Mens 100m Freestyle - Jason Lezak v Winner

Wow. Just Wow. Did you watch the mens 4x100m relay? Michael Phelps dream of 8 Olympic gold medals out of his hands, the US team trailing by over half a second and chasing the former world record holder over this very distance and stroke Frenchman Alain Bernard.

Jason Lezak had no chance. Phelps dream should have been over. Big mouth Bernard was looking good on his promice the French would "smash" the Americans....

...but they hadnt counted on Jason Lezak producing the fastest 100m relay split in history a mind blowing 46.06 seconds. I can barely believe i have written it. To be fair i could barely believe i had witnessed it either.

So now the same men do battle again in the individual (without Phelps). We have to bring into the equation Eamon Sullivan. You are allowed to set a world record on the opening leg of a relay only (due to reaction times, more of that shortly) and Sullivan did that impressivly taking his own WR apart by a quarter of a second in the opening leg.

Now thanks to the wonders of modern rechnology we can actually break down the relay of both Sullivan and Lezak. Having to react to the peep of the "gun" Sullivan obviously had a far slower reaction time, 0.71seconds in fact. Lezak on the other hand was watching his teammate come in and was able to time his start to amost perfection losing just 0.04 seconds.

This also has an effect on their first 50m, 22.48s for Sullivans WR, 21.50 for Lezak. Of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th leg swimmers only Bernard swam the first length faster. He clearly paid for that in the second length tho which partly helped Lezak overhaul him. I say partly because the other thing hat helped was Lezaks astonishing final split, 24.56. Only Phelps came back quicker and he dawdled the opening 50m. Sullivans second 50m 22.76 a full 0.2s slower (and thats a lot over such a short distance).

Sullivan starts favourite and its not difficult to see why. 50m and 100m World Record holder and in great form. However Lezak may be sneaking under the radar a little. That swim, described as "the most incredible relay split I've ever seen in my entire life" will have boosted Lezaks confidence no end. Extrapolating the relay results i believe Lezak goes into the heats as the fastest 100m freestyler in the world. For sure he has Sullivan (& Bernard but he must be crushed) to beat but at odds of 4.3 i am willing to let Lezak prove it wasnt a one-off.

Pick : Lezak to win mens 100m Freestyle
Odds : 4.30
Stake : 5 / 10
Bookmaker : Canbet
Match Result : 3rd
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