Pan Pacific Championships, Irvine, California, day 4:
The meet is done: USA on 27 gold medals stole the show, with Australia next best. The status quo is maintained, the nuance shifted (more on that later when the dust settles). The gold medal count does not match the official meet tally because that does not include non-Olympic events. The last session gave us the two best performances of the week:
- Top women: Rebecca Soni, from the 200m breaststroke (though some think that sub 1:05 100 had the edge as the best textile time ever)
- Top men: Ryan Lochte, from the 200m medley that granted him a 6th gold medal for swimmer of the meet.
Points:
- United States: 489.5
- Australia: 311.5
- Japan: 234
- Canada: 177
- Brazil 70
Gold Medals (counting all events)
- USA 27
- Australia 6
Some fabulous swimming, readjustments all round and the man said to be struggling, Michael Phelps, hinting at what comes next with that 48.13 championship record relay lead-off on freestyle at a time of weakness, relative, of course.
The transatlantic paper meet was won by the Pan Pacs 22 to 18, with Pan Pac men holding a clear lead and European women having the edge on their Pan Pac counterparts based on winning times. The virtual gold count:
- Men: Pan Pacs: 13; Europe: 7
- Women: Europe: 11; Pan Pacs: 9
A straight France Vs US men would have tipped the way of the States - but not by much.
As in Budapest last week, what we have witnessed has been a celebration of athletes, coaches, athleticism, technique, torsos and tales fit to feed the lore of great sport untarnished by props that have no place in the race pool. Worth noting to that this was a four-day meet, Budapest over seven. Different formats, different conditions and not really comparable. Both meets, however, were run on a far, far smaller budgets than the world championships are these days. Some lessons to be learned there too. In Budapest, Nory Kruchen, President of LEN, noted that media attendance and interest and TV audience figures have never been better.
Money matters, of course, but swimming can get by without the trappings of wealth that we saw on the plastic fringes of Rome last summer's mirage. To put on a spectacle that will have them on their feet and cheering for more, what you need is great athletes working with world-class coaches. We saw the results over the past two weeks. Swimming lives again.
Men's 4x100m Medley Relay
The meet was brought to a close by a 3:32.48 victory for the hosts, Japan taking silver in 3:33.90, Australia bronze in 3:35.55. France, over in Budapest, were faster, on 3:31.32: an unusual place for the US, then, in the medley relay as second-best of the season, albeit on paper only. Still, Gaul will be glowing for a while yet.
Peirsol and Phelps alluded to their mission when they spoke of "keeping alive a tradition" in the medley relay. All eyes on Shanghai 2011.
The winning team:
- Aaron Peirsol (53.91); Mark Gangloff (1:00.45); Michael Phelps (50.58); Adrian Nathan (47.54)
The minor spoils
- Japan: Junya Koga (53.87); Kosuke Kitajima (59.18); Masayuki Kishida (52.07); Takuro Fujii (48.78)
- Australia: Ashley Delay (53.97); Christian Sprenger (1:01.21); Geoff Huegill (51.45) and Kyle Richardson (48.92). Their B team then went faster in the post-meet relay that didn't make the official result sheet.
That locked out Brazil, 3:36.86, and Canada, 3:37.01, Brent Hayden bring the latter home in 47.76.
Trans-Atlantic splits:
- USA: Aaron Peirsol (53.91); Mark Gangloff (1:00.45); Michael Phelps (50.58); Adrian Nathan (47.54) - 3:32.48
- FRA: Camille Lacourt - 52.46; Hugues Duboscq - 59.67; Fred Bousquet - 51.84; Fabien Gilot - 47.35 - 3:31.32
Trans-Atlantic medals:
- Pan Pacs: 3:32.48; 3:33.90; 3:35.55
- Euro 1-3: 3:31.32; 3:33.29; 3:33.99
Records
Shiny suit era
- WR: 3:27.28 USA Aug 2009
- ER: 3:28.58 GER Aug 2009
February 1 2008
- WR: 3:30.68 USA Jul 2004
- ER: 3:33.62 GER Jul 2004
