Former world record holder Brendan Hansen was denied a 200m breaststroke berth on the US team for the Beijing Games on Thursday by training partners Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau.
Hansen, already qualified in the 100m breaststroke, finished fourth in the event at the US Olympic swimming trials.
The shock defeat means that Hansen won’t get a 200m showdown with Japanese rival Kosuke Kitajima, who shattered Hansen’s word record with a swim of 2:07.51 in Tokyo on June 8.
PHOTO: AP
“I’m still in shock,” Hansen said shortly after the race, in which Spann and Shanteau ran him down on the final lap to claim the first and second places needed to qualify for Beijing.
Spann, 20, clocked 2:09.97, a career best and his first swim under 2:10. Shanteau, 24, finished in 2:10.36, a shade outside his personal best of 2:10.24.
Scott Usher was third in 2:11.00 with Hansen fading to fourth in 2:11.37.
PHOTO: AP
“I just got tired toward the end,” said Hansen, who led at the final turn. “They sat on my hip the whole way ... they both just ran me down in the last 15.”
Spann, who made his first Olympic team, said he had planned a late move.
“I wanted to stay right with Brendan and attack the last 50m,” he said. “The last 15m I got so tired. All I could think in my head was this has been coming for four years, and this is the last stroke.”
“I’m in shock,” he said. “I can’t even process that I made the team.”
Hansen said he would do all he could to make sure his Longhorn Aquatics club mates were ready for Beijing — and apparently for Kitajima.
“It’s going to be hard, but I’m going to show these guys what they need to do to beat him,” said Hansen, apparently a reference to the double Olympic champion from Japan although he didn’t mention Kitajima by name.
“If I can’t do it, I’m going to make sure they do,” said Hansen, who settled for silver behind Kitajima in the 100m breast in Athens and bronze in the 200m. “And the him — you know what I’m talking about.”
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