Here is a little recap of USA SWIMMING day ONE of World Championships in ROME. Day one was off to an incredibly FAST START! SIX records, yes SIX were BROKEN.

In prelim swims Ricky Berens suffered a suit malfunction during the anchor leg of the 400m Freestyle Relay. Ripping in the most horrendous (fabulous eye candy) of places, RIGHT DOWN THE SEAM OF HIS BEHIND. It didn’t slow him down too much seeing as the Americans still made it into the final but Ricky was quoted saying: "It felt like there was a bunch of extra weight around like a bag of water," he said. ". . . I was trying hard not to focus on the suit. I've never ripped a suit before."

Ryan Lochte also weighed in on the malfunction saying: "I would have swam naked if I had to. I mean, you’re at WC (World Championships) you can’t really hold anything back."

Yes, swim naked bbReezy and you’ll be the cause of strokes and coronaries around the world.

The first race televised for the evening swims was the Women’s 100m fly. Dana Vollmer took the first heat of the semis with a 57.19. (She will be in lane three for Monday’s final) Christine Magnuson was in the second heat but failed to qualify as there was a tie for 8^th and she finished in 10^th place *tear*

The first WORLD RECORD also fell in this heat. Sarah Sjtrom set the NEW WR of 56.44. Pretty impressive, considering this was the oldest women’s WR in the books.

Next on the blocks were the Men for the 400M Freestyle final.

Peter Vanderkaay, or PVK was the only American in this final. He placed 4^th, once again he just missed the podium as he did in Beijing. BUT he did however set a new American record! (MAD LOVE )

Must give a shout out to Paul Biederman of Germany who set a new WR with a time of 3:40.07, the record was previously held by trash talker, Ian Thorpe (and was the second oldest Men’s WR on the books.) ADIOS THORPIE. You’ve BEEN ERASED.

The next race was the Women’s 200IM semis. Both Americans were swimming in the 2^nd semi. Ariana Kukors was in lane 4, and Julia Smit in Lane 6. Stephanie Rice of AUS was in Lane 5 (Gold medalist in Beijing and WR holder)

Kukors had originally planned NOT to swim this event because she placed 3^rd at US World Trials behind Smit and Elizabeth Pelton. Due to a scheduling conflict, Pelton had to drop the race and Kukors was in. Kukors came out STRONG and SHATTERED Stephanie Rice’s WR set in Beijing by swimming 2:07.03. This was her first WR, leaving Rice to finish 2^nd and Smit to finish 5th.

The next race was the Men’s 50m Fly Semi. No American swimmers swam this race because it is not an Olympic race and Team USA chose not to focus on it. This was the first event of the evening to not break a WR.

The next race was the Women’s 400 free final. Allison Schmitt was the only American in this final in lane 5. She placed 3^rd in this event in 2008 at USA Olympic Trials. She finished 4^th in the event today, just missing the podium. The final was led by Pellegrini of Italy who lowered her own WR.

The following race was the Men’s 100 breast semi. Mark Gangloff was in lane 2 for the first heat and he finished 5^th. He didn’t qualify for tomorrow’s final.

Eric Shanteau , who had amazing morning swim in the prelims, was in lane 5. He placed first in the 2^nd heat of the semi with a 58.96. He missed the WR by .05 and he was 6^th at the turn! He did lower his AR that he set at Indy earlier this month. (BRING IT SHANTEAU, WE HEART YOU!!!)

The next race was the first relay of the meet: Women’s 400M Freestyle Relay. Team USA consisted of Amanda Weir, Dara Torres, Christine Magnuson and Dana Vollmer , the women’s team came in 4^th. The Netherlands won and set a new WR of 3:31.72. This is the first time in the history of World Championships that the USA women did not medal.(TEARS)

The LAST and FINAL race of the NIGHT was the only other event NOT to set a record but was the MOST intense race to watch if we do say so, just because of our MAD love for the men of TEAM USA.

(DRUM ROLL PLEASE)

The MEN’s 400M Freestyle RELAY FINAL- Team USA seeded lane 6 and EFFAIL France was in lane 5, Beijing nostalgia anyone? ALL ABOARD THE FAIL BOAT! FRANCE IS MANNING THE SHIP! Frenchies, think you can “SMASH” us, or attempt to yet again?

Team USA had a strong but relatively NEW line-up: Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian. (If you haven’t heard of Nathan you NEED to check him OUT. HE IS AMAZING)

Phelps had the slowest leg of the relay with a time of 47.79. Lochte went 47.03. (FORTY SEVEN FLATTTTTTTTT) Grevers swam 47.61 and Mr. Nathan Adrian went 46.79. Yes you read that right, FORTY SIX POINT SEVEN NINE.

Team USA came in FIRST with a time of: 3:09.21, Russia second and FAIL BOAT EXPRESS, FRANCE, THIRD!!!!!!

Rowdy Gaines said it best, “Swimming is done in the pool not on paper,” Do you still want to let your mouth do the talking France? As far as we can tell ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS so maybe you should do WORK.

Labels: Roma 2009