Olympic Prelims I Recap

Don't count on a recap of every swimming session from me, I'm just telling you that now. After tryouts on Monday and Tuesday Tjitske and I will be taking some much needed R&R with the rest of the family at the Shore. We don't get the greatest internet signal down there, so it all depends on how the wind blows I guess.

However, while I'm here.......

Tonight you will have the chance to see Finals I (can't say Day 1 Finals because its Day 2 in Beijing). The swimming gets started at 10 am in Beijing, 10 pm for those of us in the E.D.T.

Order of Events:
Men's 400 IM Final - Michael Phelps set the Olympic Record with his preliminary swim. Pretty quick considering he seemed to shut things down about halfway through the race. Of course Phelps main competition will come from Ryan Lochte, who cruised to a 4:10 this morning.
Women's 100 Fly Semi-Final (2 Heats) - Both Americans, Elaine Breeden and Christine Magnuson, are in Heat 1. Remember, the top 8 swimmers total from both heats will make it back to tomorrow's Final.

Men's 400 Free Final - Larsen Jensen set the American Record with his preliminary swim and is seeded 1st for tonight's Final. Peter Vanderkaay will be seeded 6th. This is going to be a very, very close race as the difference between the top six finalists this year is .63.

Women's 400 IM Final - Elizabeth Beisel continued on a path toward an Olympic Medal putting up the fastest time in the preliminary heats with World Record Holder Katie Hoff coming in second. Australian Stephanie Rice will be seeded fourth tonight. Hoff, Rice, and Beisel are the three fastest ever in this event. The difference in this race will be the breaststroke where you can look for Hoff and Rice to try to put some distance on the field.

Men's 100 Breast Semi-Final (2 Heats) - Americans Brendan Hansen and Mark Gangloff both advanced to the Semi-Finals. Hansen is the World Record Holder in the race and has the fastest time in the world this year.

Women's 400 Free Relay Final - The US's chances were greatly hurt by the Jessica Hardy situation but definitely has the sprinters with experience to fill in the gaps. I still think the Dutch are the team to beat here with the Australians and Chinese fighting it out with the US for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place.

I had some predictions written into this post but decided to take them out. This is because every time I try to predict something it becomes a curse to those I predict good fortune for. Carnac the Magnificent I am not. So there will be no predictions for this meet.

One More Thing...
Hey, check out the blog of Robin and Mark Vanderkaay, Peter's parents. They are in China and are writing about their experiences here.