Pan Pacific: Phelps Misses Final
Despite a painful debut at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California, the US swimmer Michael Phelps failed in qualifying for the 400m final. Phelps, who is 14 time Olympic champion couldn’t provide but the fourth fastest time in the semi finals to join team mates Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary among the American absents for the finals. However, Phelps felt pain in his first debut for the championships as he competed the 200m and won it coming home at one minute and 54.11 seconds, 0.62 seconds ahead of Australian Nick D’Arcy. The victory wasn’t that sweet for the 25-year-old swimmer, who felt pretty exhausted and in pain right after touching the wall.
“He said at that time that it “was painful. Oh my God. There’s still a lot of work to be done but I’m fairly satisfied. I split it a little better than this morning (in the heats) but there’s some small technical things (to improve), the breathing off the 100 wall, that first stroke off the 100 wall. The fitness level is not there. I was like: ‘Please get to the wall’. I felt the splash from the water in the lane next to me and I was like: ‘Please don’t get run down, please don’t get run down’. So still a long way to go. A long way,” he continued. The great shape didn’t follow him though, as it didn’t on Lochte and Clary, now all the three not allowing the US team win some finals at the Pan Pacific, tournament which includes swimmers from the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia only. However, the tournament is clearly led by the Australians, especially among the women events as both Marieke Guehrer and Emily Seebohm coming home first and second in the 50m butterfly, just ahead of American Christine Magnuson, who arrived third.
The 18-year-old Australian Seebohm won in the same time the 100m backstroke, with Japan’s Aya Terakawa and US Natalie Coughlin touching the wall second and third, while Americans Terasa Crippen and Kathleen Hersey were denied by Jessicah Schipper, who came first in the 200m butterfly. Finally, the US won two women’s golds with Kate Ziegler coming home first in the 800m freestyle and the 20-year-old Allison Schmitt who took the 200m freestyle ‘yellow’ medal.
