Casas Builds Half-Way 1sec Lead On Pace Of Lochte & Phelps Before Foster Claws Its Back To Win 1:55s Duel For Pair Of Paris 200IM Tickets
At half-way in the 200m medley on day 7 at U.S. Trials, Shaine Casas was almost a second inside the best pace of the best two 200m medley men the world has ever seen and while Carson Foster ran him down on the closing freestyle length, the thrilling duel delivered tickets to the Paris Olympics for both men.
Racing 0.8 and 0.99sec faster on ‘fly and back than Michael Phelps, three times Olympic champion in the 100 and 200m butterfly and four-times 200m medley Olympic champion, and Ryan Lochte, Olympic 200m backstroke champion and World Champion and record holder in the 200 medley, is bound to exact a price.
It’s just a matter of when the piano falls on your back. Casas kept up his challenge to the legends on breaststroke and flowed into freestyle in a way that made it look as though Foster was racing for a silver lining.
But as the piano and a library load of printouts of the Opus Clavicembalisticum collided with Casas, Foster sensed the hunt was on, each stroke a craving that alchemised the impossible to the possible.
It all crackled and popped like this, Casas so fast that Foster turned into freestyle with what looked like an impossible deficit of 1.54sec to claw back. And yet, he did, as the momentum of one man saving a slither off his lifetime best (Foster, 1:55.71, 2022) travelled in the opposite direction to that of an opponent racing a touch shy of lifetime best (Casas, 1:55.24, 2022):
24.86; 53.81 (28.95) 1:28.08 (34.27) 1:55.65 (27.57) Foster, Trials 2024
23.79; 52.68 (28.89) 1:26.56 (33.88) 1:55.83 (29.27) Casas, Trials 2024
Where does that fit heading into Tokyo? Here, for starters:
Foster Vs Casas: Flow And Splits Compared:
The top two among prevailing competitors:
24.53; 53.38 (28.85) 1:26.94 (33.56) 1:54.62 (27.68) Wang Shun, Asian Games, AR, Sept’23
24.94; 53.60 (28.66) 1:26.54 (32.94) 1:54.82 (28.28) Léon Marchand, ER, World Champs, July’23 The top two at Tokyo2020ne:
24.78; 53.78 (29.00) 1:27.63 (33.85) 1:55.00 (27.37) Wang Gold
25.06; 54.52 (29.46) 1:27.82 (33.30) 1:55.28 (27.46) Scott Silver
The Best two ever:
24.89; 53.48 (28.59) 1:26.51 (33.03) 1:54.00 (27.49) Ryan Lochte Shanghai 2011 gold, WR
24.83; 53.67 (28.84) 1:26.80 (33.13) 1:54.16 (27.36) Phelps Shanghai 2011 silver
The Top two at U.S. Trials 2024 repeated for ease of glance up and down the columns
24.86; 53.81 (28.95) 1:28.08 (34.27) 1:55.65 (27.57) Foster, Trials 2024
23.79; 52.68 (28.89) 1:26.56 (33.88) 1:55.83 (29.27) Casas, Trials 2024
Foster finished third in the 400IM and eighth in the 200 free at 2020ne Trials for Tokyo a year after lifting three golds at World Junior Championships.
He will arrive in Paris, the winner in the 200m and 400m medley at U.S. Trials 0- and a contender for podium prizes in both events.
The Result
The Race & Reaction:
Qualification meant the world to all those who make it, Casas summing up those deep emotions and the work and energy and investment that goes into the dream on realising he has made the Team USA swim squad for the Paris Olympics, Foster sharing the joy:
Casas on making the cut and what it means: “It was relief. I played that race in my head, and I’ve dreamt about it. I’ve visualized what that moment would be like, and I was kind of emotional because it was a lot to take in. That swim represented my entire life’s work and everyone who supports me and who has helped me get to this point. That was a physical representation of that, and I was so excited, so happy, so relieved. I don’t really know how I could describe it, you know, besides just a plethora of emotions.”
Smith At The Double On Backstroke On 2:05
Regan Smith, a 57.13 World 100m backstroke record in the vault at Trials, added the 200m back to her Paris targets. She led from a swiftest 0.56sec reaction to a 205.16 victory ahead of Phoebe Bacon, who locked Claire Curzan out by 0.07, 2:06.27 to 2:06.34.
Where Smith, who will also race the 200m butterfly in Paris, led the whole way, Curzan was second all the way to the last turn, when Bacon flipped a coin in a very narrow margin: 0.03sec split the two at the 150m mark, before Bacon clocked 32.92 and Curzan 33.03 on the last lengths and their fate was sealed.
The Race/ Trials Results in Full
