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Most swimmers would like to be in the middle of the pool in the championship final, but Nathan Adrian said after the 100 free semifinals at the FINA world championships that he prefers not having the attention on him as one of the top qualifiers. He qualified fifth for the final.
“I was either going to be first out (in ninth place) or I was going to be in an outside lane,” he said. “I like outside lanes.”
Listen To Interview On Swimming World Radio
Adrian was surprised that he split 22.45 at the 50-meter mark, saying it was a bit more aggressive than he had planned. The price was a lot of pain in the closing stages as four athletes passed him in his semifinal heat.
“We’re tapered now, so I wish I could explain to you how easy that (22.4 split) feels,” he said, “but that last 25 hits like a ton of bricks. So I probably have to ease up on that one.”
He said the times put up in the semifinal were not as fast as he had hoped, given the times put up in the 200 free final yesterday. Though the field will feature some of the best sprinters in the world, it won’t feature Russia’s Vlad Morozov, who stunned with a false start in the second semifinal heat.
“It’s a bummer for the guy,” he said. “I understand. I swam in front of a really excited U.S. crowd. He … probably heard a noise … was probably really excited to race fast. It’s never fun.”
It might well just be artifact or camera angle, but his face/neck look a bit puffy in this pic. Is he a little out of shape, weight/%bodyfat-wise??