Category Archives: Pan Pacific Championships

USA Swimming announces Golden Goggles nominees

Nathan Adrian of Bremerton was nominated for a Golden Goggle award as part of the 4×100 medley relay team from the Pan Pacific Championships in August. The race is under the relay performance of the year category. Also on the team were Matt Grevers, Kevin Cordes and Michael Phelps. The foursome finished with a meet record of 3:29.94 to claim the gold.

The complete list is below and here’s the link to vote. You can vote as often as you like until Nov. 14.

Breakout Performer of the Year

Maya DiRado

Katie McLaughlin

Ryan Murphy

Cierra Runge

Kendyl Stewart

Perseverance Award

Open Water Gold Medalists: Haley Anderson & Andrew Gemmell

Kevin Cordes

Missy Franklin

Michael Phelps

Tom Shields

Coach of the Year

Bob Bowman

Dave Durden

Bruce Gemmell

David Marsh

Relay Performance of the Year

Women’s 4x200m Free Relay – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Men’s 4x200m Free Relay – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Female Race of the Year

Cammile Adams – 200m Fly, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Maya DiRado – 200m IM, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Jessica Hardy – 100m Breast, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Katie Ledecky – 400m Free, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Katie Ledecky – 1500m Free, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Male Race of the Year

Tyler Clary – 200m Back, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Nic Fink – 200m Breast, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Connor Jaeger – 1500m Free, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Michael Phelps – 100m Fly, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Female Athlete of the Year

Elizabeth Beisel

Maya DiRado

Missy Franklin

Katie Ledecky

Male Athlete of the Year

Tyler Clary

Connor Jaeger

Michael Phelps

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Adrian claims gold anchoring medley relay

Michael Phelps of the U.S. right, shakes hands with team mate Nathan Adrian bottom right after they won the men's 4 x 100m medley final at the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Gold Coast, Australia, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Michael Phelps of the U.S. right, shakes hands with team mate Nathan Adrian bottom right after they won the men’s 4 x 100m medley final at the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Gold Coast, Australia, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian made the medal podium in each of the events he swam this week at the Pan Pacific Championships at Gold Coast, Australia.

Adrian started out with a silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle on the first day, and ended the meet with a gold medal anchoring the 400 medley relay to a Pan Pacs record of 3 minutes, 29.94 seconds. In between he earned a silver in the 400 free relay and a bronze in the 50 free, also on Sunday.

Bruno Fratus won the sprint race in 21.44 seconds with Anthony Ervin second in 21.73 and Adrian third in 21.80.

As for the medley relay, Adrian’s swim was almost anticlimactic after the lead he received from Michael Phelps in the butterfly leg. Adrian’s split time in the 100 was 47.60, proving once again how much he likes to race in the relay. It’s one of his best non-start splits and makes them the favorites heading into Rio 2016. The relay included Matt Grevers in the backstroke and Kevin Cordes in the breaststroke.

Adrian said in a post-race TV interview said it’s always nice to get the lead from Phelps.

“It’s always nice to know that Michael, the fastest 100 butterflyer is going in,” Adrian said. “He always gets the lead for me so I get a little bit of clean water and just try and figure it out.”

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Adrian second in 100 at Pan Pacific Championships

Michael Phelps of the U.S., right, and teammate Nathan Adrian prepare for their men's 100m freestyle final at the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Gold Coast, Australia, Friday, Aug. 22, 2014. Cameron McEvoy of Australia won the race ahead of Nathan Adrian in second and James Magnussen of Australia in third. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Michael Phelps of the U.S., right, and teammate Nathan Adrian prepare for their men’s 100m freestyle final at the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Gold Coast, Australia, Friday, Aug. 22, 2014. Cameron McEvoy of Australia won the race ahead of Nathan Adrian in second and James Magnussen of Australia in third. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Bremerton’s Olympic champion Nathan Adrian earned a silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle on Thursday at the Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.

Under heavy rains at the outdoor pool, Adrian finished behind Australia’s Cameron McEvoy in 48.30 seconds to McEvoy’s 47.82. McEvoy has been emerging as an elite international swimmer of late, and used the Pan Pacs for his breakout performance. Fellow Aussie James Magnussen earned the bronze.

Adrian’s next individual swim is Sunday in the 50 free. He will likely be a part of the 400 medley relay on Sunday as well.

Here’s a video from Nathan talking about the 100 free.

In addition to making the podium, Adrian will be added to the World Championship team for 2015. The top two times from the finals at Pan Pacs after combining them with the A finals at nationals two weeks ago and the A and B finals at Pan Pacs. Nothing is guaranteed yet, especially for events that have weaker times from nationals. Also the non-Olympic distance events, such as the 50 butterfly, have already been guaranteed to the winners from nationals, according to Swimming World Magazine.

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Pan Pacs almost here, plus more video of Nathan Adrian

With the Pan Pacs getting start just around the corner, here’s a link from a story by the Brisbane Times on James Magnussen’s back.

And, here’s part 3 of the Nathan Adrian series from Team USA. The links for part 1 and 2 can be found on the Team USA page.

The meet begins Thursday with the 100 freestyle slated for Friday.

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Pan Pacs psych sheets, Adrian video and more

Nathan Adrian of Bremerton is seeded fourth in the 100 free and third in the 50 free for the upcoming Pan Pacific Championships in Australia. (Rafael Domeyko, rafaeldomeyko.com)
Nathan Adrian of Bremerton is seeded fourth in the 100 free and third in the 50 free for the upcoming Pan Pacific Championships in Australia.
(Rafael Domeyko, rafaeldomeyko.com)

The Pan Pacific Championships begin next week in Gold Coast, Australia and the psych sheets are out.

Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian is seeded fourth in the 100 freestyle, behind Australian’s James Magnussen, Cameron McEvoy and fellow American Jimmy Feigen.

Swimvortek.com’s John Lohn wrote a nice piece on the match up between Magnussen and Adrian. You can read that here. I like his take on it. He doesn’t discount anyone else from winning the 100, but he does say the two favorites are Adrian and Magnussen, as it should be. Adrian is the third seed in the 50 free behind Cal Aquatics teammate Anthony Ervin and Brazil’s Bruno Fratus. Magnussen and Cullen Jones round out the top five.

The 100 free is on the second day of competition (Thursday), while the 400 free relay is Saturday and the 50 free and 400 medley really are Sunday.

And, if you haven’t watched it yet, Team USA has produced it’s latest video on Adrian, a two-parter from the nationals/Pan Pacs trials. You can check out part 1 and part 2 here. Both parts are quite good but I liked the part at about 2:24 when it was slo-mo and Nathan was walking out like Rocky with the towel over his head and coach Dave Durden by his side.

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Adrian accomplishes goal, headed to Pan Pacs

For as long as I’ve known Nathan Adrian he’s never been a “look-at-the-clock” kind of swimmer after a

Nathan Adrian, right, is congratulated Michael Phelps after winning the men's 100 meter freestyle final at the U.S. nationals of swimming, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014, in Irvine, Calif. Phelps took seventh. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Nathan Adrian, right, is congratulated Michael Phelps after winning the men’s 100 meter freestyle final at the U.S. nationals of swimming, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014, in Irvine, Calif. Phelps took seventh. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

race. His time is always a gauge to see if he is swimming faster each time his hand touches the wall. That’s his main motivation right there. To touch the wall first.

He accomplished that goal in the 100 freestyle at last week’s U.S. Swimming national championships, winning his sixth national title and in the process he put his name on the national team once again. He and his Team USA mates are on their way to Gold Coast, Australia, for the Pan Pacific Championships August 20-25.

He came up just short of making it a sweep when his Cal Aquatics teammate and former Olympic champion Anthony Ervin just beat him to the wall to with the 50 free on Sunday. Nathan, a three-time Olympic champion, was second and will swim both sprint frees in Australia.

In a swimswam.com video interview Nathan said Pan Pacs are a different meet than most international competitions.

“Pan Pac is a little more stressful than some of the other international competitions because you have to race against your Team USA teammates and thats kind of a bummer,” he said.

He was also happy that Ervin made the squad.

“Tony adds a really good, level of balance for me,” he said. “We can joke around about a lot of things around the realm of swimming.”

Following his race in the 50 free in a post-race TV interview on Sunday, Nathan said another week to taper and rest will give him more speed.

“It’s time to go down there and compete,” he said.

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Adrian wins 100 free on first night of U.S. Nationals

While there was much ballyhoo surrounding Michael Phelps’ return to swimming, Bremerton’s Nathan Adrian left no doubt as to who really is the king of American sprinting on Wednesday. Adrian won the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. National championships in Irvine, California.

Adrian led at the 50, in 22.85 seconds, and won by a near half-body length in 48.31. Ryan Lochte was second and Jimmy Feigen third. Phelps was seventh. The win also gives Adrian his sixth national championship title.

The top four individuals are added to the national team for the next two-year cycle and will head to Australia later this month for the Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast.

Adrian wasn’t that impressed with his time.

“It’s about qualifying,” he said in a post-race webcast interview. “In a field like that it’s always an honor to get your hand on the wall first.”

Adrian said it was very important to not abandon his race strategy considering the amount of talent in the event. Of the eight competitors, seven are Olympians and all seven have won individual golds at the Olympics or

Nathan Adrian
Nathan Adrian

world championships.

“You work all year with a certain race strategy in mind and you really going to do your best if you execute it,” he said. “It’s an extraordinary field and it’s an honor to be a part of it.”

Adrian will swim in the 50 free prelims on Sunday.

 

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Adrian prepped for Wednesday’s kickoff at U.S. Nationals

In what is the biggest domestic swim meet of this year, Nathan Adrian spoke with the media during a press conference today on the eve of the U.S. Swimming Summer Nationals in Irvine, California.

Nathan, a multiple gold medalist from Bremerton, said he’s expecting a great meet as everyone will be looking to secure their spot for international competition the the next couple of years. Nathan talked a bit about swimming against Michael Phelps in the 100, training with Anthony Ervin and some more about Rio.

You can read the entire press conference transcript here. Or go to swimmingworldmagazine.com and watch the video.

Nathan is in the ninth of 10 heats for the 100 meter freestyle on Wednesday. That heat is slated to start at 10:26 a.m. Wednesday and USA Swimming is good about keeping the meet moving on time. Finals are at 5 p.m. and the entire meet can be viewed via webcast at usaswimming.org.

And this little video gem from swim coach David Marsh is a keeper. Not sure who the young girl is, but she’s dumbfounded when Nathan walks up behind her and introduces himself.

Bremerton can continue to proud of their hometown champion. He is just that nice of a guy.

 

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