Ian Thorpe Will Swim 400m Free This Weekend

This weekend in Zurich will see the return of Ian Thorpe to an event he dominated for the best part of a generation, the 400m Freestyle. In his last competition before the Australian Olympic Trials, Thorpedo will compete in both the 100m and 400m Freestyle.

RESULTS

While this development is being put forward as simply an experiment for racing, it does raise some interesting questions.

Could Thorpe make the Australia team on the 400m Free?

As strange as it sounds given his focus on sprinting, the 400m Free might turn out to offer Thorpe a slim remote surprise chance at making it to London 2012. Australia's top two last year were Ryan Napoleon (3:45.16, 6th in the world last year) and Thomas Fraser-Holmes (3:46.54, 10th in the world last year). To get down to 3:45 will likely prove too much for Thorpe, but it should be remembered that those times are over 5 seconds down on his best time.


It is also worth mentioning that Leigh Nugent didn't 100% rule out the move up to 400m. "The 400m is more about experimenting with his racing, not so much about what he would be intending to do at trials... It's pretty much off the agenda (for the trials). But he's been going pretty well. He has been pretty happy with his progress."


'Pretty much off the agenda' does not equal 'Off the agenda'.




Would Thorpe have a chance to win the 400m Free in London?


No.


Sun Yang, Park Tae-Hwan, Yannick Agnel and Paul Biedermann are too good for that to happen.



What will the 400 Free tell us about his 200 Free?

So far Thorpe has been struggling at the end of his races, whether they be over 100m or 200m. Seeing him race a 400m Free should give us some clues to his conditioning in his last competition before Olympic Trials.

Unless the entire comeback has been a smoke and mirror show, Thorpe needs to show increased endurance at the end of his races. Chances are if he struggles in the 400m Free in Zurich, he is going to struggle in the 200m Free at Trials, his best chance at making the Olympic team.

What should we make of Leigh Nugent's optimism?

The last time we saw a story about Thorpe and Nugent, it focused on Thorpedo's lack of fitness, motivation and confidence. Now, less than four weeks on, everything is smelling of roses?

Thorpe's been going 'pretty well, he has been pretty happy with his progress'.

Well, I will still be pretty surprised if he makes the Aussie Olympic team. I hope I'm wrong there though.


Why hasn't there been a vote on this blog for such a long time?

Good point. New vote launched. Will Ian Thorpe make the Australian Olympic Team. Yes/No? You decide.


(Hat tip to The Swimmers Daily for the Thorpe story)

Ian Thorpe's Return Imminent: 5 Things to Watch & Predictions

Australian legend Ian Thorpe will return to the competition pool on Friday for the first time since 2006. Choosing to swim the 100m Fly and 100m IM, Thorpe will give us just 25 tantalising metres to judge his Freestyle in Singapore.

5 Things to Watch Out For

1) New Freestyle technique - Watch out for a new technique with higher elbows and increased hip rotation.
2) Butterfly speed - Geoff Huegill is nervous about racing Thorpe in the 100 Fly, highlighting Gennadi Touretski's love of training his swimmers with an emphasis on butterfly.  For more, read David Rieder's article.
3) Physique - Thorpe has never had a typical swimmers physique and always had a big frame, not that you could ever see it in his black suit. In Singapore we will see what kind of physical shape Thorpe is in.
4) Technical aspects - Potentially the X Factor that will determine if his comeback will be a success. The world has moved on since 2006 on starts, turns and underwaters. Thorpe will need to catch up quickly to be competitive on the biggest stage.
5) Mentality - Thorpe fell out of love with swimming but has recently spoke of his love for the sport returning. Touretski wants him swimming with freedom in Singapore, so look for Thorpe to be enjoying racing again.

Predictions

100m Fly - 51.95
100m IM - 53.50

Heats starts at 9am Singapore time (1am London time). Finals begin at 5:30pm Singapore time (9:30am London time).

Live Video Here or Here

Start Lists & Results

Michael Phelps: A Fitting Swansong

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is surely an example of it. Standing on a World Championships podium for the 33rd and final time, the look on Michael Phelps’ face was, well, content.

It is fitting that Phelps’ final swansong was a gold medal effort. It is fitting that it came in a relay, the only events that seemed to bring out the emotions that showed us the ‘real Phelps’. It is fitting that Phelps’ Butterfly leg was a second faster than the rest of the relay, essentially winning the relay for the US team that had a margin of victory of just 0.20 seconds.

As is so often the case with swimming, words come a distant second to the thrill of racing. So I leave you with the race that I consider Phelps’ greatest moment at the World Championships. Enjoy.

Ian Thorpe Talks About His Comeback

Ian Thorpe is currently in the UK helping the BBC and British Swimming promote their Big Splash initiative. While over here, Thorpe has been training in Manchester, home to his 3:40.08 400m Free time, arguably his greatest ever swim. He has also written his most in-depth account of his comeback so far. Here it is in its entirity:

From BBC Sport

By Ian Thorpe

We have a rule of thumb in swimming: for every month you have off it takes about three months of training to get back to your previous condition.

I'm not sure what the time frame is when you've been out of action for five years like me, but it can't be too good!