Chloe Sutton reacts after winning the women's 400 free final at the Pan Pacific Championships on Friday. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
IRVINE, Calif. —Drama and intrigue blanketed the women’s 400-meter freestyle competition Friday at the Pan Pacific Championships, an event in which one of the night’s biggest winners did not even jump in the pool.
Only two U.S. women competed in the night’s final. But a total of four Americans had a huge stake in the outcome, each hoping to secure an even bigger prize: A spot in next year’s world championship meet in Shanghai.
In the end, Chloe Sutton, who trained for two years in McLean, and Towson’s Katie Hoff — who watched from the stands in a Team USA tank top and sunglasses — earned those spots.
Sutton got the gold with her finish in 4 minutes 5.19 seconds. Hoff stayed dry and still got a world championship slot. Kate Ziegler of Great Falls put up a blazing time, the second-fastest of the night (4:05.52) — but got nothing out of it. She did not win the silver medal because she had only managed to qualify for the evening’s consolation final; she watched the final from edge of the pool.
To make matters worse, she missed out on a world championship slot because her time was a mere .02 of a second too slow. “It hurts,” she said. “It’s frustrating. But I’m excited to see Katie on the team.”
Hoff, the reigning Olympic silver medal winner in the event, sat with her U.S. teammate and nervously watched both 400 final races. She eyed the split times that appeared on the scoreboard. She had swum poorly in the morning heats, surprisingly failing to advance to the final or consolation final after dominating the event at the U.S. championships.
That left her hoping that the Americans competing, Ziegler in the consolation final and Sutton and Allison Schmitt in the final, would win — but with slower times than she managed in the U.S. championships, when she went 4:05.50.
If her time stood up, she would represent the United States in the event in Shanghai.
“It was so nerve-racking,” Hoff said. “I knew it was going to be close. I didn’t know it was going to be two-hundredths close.”
Here’s how it all went down: Ziegler, who like Hoff, had no chance to claim a medal or Pan Pacifics title, led off the night with a stunner. She put out a time that surpassed her effort in the morning by more than three seconds.
It looked good enough to get her on the world championship team, even though it barely trailed Hoff’s time at the championships. It seemed likely that she had laid down a time neither Sutton, who until last year was an open-water specialist and who finished second earlier in the week to Ziegler in the 800, nor Schmitt, a 200 specialist, could touch.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, she’s out there,’ ” said Sutton, who watched the race anxiously. “That put a lot of pressure on us to match that or beat that.”
As Sutton and Schmitt walked out to the start with the other finalists, Ziegler squeezed between her coach, Jon Urbanchek, and Michael Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, at the side of the pool.
“I wish I could have been in the final, because I think I could have gone [even] faster” with a stronger field, Ziegler said. “It’s a lesson learned.”
Sutton and Schmitt swam out of lanes four and three in the night’s final, well aware that each could claim a medal and still be left off the world championship team in that event.For Sutton and Schmitt, the final wasn’t a matter of, just win, baby. They had to go fast, too. Sutton did.
She fended off challenges from Australia’s Katie Goldman, who finished second in 4:05.84 — slower than Ziegler swam — and Blair Evans, who came home in 4:06.36. Schmitt got fourth with her time of 4:06.73.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” said Sutton, who will compete in Sunday’s open-water 10-kilometer race. “I was a hardcore open-water swimmer; I couldn’t do anything under 10K two years ago. I’m learning to handle my nerves. . . These races just have so much at stake.”
When the result registered, Ziegler spun around with disappointment. But she smiled later when talking about how close she had come.
“Getting another medal for the U.S. would have been nice, but really, at this meet, I think a lot of people are racing to get on the worlds team,” Ziegler said. “I would have liked to do that, too — to say the least.”
Hoff had failed to advance to Friday’s final when she was outraced to wall in her morning heat by Ziegler. Her time of 4:08.93 seconds was the fifth-fastest Friday morning, but it was surpassed by Sutton (4:07.64), Schmitt (4:08.47) and Ziegler (4:08.63). At this meet, only two swimmers from each nation can take part in the eight-person final.
Though Hoff, who grew up in Towson, secured a spot on next summer’s world championship team as a member of the 4×50 freestyle relay, she desperately wanted to compete in Shanghai in what had been one of her signature events.
She climbed out of the stands shortly after the race, grinning with relief.
“I just stopped shaking,” she said. “I’m extremely excited.”
Lochte continues to shine
U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte won the 200-meter backstroke and helped the U.S. men’s 4×100 relay team to gold
at the Pan Pacific Championships on Friday, claiming his fourth and fifth gold medals of the meet.
Lochte claimed the backstroke title in a meet-record time of 1 minute 54.12 seconds, topping U.S. teammate Tyler Clary, who touched the wall in 1:54.90.
He later followed Michael Phelps – whose leadoff relay leg would have won the gold medal in the men’s 100 here – on the second leg of the relay to help the U.S. team to an easy victory.
The U.S. team came home in 3:11.74, topping Australia (3:14.30) and South Africa (315.93).
Lochte will get a chance to face Phelps in the 200 individual medley Saturday, but he arguably secured his stature as the male swimmer of this meet with a gritty performance a night after he won the 400 medley and anchored the U.S. men’s 4×200 relay team.
The year “is going good,” Lochte, 26, said. “It’s just a steppingstone for next year and then the Olympics. I’m right where I need to be.”
Phelps’s relay leg of 48.13 stands as the fastest time in the world this year, and it followed his gold-medal performance
in the 100 butterfly earlier.
“I felt like I was gaining momentum and gaining speed,” Phelps said.
Phelps and Lochte were joined by Jason Lezak and Nathan Adrian on the relay.
Lochte and Clary also secured slots on the world championship team in the 200 back, swimming faster than seven-time Olympic medalist Aaron Peirsol mustered in the consolation final.
Peirsol won the B-final in 1:56.67, falling short on his bid to sneak into the event in Shanghai. Peirsol once again misfired on a morning heat Friday.
Phelps wins 4×100 fly
Phelps wasn’t thrilled with the time – 50.86 – he posted in winning the 100 butterfly final, but he was happy to come home with the victory a day after failing to qualify for the 400 medley final.
“To be able to still be under 51 wasn’t terrible,” he said. “But I think there are a lot of little things I can work on to
improve.”
Added Phelps: “I probably should have swum [the 100 free] instead of the 400 IM.”
Phelps said he appreciated starting the day with a shorter race.
“I feel a little bit better today than I have the last couple of days,” he said. “Probably because there are only two laps
[in the event] instead of four.” . . .
Notes: Elizabeth Beisel won her second gold medal of the meet in the women’s 200 backstroke, finishing in 2:07.83 seconds to edge Towson’s Elizabeth Pelton, who touched the wall in 2:08.10. . . . American Dana Vollmer claimed the gold in the 100 butterfly, winning in 57.56; Jessica Hardy grabbed gold in the 50 breaststroke. . . . Both added golds in the 4×100 relay later in a race led off by Natalie Coughlin, who also won a gold and bronze here. Coughlin, Hardy, Amanda Weir and Vollmer finished in 3:35.11, topping Australia (3:38.06).
Tags: Allison Schmitt, Amanda Weir, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte
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