Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr
Editorial coverage for the Pan Pacific Championships is proudly sponsored by Master Spas! For complete coverage of the Pan Pacific Championships, check out our event landing page.
GOLD COAST, Australia, August 24.
Shortly after a disappointing outcome for the Americans in the women’s 400 medley relay, the U.S. men ended the meet on a high note for the Red, White and Blue as Matt Grevers (53.10), Kevin Cordes (58.64), Michael Phelps (50.60) and Nathan Adrian (47.60) crushed the field with a 3:29.94.
That effort blasted the Pan Pacific record of 3:31.79 set in 2006 by the U.S. foursome of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker and Jason Lezak. It also beat the Australian All-Comers mark of 3:31.91 set by Japan back in 2009.
This swim had to exorcise some demons for Cordes. His disqualification yips really took center stage in Barcelona a year ago when a relay transition between he and Grevers was just .01 fast and caused the U.S. to lose a gold-medal performance. Earlier this week, Cordes lost out on the 100 breaststroke after being disqualified when he broke his stroke to recover his goggles that had just filled up with water on an errant turn. Being part of a winning relay, with a seriously amazing breaststroke split has to be cathartic for the man.
Japan’s Ryosuke Irie (52.99), Yasuhiro Koseki (59.52), Hirofumi Ikebata (51.81) and Katsumi Nakamura (47.76) turned in a second-place time of 3:32.08, while the hosts Mitch Larkin (53.46), Jake Packard (1:00.02), Tommaso D’Orsogna (52.34) and Cameron McEvoy (47.63) closed out the podium with a third-place 3:33.45.
Results
1 UNITED STATES 'A' 3:32.72 3:29.94! 962
1) GREVERS, MATT 29 2) r:+0.28 CORDES, KEVIN 21
3) r:+0.47 PHELPS, MICHAEL 29 4) r:+0.27 ADRIAN, NATHAN 25
r:+0.70 25.58 53.10 (53.10)
1:20.48 (27.38) 1:51.74 (58.64)
2:15.81 (24.07) 2:42.34 (50.60)
3:04.88 (22.54) 3:29.94 (47.60)
2 JAPAN 'A' 3:30.74 3:32.08. 933
1) IRIE, RYOSUKE 24 2) r:+0.25 KOSEKI, YASUHIRO 22
3) r:+0.05 IKEBATA, HIROFUMI 22 4) r:+0.28 NAKAMURA, KATSUMI 20
r:+0.62 25.83 52.99 (52.99)
1:20.98 (27.99) 1:52.51 (59.52)
2:16.21 (23.70) 2:44.32 (51.81)
3:07.09 (22.77) 3:32.08 (47.76)
3 AUSTRALIA 'A' 3:32.21 3:33.45 915
1) LARKIN, MITCHELL 21 2) r:+0.28 PACKARD, JAKE 20
3) r:+0.49 D'ORSOGNA, TOMMASO 23 4) r:+0.26 MCEVOY, CAMERON 20
r:+0.56 25.96 53.46 (53.46)
1:21.04 (27.58) 1:53.48 (1:00.02)
2:17.94 (24.46) 2:45.82 (52.34)
3:08.58 (22.76) 3:33.45 (47.63)
4 BRAZIL 'A' 3:36.31 3:34.94 896
1) GUIDO, GUILHERME 27 2) r:+0.28 SILVA, FELIPE ANCA 27
3) r:+0.19 PEREIRA, THIAGO 28 4) r:+0.37 CHIERIGHINI, MCELO 23
r:+0.63 26.18 54.55 (54.55)
1:22.22 (27.67) 1:54.25 (59.70)
2:18.20 (23.95) 2:46.10 (51.85)
3:09.28 (23.18) 3:34.94 (48.84)
5 CANADA 'A' 3:38.76 3:38.43 854
1) WOOD, RUSSELL 20 2) r:+0.12 FUNK, RICHARD 21
3) r:+0.09 ALLEN, COLEMAN 21 4) r:+0.21 KISIL, YURI 18
r:+0.63 26.73 55.35 (55.35)
1:23.78 (28.43) 1:56.15 (1:00.80)
2:20.54 (24.39) 2:49.25 (53.10)
3:12.69 (23.44) 3:38.43 (49.18)
6 NEW ZEALAND 'A' 3:36.80 3:38.46 854
1) MAIN, COREY 19 2) r:+0.08 SNYDERS, GLENN 27
3) r:+0.17 KENT, STEVEN 26 4) r:-0.01 STANLEY, MATTHEW 22
r:+0.54 26.51 54.61 (54.61)
1:22.24 (27.63) 1:53.99 (59.38)
2:19.12 (25.13) 2:49.28 (55.29)
3:12.69 (23.41) 3:38.46 (49.18)
7 SOUTH AFRICA 'A' 3:52.50 3:45.97 771
1) ELLIS, RICHARD 26 2) r:+0.32 PIKE, JARED 23
3) r:+0.30 COETZEE, RYAN 19 4) r:+0.29 ERASMUS, DOUGLAS 24
r:+0.62 26.66 55.67 (55.67)
1:24.95 (29.28) 1:59.78 (1:04.11)
2:24.73 (24.95) 2:55.46 (55.68)
3:19.08 (23.62) 3:45.97 (50.51)
8 HONG KONG 'A' 3:44.67 3:48.10 750
1) MAK, RAYMOND 21 2) r:+0.04 TSUI, RONALD 21
3) r:+0.14 CHEAH, GEOFFREY 23 4) r:+0.08 WONG, JEREMY 20
r:+0.59 28.45 59.24 (59.24)
1:28.90 (29.66) 2:03.03 (1:03.79)
2:27.91 (24.88) 2:57.08 (54.05)
3:21.37 (24.29) 3:48.10 (51.02)
Lol. I love how a 1.94 difference is a trouncing for the American women, but a 2.14 is a race for the Japanese men. Semantics 🙂
It is important to remember the hill/catharsis Cordes had to climb included relay DQ at NCAA for his Arizona squad as well. Long course is not the only setting impacting on psychological state.