With the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials just weeks away, SwimMAC Carolina got in their final tuneup at the one-day Road to Rio Meet in their home pool this weekend. Several Olympic hopefuls and Team USA veterans who train with the pro group at SwimMAC competed in the meet.
Full results are available on meet mobile.
One of the major meet highlights was a new lifetime best by U.S. Olympian Ryan Lochte, though it didn’t come in one of his usual events. Lochte swam the 100 breast in 1:02.19, bettering his previous best of 1:02.30 from 2011 U.S. Nationals. The improvements in his breaststroke are a good sign for Lochte, as he’ll go after the Olympic gold medal and his own World Record in the 200 IM this summer, and breaststroke has been the weakest leg in his IM. Lochte also raced in the 200 free and 100 fly, posting times of 1:49.17 and 54.49 in those events.
Madison Kennedy and Cullen Jones each put up fast times in the 50 freestyle. Kennedy swam a 24.97, marking her 7th sub-25 swim of this season alone. Jones narrowly missed breaking the 22 barrier, swimming a season best 22.04. Jones and Jimmy Feigen also raced in the 100 free, where Jones was a 50.77 and Feigen clocked a 49.46.
2012 Olympians Tyler Clary and Cammile Adams swam their signature races at the meet. Adams went a season best time in the 200 fly with her 2:07.59. She also swam the 200 IM in 2:19.35. Clary, the defending Olympic gold medalist, posted a 2:00.27 in the 200 back. He swam the 400 IM as well, turning in a time of 4:34.42.
Kathleen Baker, Matt Josa, and Katie Meili each swam the 100 distance of their best stroke. Josa just missed his season best time of 52.84 in the 100 fly from Austin PSS, swimming a 52.94 this weekend. Meili and Baker turned in solid times of 1:07.10 and 1:01.53 in the 100 breast and 100 back, respectively.
He only swam 2 individual events at worlds along with some relays. I say he sticks with the same 2 events. His 100free I am sure he will make an attempt but at 48 high he should just let some other young guys or sprint specialists do the relay. Actually he should do the prelim and then he could know for certain that he isnt quite fast enough to make a difference.
Any idea about the event(s) Ryan Lochte will swim at trials?
200 free?
100 free for the relay?
200 IM?
400 IM?
I think he should dump the 400 IM (he is too old for it) and the 200 back (because it conflicts with the 200 IM). Swimming two rounds of the 100 free is fine but if the us has to depend on Lochte in 4×1 that is bad news (Adrian, dressel, conger, Schneider csn all provide better relay splits at this point). I agree that the 200 IM is his best bet for individual gold. I am convinced that he could have won the 200 IM in London if the 200 back hadn’t taken his legs out (I think those two finals were less than 30 mins apart).
It’s not in his nature to drop events.
He will swim the 400im.
He will be winning in Rio at some point.
What the outcome is who knows.
He’s got big balls and his hero is Pablo Maroles who won 100fly when he was older when he was written off. I hope he swims 400im and drops a bomb. Good luck to him.
Drop 200bk, swim the ‘big dog’ events
400im 200free 200im and go in with the attitude he doesn’t care about medals it’s about the thrill of a great race that rarely comes around.
Greatest racer I’ve ever seen.
He is also one of my favorite all time swimmer for his fierce love for great racing . One of a kind
Lochte is amazing, but he is not dumb.. He will not go for the 400 IM.. he swam it once and was dead at the end.. Hagino will crush him.. and it is one day before the 4×100 free.. if he wants to be on the relay he may just give up the 400 IM.. and there is the 200 free..which is on day 2 too..
Hmmmmm
Lochte is different.
An alcoholic wants a good drink.
A gambler wants a great bet.
A racer wants a great race.
I think lochte is the type of guy (unlike Phelps) who would sacrifice a gold for a minor medal but just to get that buzz of an amazing race.
Imagine been that good, where you can literally beat anyone at anything, what do you get that buzz off? If lochte was satisfied he would of retired. But he keeps going, why? To be Olympic champ? Done! To be world record holder ? Done! To do what?
What makes him unique is each race has no bearing on the next it’s all about the… Read more »
Your wrong about Phelps; he went into the 200 free in Athens as the underdog to Thorpe and Hoogie and sure enough ended up with the bronze in the so-called “race of the century.” He didn’t shy away from any of his races in London despite sub-par training either, even tho he ended up 4th in the 4IM and lost to LeClos in the 2Fly. Phelps hates to lose as much as Lochte, They both hate to lose but neither is afraid to lose, big difference. And it’s what makes them both champions.
We have something in common. He’s also one of my fave swimmers of all time!
I think he should swim the 200/400 im’s and try for the 200 free relay spot. Those are the events he has the best chance in. He will probably try to get on that 4×100 free relay, but i don’t know if there’s a spot for him.
Yea, the 200 free, he is not likely to medal after a 400 im. If he does 400 im, he should then swim 200 im, without the back, and the 4×200 free relay. If he does 4×100 free relay, the preliminary heat would be better. Since he could get an extra medal in that. I really hope he isn’t doing 2 back. That would slow him down for the im at least 1 second.
Lochte only chance of individual gold in Rio is the 200 IM. He puts clearly all his focus on that event.
Good time for Adams. 2.06 low at trials and 2.05 high in Rio for the bronze.
4.34 for Clary in the 400 IM…. If the time is correct, looks like he has not waited for his retirement to gain some weight.
Yes, considering MP went 38.6 on his breast split this morning, 3 seconds slower than Dwyer did in SC
You compare to a Sunday morning prelims swim in 2.05. 😆 I hope you joked.
Breaststroke is not a problem for MP in the 200 IM. It has never been a problem. It’s even a strength. It’s more his backstroke which looked average last summer. It was fast but with too much frequency and it has costed him some energy. His coach has explained he worked since then to make his backstroke as fast but less costly in terms of energy to save gas for the second part of the race.
Agreed. Phelps could have probably gone a 1:01 in the 100 breast last summer considering he went a 2:11 low in the 200.
Why are you making this about Phelps ?
Lochte Gona nail hagino and phelps on brs on the 200im ….. Interesting
The one stroke he might an advantage on, he hits them walls so hard these days his free is going to be ‘hold on for dear life’
Never afraid to lose lochte, always in the race, almost feel it’s not about medals for him, more about the big occasion and testing himself
That’s one of the things I really love about Lochte – he finds such fun in fierce, big competition rather than worrying about which color medal he’ll get!
interesting swim by Lochte.
Great he can throw down a PB in season. I think his previous best was from Nats in 2011.
Phelps and Lochte typically swim a 33 low/mid on their 200 im’s in the breast leg so I’m confident they could throw down a 101/102 when tapered all throughout their career.
so this is the 5th meet for this weekend ? it seems like all of the trials contenders showed up at some meet or another. great time my adams not far from her best time. she should be around 206 or maybe even below that at the trials.
That sounds right. There’s the 2 PSS meets, Longhorn Elite, Tennessee meet in Knoxville, and then this meet in Charlotte. This was just a one-day, 2 session meet. Some of the SwimMAC Elite group swimmers are at the other meets I think (Chadwick, Ervin, Lazor, Vanderpool-Wallace, etc.)