INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, June 30. CAL Aquatics Natalie Coughlin talks about her win in the 50 freestyle at the 2013 USA Swimming national championships. She says that it is “weird” to only be competing in the 50 freestyle in Barcelona. She reflects back to the 2007 World Championships when she competed in the 50 freestyle along with a number of other events.
In a fun turn with the interview, Coughlin comments on the character of many of the 50 freestylers. She says that Cal training partners Anthony Ervin, Nathan Adrian are all crazy — in a good way — and that she's happy to be included in the mix with the event's other big personalities.
Women's 50 Free recap: Olympic legend Natalie Coughlin continued her sprint freestyle career resurgence with a victory in the women's splash-and-dash this evening at the U.S. Nationals and World Championships. Coughlin turned up a sweltering time of 24.97 to win the women's 50-meter freestyle tonight as the 30-year-old just missed her ninth-ranked season best of 24.90. But, that's all she needed to capture the Barcelona spot in the event, where she will look to add to her already heady amount of international hardware.
Meanwhile, First Colony's Simone Manuel nearly became the first 16-and-under swimmer to ever break 25 as she blasted a second-place time of 25.01. The future of women's sprint freestyle in the U.S., Manuel clipped her 15-16 U.S. National Age Group record of 25.06 from this morning that beat Missy Franklin's 2011 mark of 25.26.
