Disclaimer: BlueSeventy Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week. The BlueSeventy Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks some as others grabbed the headlines.
Last week marked the final round of Division I conference championships, with an outstanding team race and an American record highlighting the men’s Pac-12.
Yet the eyes of American swimming were somehow more captivated by a set of unofficial time trials at a primarily age group meet half the country away. Why? The reason is one of only a handful of swimmers who could manage to captivate the entire sport while swimming events that don’t officially count for anything: Michael Phelps.
Still serving a suspension after a DUI in 2014, Phelps joined his North Baltimore teammates at the American Short Course Championships in Austin, Texas, throwing down a number of exciting exhibition swims outside of the official sessions. Maybe most notable was his 1:40.84 in the 200 IM, which would have been the 7th-fastest in history if it were eligible for the record books.
The 200 IM is one of two events that seem like centerpieces of Phelps’ comeback attempt, along with the 100 fly. But the IM might be the Olympic veteran’s best chance of re-earning his way onto Team USA for the upcoming 2016 World Championships.
Phelps was bumped from the team after his suspension last fall, and his individual 100 fly spot given to Tim Phillips, who didn’t make the team in any other events. Though USA Swimming has been having preliminary conversations about reinstating Phelps to the team for Worlds, having already added Phillips to the roster creates an uncomfortable situation. Dropping Phillips from the squad would probably create even more backlash on top of what USA Swimming will likely already face just for reversing their original punishment of Phelps.
But the 200 IM seems a much more safe bet. Tyler Clary, who was added to that event to replace Phelps, has publicly said he’d give up his spot, noting that Phelps has a better chance to win a medal than he does.
With that in mind, it was huge to see Phelps swim so well in the IM this weekend, erasing any doubt that his suspension-induced layoff from competition would leave him with significant rust.
Probably even more exciting than the time itself is seeing how the race looked. You can watch race video captured on deck here. It’s a bit strange to see Phelps competing in short course, something he really never did much during his professional career; he makes the pool look small. But it’s also worth noting that Phelps’ stroke still looks clearly tailored to long course swimming.
There are times the wall seems to come up on him a little too quickly, and his turns are crisp without being really lightning-fast like a typical short course specialist. Watching the race, you almost feel like Phelps’ biggest challenge during it is having to redirect his momentum so many times in quick succession.
Those are all good signs for his aptitude in the long course pool, which allows a swimmer double the distance to build up momentum and decreases the amount of time a swimmer needs to spend below the surface.
Remember that the Phelps we saw last summer was hardly at his peak, conditioning-wise. There’s no doubt that after spending now over a year back in Bob Bowman‘s intense, NBAC training program, Phelps is in much better overall condition than he was, which should bode well for longer races like the 200 IM.
Though there are plenty of differing opinions on whether USA Swimming’s original punishment of Phelps was fair, and whether he should be reinstated to the Worlds team, there’s one thing swimming fans can all agree on: it’s a much more fun sport to follow when Phelps is grabbing headlines for what he does well – namely, swimming fast – than when he’s garnering media mentions for what he doesn’t.
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come on the most talked about time trials? I think Jack Congers 200 fly is still the most talked about time trail right now. and before I get massive down votes, yes phelps’ were impressive, yes they were talked about, yes he is Michael phelps I get it. Conger broke American record, in a time trial. As for swim of the week, man I can think of 2 other swimmers who had some great swims this week too…
Biggest swimming news of last week, with of course Michael’s great exhibitions and David Nolans’ American record, was in my opinion Allison Schmitt back in business.
She broke by a huge margin her 200 free PB in 1.40.62. Now 2nd performer in history behind Missy Franklin.
And she also swam a PB in the 500 free in 4.32.08.
Who could expect that right now? In any case, not me.
It looked worst and worst since London and boom, the great surprise.
If everything was planned at NBAC with Bob Bowman, that’s impressive. 2 quiet years after London to refresh mentally and physically and then back to the very serious training to prepare Rio. It seems a… Read more »
I wouldn’t rule out Vreeland or Smith in the 4×200 yet. That’s seven very promising candidates for that relay. Should be quite interesting.
The most talked about time trial in years??? What about that one time trial where Jack freaking Conger broke an american record held by the all time greatest in the 200 fly. This was a poor choice because relative to Michael Phelps this hardly means anything. David Nolan deserved this recognition not only because he was faster and had a breakout swim which was astounding relative to him, he also made his time in the context of a championship meet, a fast swim where it was needed and where it really mattered.
Dave Nolan… ANYONE???
Great article and you’ll never pick a “swim of the week” that gets 100% approval so just keep on rolling out the great content. Even in the comments we have two other swimmers mentioned, but there were a lot of great swims last week that were left out.
10 years ago we wouldn’t have been aware of any of these swims and sometimes it’s nice to look back and be grateful about the level of exposure swimming has these days.
What does suspension mean, anyway?
I am sure you see more clicks any time Phelps’ name appears in an article. And to be fair, I almost always click through if his name is in the headline. But I have to respectfully agree with those above that if you really want to give a spotlight to “a swim that slipped through the cracks some as others grabbed the headlines” then surely nothing Phelps has done in the past 10 years counts. The man gets headlines for snapping fun selfies behind his teammates.
Speaking of teammates, what about Allison’s 200y free? It was a stellar time in-and-of itself, and given her crazy up-and-down journey over the past two years her performance, it was a beautiful show of… Read more »
A HS kid posting a few times that would win Pac 12s vs. The GOAT posting a couple of 2nd in the Pac 12 type swims?
If we picked Swim of the Week based purely on head-to-head times, then it would have gone to David Nolan’s American record. But Swim of the Week, as noted at the top of the article, is a chance to expand a little on the context surrounding a great swim. Phelps’ swims, combined with the recent news of his possible reinstatement, provided an interesting context to explore.
Hopefully that explains this week’s Swim of the Week choice a little further!
I understand your rationale, and both your disclaimer at the beginning of the article and the above comment make my objection somewhat moot, but, that said, I would have given it to Nolan. Yes, Phelps is the greatest of all time, nobody disputes that, and if he goes to Kazan it will be great for swimming, nobody would argue with that either. I doubt that anybody who reads this site considers Nolan a serious threat to either Phelps or Lochte (or Dwyer or Clary) for a berth to Rio in the 200 IM. And I think we all realize that had Phelps ever concentrated on yards swimming the record would probably be in the 1:38’s.
Nonetheless, Nolan deserves his… Read more »