BY ALEXANDER NGUYENLE | September 6, 2014
Phelps’s 100 butterfly win secured him a spot on the U.S. World Championship Team.
One of the biggest questions going into the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Australia was if Michael Phelps would make the U.S. Worlds Team. Was he ready to compete against the fastest in the world this year? Or would his retirement get the better of him? Michael Phelps was, in fact, ready for this high caliber meet, placing first in the 100 butterfly, fourth in the 100 free, and second in the 200 individual medley. His performance secured him a spot on the Worlds Team next year in Kazan, Russia. Phelps showed the world that he is capable of competing with the best and that he is ready to defend his Olympic title. His 100 fly, which was 51.29 seconds, was the fastest this year, and his 200 IM was the third fastest behind his teammate, Ryan Lochte, and Japan’s Kosuke Hagino.
Ledecky led the U.S. to victory with 5 gold meals and 2 world records.
The women also did an amazing job, securing 9 gold, 4 silver, and 8 bronze medals. One of the standouts was Katie Ledecky, outshining everyone, including Phelps, by breaking two world records. She broke her own record in the 400 free by two seconds and later broke her own 1500 free record by nearly six seconds. Ledecky is on her way to becoming one of the greatest distance swimmers ever. Not only did she break her own world records in the 400 free and the 1500 free, she also placed first in the 200 free and the 800 free. Of the nine gold medals that the women won, Ledecky was a part of five of them. At the age of only seventeen, she is the future of U.S. distance swimming.
With the stellar performance from Ledecky, the Americans came away with 40 medals, 14 of which were gold medals, once again winning the Pan Pac Championship. Of the 14 gold medals, the women won 9 of them and the men won 5. As for the total medals, they were fairly evenly split with the women winning 21 medals and the men winning 19 medals. Although the medals count seems high for the Americans, the total was below the previous Pan Pac in 2010. There, the Americans had a total of 47 medals, including 25 golds, 15 silvers, and 7 bronze medals. I believe this is evident that the other teams in the world are improving tremendously. Australia and Japan look stronger than they did at the London Olympics, but this may be attributed to the majority of newcomers and rookies swimming for the U.S.. As for the World Championship next year, I can’t wait to see how the young U.S. Worlds Team compares to the speedy European veterans.
TheLibraryRoundTable 