Jul 6, 2008

Wildman-Tobriner earns Olympic spot in 50 free

FROM DAILY NEWS DISPATCHES

OMAHA, Neb. - World champion Ben Wildman-Tobriner is headed to the Olympics in Beijing.

The Stanford senior earned that right by finishing second in the 50-meter freestyle Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Team's swimming trials.

Wildman-Tobriner, a San Francisco native, earlier in the week finished sixth in the 100 meters to earn a trip to China as a member of the relay pool.

Garrett Gale-Weber won the event with an America record time of 21.47 to edge Wildman-Tobriner, who finished in 21.65.

Gary Hall Jr., a two-time Olympic champion, failed to claim a spot on the team heading to Beijing. He finished fourth.

Cullen Jones, who set the American record at 21.59 in the preliminaries, will be in Beijing to swim on relays but won't swim individually after finishing .16 seconds behind Wildman-Tobriner.

Katie Hoff claimed a fifth individual spot in Beijing by winning the 800-meter freestyle. Shepulled away from world champion Kate Ziegler midway through the race to win in 8 minutes, 20.81 seconds. Ziegler gained a spot on the Olympic team by finishing second in 8:25.38. The oldest world swimming record stayed on the books - Janet Evans' 8:16.22 set in 1989.

Michael Phelps will get another shot at Mark Spitz's Olympic record in Beijing. Phelps locked up his eight-race schedule by winning the 100-meter butterfly, powering away on the return lap to easily beat world-record holder Ian Crocker. The winning time was 50.89 seconds, about a half-second slower than Crocker's 3-year-old mark of 50.40.

"This week turned out how I wanted it to," Phelps said. "I'm ready for the challenge that lies ahead of me. At the Olympics, it's going to be harder than it was here. It's a higher level. And you add the relays in there, and it's the Olympic Games. Hopefully, it's something I can be successful at."

Phelps set two world records in Omaha.

Margaret Hoelzer put her name in the book with a stunning win in the 200 backstroke. The 25-year-old got a great surge off the wall heading into her third lap, then closed strong to finish in 2:06.09, beating the record of 2:06.39 set by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in February. It was the ninth world record of the meet.

Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Beisel rallied to take the second Olympic spot in 2:06.92. Hard-luck Hayley McGregory finished third again, matching her finish in the 100 back and costing her a berth on the Beijing team.

Hall, the 33-year-old iconoclast, came on deck wearing a red, white and blue cape and used his hands as six-shooters, hoping to take down his younger rivals in his only event of the trials.

Jones slapped the water in disgust and dunked his head, but had a big smile on his face when he climbed from the water after perhaps the final race of a brilliant career.

"It was a hell of a race," Hall said. "I placed fourth, and it's not an effort that I should be disappointed with. In fact, I'm really proud of it. The future of sprinting in the United States is a bright one, and it'll carry on a long tradition of sprinting that I'm honored to be a part of.

Ever the showman, the 10-time Olympic medalist announced his retirement - sort of.

"This is my last race," Hall said. Then, after a long, dramatic pause, he added, "until I race again."

Weber-Gale, who also won the 100 free at the trials, called it "the best week of my life" but sounded a bit regretful that it came at Hall's expense.

Forty-one-year-old Dara Torres continued her remarkable comeback, setting a new American record in the 50 freestyle semifinals. The mark fell three times during the day, finally winding up back where it started - in Torres' name when she did one furious lap in 24.38.

She'll have a chance to take it lower in the finals today, the final night of the meet. Then it's on to Beijing.

For Hall, the journey ended at Omaha. For now. "Dara's 41," he said. "In 2016, I guess I'll be 41, so maybe I'll be taking some time off for about seven years. That break seemed to work well for Dara."