Going into a well anticipated day 3 of the Austin Grand Prix, there have been a few surprising swims and a couple of really great performances for some of the athletes. Day 3 was no different in the finals. Take a look at what went on in the final night of the Austin Grand Prix:
The Ladies
This is one of those “wow” performances that I was talking about from Henriette Stenkvist! As a 16 year old, there is no way that I would want to go head to head with Katie Hoff, Margaret Hoelzer, or Ariana Kukors in any event. However, she took on all three in the 200 back at the same time!
Stenkvist made the 100 turn in third and was able to turn on the jets the back-end 100 in order to finish in first place ahead of Sinead Russell (who has also had a great meet). Madison White was able to come in third over Hoff (4th) and Hoelzer (5th) while Kukors finished 6th. Finalizing the field were Lindsay Seemann in seventh and Adrienne Woods.
In the 100 freestyle, it was Dana Vollmer who took home the victory. After a slower 50 length, she took a commanding .41 lead during the back-end of the race finishing ahead of her teammate, Natalie Coughlin, (who out-touched Jessica Hardy by .03). The remaining top 8 put in excellent races from Amanda Weir (4th), Kara Lynn Joyce (5th), Madison Kennedy (6th), Christine Magnuson (7th), and Katie Hoff (8th).
It was Chloe Sutton’s race in the 800 free as she dominated the entire field yet again as she finishing almost a full 8 seconds ahead of Sarah Henry who took second. Kelly Baird finished just behind Henry in third while the remaining top 8 consisted of: Nicole Vernon, Lauren Morford, Micha Burden, Erin Flanigan, and Lynette Lim (respectively).
“Nice to see you, again, Rebecca Soni” was the statement that I made as I watched her take the 200 breaststroke event! Not only did Soni win, but she pretty much could have shut off her engines half way through the final 50 length! Soni touched in at 2:22.91 as Megan Jendrick took second with 2:30.19. Justine Mueller, Annie Zhu, Corrie Clark, Julia Treible, Trisha Averill, and Megan Molnar finished up the top 8 in this event.
In the final individual event for the women (the 200 fly), Dana Vollmer was able to bring home the victory with a 2:13.86 which was 2 seconds faster than Kelly Nelson who was able to finish second.
The close race for this event, though, was for 3rd place between Kirstie Chen and Whitney Myers. Chen led the entire race, but Myers tried to make her pass in the final 50…just a little too late, though, as Chen out-touched Myers by .04. The remaining top 8 in this event were: Prisciliana Escobar, Erin, Nuemann, Katherine Whitbeck, and Sarah Henry.
The Men
Nick Thoman took the 200 back right from the start as he was well ahead of the pack going into the first turn and was able to maintain/increase the lead each length. Thoman finished in at 1:59.48 as Robert Margalis and Matt Hawes dueled for second place.
Hawes went out faster than Margalis in the first 100, but Margalis started to make his move to second place in the second 50 as he narrowed the lead to .04. Margalis kept the momentum through the turn and hit the 150 turn .52 ahead of Hawes. Hawes then tried to make the finishing comeback against Margalis, but ran out of pool as Margalis rang in only .16 ahead of him.
The remaining top 8 in this event were: Patrick Schirk, David Russell, Conor Campbell, Cooper Robinson, and Karl Burdis.
In the 100 freestyle, I was actually a little surprised at how close the race turned out between Cesar Cielo and Garrett Weber-Gale. With that said, when I watched the 50 freestyle two nights ago, I noticed that Cielo didn’t look like the Cesar of old – his stroke looked different, he looked like he had a different feel of the water, and things just didn’t look right to me. As I watched the 100, I felt almost the same thing – Cielo was bouncing from one stroke to the next and it appeared as though he wasn’t catching the water efficiently (something to follow up on later).
Either way, Cielo and Weber-Gale hit the first 50 in approximately the same time, but Cielo was able to pick the pace up a little more than Weber-Gale on the final 50. Cielo touched in first at 49.13 as Weber-Gale finished at 49.31. Along with those two, Matt Grevers had another great race as he finished in third with a time of 49.45. The remaining field was led by William Copeland, and followed by Nicholas Santos, Simon Burnett, Nicholas Brunelli, and George Bovell.
“Wow” was the exact word…no other words came out…as I watched the men swim the 1500 freestyle. Now, typically, I am not someone who can watch a long event and not be satiated or distracted, but Peter Vanderkaay put on a show (to say the least). Vanderkaay was able to pace himself to the point where he averaged a difference of .13 per 50 (excluding the first 50). He ended up finishing – in first – at 15:18.75.
Vanderkaay’s closest competition, Michael Klueh, touching in second at 15:27.24 which was also well ahead of third place finisher Sean Ryan (15:35.70).
In the 200 breaststroke, Michael Alexandrov had a great race as he finished in first at 2:14.79. In second was Thomas Cole with a 2:16.34 as he out-stretched Matthew Lowe (2:16.52) and Vladislav Polyakov (2:16.69). The other swimmers who finished in the top 8 were: Bart Steninger, Mark Gangloff, Henrique Barbosa, and Robert Margalis.
Pedro Oliveira and Mark Hsu went head to head in the 200 fly. Oliveira had a great 150, but was unable to maintain momentum into the final 50 which is where Hsu tried to make his move to first place. However, Oliveira was able to hang on to first place as he finished with a time of 1:59.02. Edward Downes led the rest of the field which included: Rafal Kuchta, Matthew Patton, Alex Vanderkaay, Cameron Owen, and Andre Blyth (respectively).
In the final individual event for the men (the 1650 free), John Koehler took home first, Steven Hill touched in second, and Alexander Gianino came in third. The rest of the top 8 looked like this: William Deforest, Reed Snyder, Sean Minderlein, Samuel Shimomura, and Cory Mayfield.
So, we come to an end of the 2010 Austin Grand Prix, and I can definitely say that I was impressed by a lot of swimmers, but I was also disappointed by a couple of swims as well (I mean no offense to any swimmer…I just expect a lot).
What were your thoughts on the meet?
