Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian had the second-fastest qualifying time in the 50-meter semifinals Saturday at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb.
Adrian’s time of 21.81 tied with Josh Schneider. Adrian’s California training partner Anthony Ervin had a textile-best 21.74 to claim the top seed.
Adrian’s time was also the fifth-fastest in the world this year.
A day after securing a spot on the Olympic team by winning the 100-meter freestyle, Nathan Adrian of Bremerton was back in the pool in the 50 free preliminaries Saturday morning.
Adrian had the second-fastest qualifying time in 22.06 seconds. Adrian’s training partner at Cal, Anthony Ervin, posted the fastest time of the prelim heats in 21.83. Jimmy Feigen and Cullen Jones, who both qualified for the Olympics in the 100 free, tied for third in 22.09.
The semifinals are Saturday night. Also, here’s a video of Nathan talking about the race and Ervin from swimswam.com.
Nathan Adrian. Two-time Olympian.
The Bremerton native did what was expected Friday night and won the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb.
Adrian finished in 48.10 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in the world this year, and was pushed in the last 50 meters by Cullen Jones. Jones touched the wall in second in 48.46 to guarantee a spot to London as well.
Adrian was relieved to have solidified his spot on the team — something that was expected all along. Adrian said while he’s a full second behind world-record holder James Magnusson of Australia (47.10), the point of the trials is to make the team; not set records.
“In terms of speed it’s all kind of irrelevant at this point,” he said. “Given different circumstances I think I could have probably gotten under 48 seconds, but again, I got on that team.”
You can see a video of Nathan talking about what it means to represent the USA at world competitions here.
Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian won his semifinal heat in the 100-meter freestyle and had the fastest qualifying time at the U.S. Olympic trials Thursday evening.
He will take the No. 1 spot into Friday evening’s finals with a time of 48.33 seconds. His time is one second off the American record. Jimmy Feigen, swimming in the same heat as Adrian, is second (48.48). Ryan Lochte tied Scot Robison for fifth in 48.91. Robison was the surprise leader after the morning prelims.
Other finals qualifiers include Matt Grevers, who won the 100 backstroke to seal his trip to London, in 48.71, Ricky Berens (48.85), Garrett Weber-Gale (48.98) and Cullen Jones claimed the final spot (49.03).
Notables who did not make the finals include Jason Lezak, who finished one spot out in ninth in 49.05. Lezak, as you might remember, anchored the U.S. in the 400 free relay at the 2008 Olympics and came from behind to beat the French for the gold.
It’s possible Lochte could scratch the finals and that would put Lezak into the finals. Lezak is also entered in the 50 free, which begins Saturday.
Also, check out this swimmingworldmagazine.com video interview of Nathan following the semifinals.
Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian, the prohibitive favorite in the 100-meter freestyle, had the second fastest qualifying time from Thursday morning’s preliminaries at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb.
Adrian touched the wall in 49.17 seconds. Scot Robison surprised the field with the fastest time in 49.08. Robison started breaking out in 2009 and his run of solid times is continuing at the trials. Robison and Adrian were swimming in the same heat and the Charlotte, N.C.-swimmer out-touched Adrian at the wall to win the heat.
Other top names in a stacked 100 free semifinal, which can be seen Thursday night on NBC (tape) at 8 p.m., includes Matt Grevers (49.24), Jimmy Feigen (49.29), Ryan Lochte (49.33), Garrett Weber-Gale (49.34), Ricky Berens (49.35), Josh Schneider (49.37), Jason Lezak (49.40), Cullen Jones (49.41), Anthony Ervin (49.54), Nick Brunelli (49.63), David Walters (49.64), Bobby Savulich (49.72), Matt Ellis (49.72) and Alex Coville (49.76).
Surprise, surprise.
Bremerton native and 2004 Olympian Dana Kirk returned to the pool to compete at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha, Neb., Monday.
Kirk, who is the head coach and founder of South Palo Alto Swimming in Palo Alto, Calif., finished 52nd overall in the 100-meter butterfly in 1 minute, 0.97 seconds. The top 16 move into the semifinals.
Kirk won the 100 and 200 butterfly events at the 2004 trials in Long Beach, Calif., and competed in the Athens Olympics along with her sister Tara Kirk Sell. Dana Kirk has been living in Palo Alto, swimming masters events and coaching. A back injury curtailed her career and she retired from swimming after the 2008 trials when she failed to make the team.
The U.S. Olympic swim trials begin Sunday in Omaha, Neb., and Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian is the favorite in the 100 and 50 freestyles.
Nathan will swim Thursday in the 100 free prelims and semis. The finals are Friday. The 50 free is Saturday and Sunday.
I’m not sure when these ads will run, but Nathan is featured in a chocolate milk ad, which you can see by clicking here. Plus, here’s a story from USA Today, featured in the Tucson Citizen, on Adrian and how he’s Cool Under Pressure.
My story on Nathan will be in Sunday’s edition. Be sure to check it out.
Tonight’s 7:30 game pitting the Kitsap Pumas the Sounders U23s will be live web streamed right here.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to be an Olympic gold medalist swimmer, check out these videos from Yahoo Sports: Elite Athlete Workouts.
Nathan Adrian is featured in four of them — from the tapering process as he prepares for the U.S. Olympic Trials later this month, to eating right and his strength and conditioning workout.
