Video interview captured by swimswam reporter Colin Blair.
Boy’s 50 Free – FINAL – as reported by Braden Keith, swimswam editor-in-chief.
Luke Percy from Australia was the most consistently-fast among the big players in this men’s 50 free final, and swimming out of the center lane he took the win in 22.14 (.03 shy of his time from the semis).
He, Russia’s Evgeny Sedov, and American Caeleb Dressel were all nose-and-nose from block to touch, and Sedov would come up 2nd in 22.19 and Dressel 3rd in 22.22. (Read about Dressel’s record-breaking swim here.)
Brazil’s Guilherme O’Campo had a big breakout in the final, dropping more than three-tenths of a second to touch 4th in 22.48: a new Brazilian Record for 17-year olds.
American Paul Powers was 5th in 22.53, followed by Poland’s Jan Holub in 22.69, Ukraine’s Bogdan Plavin in 22.74, and Suriname’s in 23.00. Tjon-a-Joe’s 22.75 from the semi-finals made him the first swimmer in the history of his country under 23 seconds.
Way premature to talk about relays at Rio. The mix of names on those relays will likely be quite different.
Let’s not talk about Rio.
Already, on paper, Australia should have been unbeatable in m4x100 free in the past two years, but they flopped big time at the meets that counted (London and Barcelona).
What can one do but hope for the best? Perhaps the young guys are just what is needed.
And Australia looked far from unbeatable in Barcelona. Plenty of people had one of the other three nations winning.
I’m very interested in seeing how he does in the 100m. His stroke indicates to me that he may be more suited to the 100 than the 50. If he develops well over the next few years, Australia could have a formidable relay team in Rio. Magnussen and McEvoy are already very fast, while Roberts and D’Orsogna are both still 22 and may improve, and Percy and Alexander Graham (also 18 years old, swam 49.11 while still 17) are tantalising prospects. That said, the American trio of Adrian, Feigen and Dressel also look very strong, as do the French and Russian teams. I look forward to more great relay races in the future.
I would not bet a time on Roberts (For me and for a lot he is a fluke.. good but nothing of Olympic Top Level guy like others on the field)
And Magnussen never swim a decent relay time..
And this is to answer JG’s inquiry who thought Percy was going to Auburn.