The running theme of Thiago Pereira’s life is that he puts together 75% of fantastic IM’s, and then absolutely falls apart on the freestyle legs. This has always been a bit confusing, because he’s a pretty decent 200 freestyler (he’s been a 1:46).
Back in Brazil for the last 6-months training with Alberto Silva and PRO16, however, it seems as though Pereira has been looking to change that reputation. According to Brazilian media, he has been focusing specifically over the last half-year on overhauling his race strategy to result in better finishes, as well as training a massive load around 6 hours of pool and weight work per week.
We saw a bit of this show up already at the Missouri Grand Prix. En route to a win in a 1:59, he closed the race in a freestyle split of 28.49. Compare that to the 30.39 that he closed with in Shanghai (even though he was almost a second faster overall), and the different approach is obvious – though of course he wasn’t feeling at his best there.
With two big meets upcoming for the Brazilians – the Maria Lenk Trophy and the South American Championships – we should get a chance to see the new strategy in full-bloom.
Looking back to the 2009 World Championships, where Pereira hit a high-water mark and swam a time that ranked him 5th-best in history, his splits looked thusly (with comparisons):
2009 Worlds 24.83 – 28.52 – 33.46 – 28.7 – 1:55.55
2011 Worlds 25.08 – 29.04 – 34.49 – 30.39 – 1:59.00
2012 Mizzou 25.94 – 30.95 – 34.53 – 28.49 – 1:59.91
If he got anywhere close to that time in London, it would be good enough for a medal (better than 1:57 probably takes bronze). He’s already closing his races faster than that even in huge training and coming straight off of three weeks at altitude. Without the rubber suits, he probably won’t be able to match those times on the front-half, but his back-half could actually be faster. Here’s how he gets to a bronze medal in London:
2012 London 25.20 – 29.30 – 34.20 – 28.20 – 1:56.90