Trials Update

Wow...lots of news to cover. First off, the finals are set for the 100m butterfly, and I couldn't be happier with the way it's turned out! In addition, two world records were set at the trials, both in the 400m IM. One was in the men's set by none other than Michael Phelps, and the other in the women's by 19-year-old Katie Hoff. Brendan Hansen blazed through the semifinals of the 100m breastroke, recording the second fastest time ever swum in that event. Kudos to him for that effort.

On the track and field side of things, there were several upsets at the trials, which may turn out to be detrimental to American medal chances. Jeremy Wariner easily won his quarterfinal event in the 400m dash (an event that is an American powerhouse, and perhaps the most likely event for the Americans to go 1-2-3, as they did in 2004. As an aside, I'd really like to see an event where the Americans sweep the medals, and watch as the three American flags rise with "The Star Spangled Banner" playing).

However, the news of the day was Lexington native Tyson Gay, who ran the 100m dash in 9.68 seconds. The 4.1 m/s tailwind denied him the world record (which is 9.72 seconds, set this year by Usain Bolt), but no man has ever run the 100m dash that fast, even with a tailwind. He will be heading to the Olympics as America's best hope to capture gold against the two Jamaicans, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell.

Anyway, the finals for the 100m butterfly are on tomorrow night on USA, NBC's cable affiliate, from 8pm to 9pm live from Omaha. Brendan Hansen will also be competing to cement his spot on the Olympic team in the 100m breastroke, an event where he owns the world record. Michael Phelps does not have any finals tomorrow, but he does have two prelims and two semifinals (the 200 freestyle and the 100 back). The finals for those events will be on Tuesday.

I'll probably have daily updates on trials, and when we get past trials in the time right before the Olympics, I'll post a couple blogs on the Speedo LZR that's been in the news, a bit of Olympic history, and a preview of China and Beijing.