympic champion pulled away on the backstroke leg and that was the difference in the race. As expected, Leverenz made it close on the breaststroke but was unable to pass the Aussie on the final leg of freestyle as Rice finished with a winning time of 4:35.87 to Leverenz’s 4:37.13. Min Zhao of China finished 3rd in 4:40.67.
Tyler Clary dominated the Men’s 400 Individual Medley, taking the lead with a :58.22 on the fly leg and following it up with a 1:03.46 on the back, holding on for a winning time of 4:15.02. Japan’s Yuya Horihata had came home with a :58.23 on the freestyle leg, over a second faster than Clary, but touched 2nd with a 4:16.27. Josh Prenot touched third in 4:18.77.
Bronte Barratt of Australia lowered her own meet record on her way to victory in the Women’s 200 Freestyle. Dana Vollmer lead the field out at the half way mark with a :57.29 but Barrett came charging back on the third 50 to take the lead for good, finishing with a 1:57.17. Vollmer touched 2nd with a 1:57.25, and Hanae Ito of Japan touched 3rd with a 1:58.05.
Tae Hwan Park of Korea made it 4 for 4 on the weekend, taking the win in the Men’s 200 Freestyle, in dominant fashion, with a 1:46.88. He had a 10 meter lead at the 100 after going out in :50.99. Ryan Napolean of Australia finished 2nd with a 1:48.66 and rounding out the top three for Japan was Yuki Kobori.
It was a one-two finish for Australia in the Women’s 200 Backstroke, with Meagan Nay taking the win in 2:08.04, less than half a second off her 2:07.83 from Aussie Trials which still ranks third in the world this year. Her Australian teammate, Emily Seebohm 2nd finished with impressive 2:08.88 which puts her 12th in the world this year in the event.
Tyler Clary took his second win of the session with a 1:57.90 in the Men’s 200 Backstroke. He appeared to build the first 50, before unleashing his top gear on the second quarter of the race with a half-way split of 57.80. Kazuki Watanabe of Japan touched 2nd stopping the clock at 1:59.56, and rounding out the top three was Austalia’s Ashley Dealaney who clocked a 2:00.14.
Australia’s 16 year old sprint specialist Yolane Kukla took the win in the Women’s 50 Freestle with a 24.97, out touching SwimMAC’s Madison Kennedy who touched in 25.05 for 2nd place, while Libby Tricket of Australia finished 3rd in 25.22.
It was a California Aquatics 1-2 finish in the Men’s 50 Freestyle with Anthony Ervin taking the win in 22.35 in front of his teammate Will Copeland who touched 2nd in a 22.74. Takuro Fujii finished 3rd in 22.86.
@CRAIG H:why1:43 high – 1:44 low might not even get one a medal at tgese upcoming games.?
The Meet results have Leverenz as the winner of the 400IM. Rice may have been disqualified.
Has everybody noticed that on 200 free , Phelps and Lochte start so fast ??? To push all the others to get quickly under pressure , rewarding method !
With what we saw from Lochte in Dubai and Shangai , we know his power and underwater dolphin monstruous kicks + acceleration , It will take a lot to put him second !!! that 200 free is on the second day fot the semi – finals . First race for Lochte and the others … it will be like for the women 200 free , just EPIC race battle for Gold .
1:43 high or 1:44 low will not win the gold. 2 American’s will beat those standards…
1:43 high – 1:44 low might not even get one a medal at tgese upcoming games.
I am pretty sure a 1:43 high will get a medal in London.
Mark my word.
@BOBO GIGI:Park can swim 1:43.8-1:44 seconds and he can take gold medal
The time of Tae-Hwan Park in the 200 free was bad compared to his other performances. His last 50 were slow. He’s usually very strong in this part of the race. I continue to think he will be tough to beat in the 200 free and in the 400 free at the next olympic games.
400 IM is a little too long for Caitlin Leverenz. Her best race is by far the 200 IM. She’s for me the big favorite in that race at the next olympic games if she’s at her top form there.
He was out in 50.99, clearly if Park was to have any chance at a medal this summer (with Lochte, Phelps, Agnel), he has to get out pretty fast. He cannot simply rely on negative splitting the race with the other big boys creating such large waves.
If there is a time to test different race strategies, its this one.
Yep, he went out in a crazy 50.99
The proverbial 1,000 pounds piano fell on his back on the last lap.
In London, he should be going out in 51.5 and coming back in 52.5.
That would be perfect.
I just saw that in Austin , by the way , Allison Schmitt has put a 1.55.04 on 200 free !!! New Us open record ; second fastest in the world this year behind Camille Muffat 1.54.87 . Great swim for her before Omaha . Congrats Allison
The women’s 200m free is going to be one of the BEST in London. It will take 1.56 to make finals. And Federica will have to change her strategy: she will have to go out fast with everybody, and try to hang in there for dear life.