The 100 fly

The 100 fly


The depth of S11 swimming has grown incredibly over the last 4 years. The winning time in Athens, 2004 was 1:06.34; in today’s heats there were 3 swimmers under that time. The Spanish swimmer Mohamed was just off his world record, and the ever-persistent Ukrainians were lurking as was the young Chinese swimmer Bozun Yang and the wily veteran Kawai. I was concerned that Donovan might not final, but he found a lane, qualifying 7th in 1:11.03. In fact, from my perspective he is lucky not to have been disqualified at the finish as his arms recovered a short distance underwater. Craig McCord was tapping at the finish end and appeared to move a judge out of the way to make the tap. I do not believe the judge re-positioned himself fast enough to see the infraction. Luck never hurts in this game, I am not impartial but Donovan did not gain any advantage with this finish, and I firmly believe the rules should be modified so a swimmer who is blind can make a reflexive defensive move when so close to a wall in order to protect themselves from injury when traveling at race speed.

After the race Donovan was a little disappointed with the time, he was hoping to go under 1:10. He warmed down his post race lactate was 12.8, after water and 1000 meters protocol swim it was 1.4, a good sign of his fitness and ability to recover. It is important to flush out lactate to recover in time for the next swim. Afterwards it was back to the village for pasta, hydration and a rest.

The evening swim was awesome.

Firstly the winner, Mohamed , from Spain broke a 20 year record, an amazing 1:01. for the 100 fly. The Ukranians caught the young Chinese swimmers to finish second and third. Interestingly the great Kawai held on and tied for third.

Donovan knew he was to swim significantly faster just to be in the race. To his credit he went out in 31.28, essentially tied with Smyrnov. He could not keep the pace up but managed a best time by 1 second, 1:09.53.

In an event we had entered to “get wet”, it was nice to see speed and a second swim. These guys are fast and all medals will take superb individual efforts!
Tomorrow will be rest, easy swimming, some pace work and prepare for the 400 free.