Day 3 Finals

A couple of surprises tonight: no Lochte in the Men's 100 Back, no Hayley McGregory in the Women's 100 Back...just goes to show you that those sprint races (100s and the 50 free) are hotly contested events where hundreths of a second can mean the difference between the shot at an Olympic Gold Medal and watching the event on TV with the rest of us. Lochte won't be watching on TV, but McGregory will miss out on making the team in her best event.

Two World Records in the Women's and Men's 100 Backstrokes brings the total number of World Records for this meet to 6 (I am counting the three times the Women's mark was broken the last two days separately). The total number of World Records broken this year was 20 going into this meet. Heading into the meet I figured that number would increase by 50% after Trials. I now think that number might be closer to 60% or 70%.

Tomorrow morning's prelims will consist of the Men's 100 Free, the Women's 200 Fly, and the Men's 200 Breast. Michael Phelps is entered in the 100 Free and I would imagine he will swim that race in prelims but might scratch after that. This would be an event he would be hard pressed to win gold in Beijing and I think he's entered specifically for relay consideration. This event will, however, show us the new faces of American sprinting. Garrett Weber-Gale, David Walters, and New Jersey native Cullen Jones will battle it out with veterans Phelps, Lezak, and 32 year old Neil Walker. Keep an eye on Nathan Adrian who is swimming Unattached. He trains with the Race Club and coach Mike Bottom. Adrian is only 19 years old but has a world of talent and trains with the best sprinters and best sprint coach in the world. Adrian has been getting faster every time he has swum in the last year. He might be better suited for the 50 Free but, remember, we are looking for the top 6 finishers in this race to make the team.