Hansen out, Weltz advances in 200 breast

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb.

Brendan Hansen and Eric Shanteau were the favorites.

The race was a different matter.

In another major breaststroke upset, Scott Weltz won the 200 meters at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Friday night, leaving Hansen and Shanteau with only one individual event at the London Games.

On a night when Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps were focused on getting through semifinal races, Nathan Adrian won the 100 freestyle and Cullen Jones claimed the second spot for London, while Natalie Coughlin barely kept alive her last chance to make it back to the Olympics.

But the men’s 200 breast was the real stunner, just as shocking as the women’s 100 breast, which was won by Breeja Larson over Rebecca Soni and Jessica Hardy. At least Soni got second place, still good enough for a do-over in the Olympics.

Neither Hansen nor Shanteau were as fortunate.

“My whole body was kind of tingling and I was like, ‘I’m feeling it and something is different, this is the time,”’ Weltz said. “I was smiling behind the blocks, I wasn’t nervous. I felt great going into it.”

Clark Burckle claimed the second spot on the Olympic team, another big surprise. Shanteau finished third and Hansen faded to fourth, the two of them forced to settle for only swimming the 100 breast in London after going 1-2 in that event at the trials.

“I think you guys are as surprised as I am,” Hansen said. “I can’t believe Eric and I are not swimming the 200.”

The 25-year-old Weltz moved up on the third lap and surged to the finish to win in 2 minutes, 9.01 seconds. Burckle was next in 2:09.97, edging Shanteau with the touch.

“When I turned at the wall, I saw I wasn’t a body length and a half behind, I was like, ‘I’ve only got to make up a maybe a half-body length. I can do this,”’ Weltz said. “From then on, it was like a freight train going forward.”

Trebilcock competes

Canfield High graduate Garrett Trebilcock finished 51st out of 116 swimmers in the preliminaries of the 200-meter individual medley at Friday’s Olympic Trials.

Trebilcock, who just completed his second season at Ohio State, finished in 2:05.37. Conor Dwyer had the best qualifying time heading into the semifinals (1:59.11) followed by Michael Phelps (1:59.27).

Trebilcock will swim the 100 butterfly today. It is his only other event of this week’s trials.