Ian Crocker's swim

[email hidden] (Jacques Shark) wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

For me this was the swim of the meet. I'm usually more of a fan of ruthlessly efficient swimming
but this was an amazing death or glory effort. I wonder if he even knows who Byron Davis is - the
last person to famously try this, at the 96 US Olympic trials - he met death off a
24.05 split. It takes guts to throw out years of 100 fly pacing training and just go for it.

Amazingly Crocker's 23.99 isn't the fastest ever split - Neil Walker did a 23.89 but could only
finish in high 52 (97 Pan Pacs).

Dude, for a swim group, you've got the greatest name ever.

And I agree with your analysis.

If I'm not mistaken, Crocker swam the 50m fly as well. That means he's a sprinter. Give me a pure
sprinter moving up a little in distance versus a man with some endurance (Phelps and the 200m Fly)
coming down in distance any day. You can't coach pure speed, as they say.

Eric

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I wonder if he even knows who Byron Davis is - the last person

to famously try this, at the 96 US Olympic trials - he met death off a
24.05 split. It takes guts to throw out years of 100 fly pacing training and just go for it.<<

Saw that swim...video'd it, in fact.

Never, ever saw a national level die so completely. If the race had ended at 90 meters, he'd have
won. But he couldn't even get his arms to clear the water the last few agonizing strokes. Looked
exactly like a typical adult fitness swimmer trying to swim fly for the very first time.

But he went for it. Glory or death. Just about everyone in attendance would have wished for Byron
that the race had ended at 90 meters.

Larry Weisenthal

Certitude is poison; curiosity is life