Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) won one gold and one silver medal Friday at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix, the seventh and final stop of the 2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series. Korea’s Park Tae Hwan also picked up a pair gold medals while Rebecca Soni (Plainsboro, N.J.) set a meet record in the women’s 200m breast.
Tae Hwan won one of the more highly anticipated races of the night, the men's 100m free, which featured the likes of Olympians Phelps, Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), Ricky Berens (Charlotte, N.C.) and American record holder David Walters (Yorktown, Va.). Park touched the wall first in 48.92 with Phelps finishing next in 49.61. South African Graeme Moore placed third with a time of 49.70.
National Teamer Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.) took home her first gold medal of the meet in the women’s 100m free with a time of 54.33. Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) initially finished first in 54.14 but was disqualified for staying underwater past the 15m mark on her start. Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga.) finished second in 54.61 and Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) was third in 54.73.
In the 200m breast, Soni grabbed an early lead at the first turn and never looked back touching the wall in a time of 2:23.38 to set a meet record. Seven-time Olympic medalist Amanda Beard (Irvine, Calif.) swam a 2:27.53 which was good for second and Micah Lawrence (Pflugerville, Texas) finished third in 2:28.84.
Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga.) won the men’s 200m breast in 2:13.52. Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.), who is back in competition for the first time since the 2008 Olympics, finished second with a time of 2:14.56. Canada’s Scott Dickens placed third with a time of 2:15.75.
2008 Olympic medalist Allison Schmitt (Canton, Mich.) took the top spot in the women’s 400m free with a time of 4:08.25. Her time beat out fellow National Teamer Elizabeth Beisel (Saunderstown, R.I.) who clocked a 4:08.57. Alexa Komarnycky from Canada finished third with a 4:09.16.
Tae Hwan won his second gold of the night in the 400m freestyle edging out Ryan Cochrane from Canada with a time of 3:49.99. Cochrane finished in 3:50.05 and Australia’s Ryan Napoleon was third with a 3:50.12.
The individual events came to a close with Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) and Phelps each winning the 100m butterfly. Vollmer swam a 58.22 as Phelps finished in 52.41 for win. On the women’s side, Elaine Breeden (Lexington, Ky.) placed second in 58.84 and Stephanie Rice from Australia was third in 58.98. In the men’s race, Australian Nicholas D’Arcy had the second fastest time with a 53.34 and Davis Tarwater (Knoxville, Tenn.) was third in 53.83.
The Santa Clara International Grand Prix will continue Saturday with a live webcast of both prelims and finals beginning at 9 a.m. PT available at www.usaswimming.org/santaclaragrandprix. Finals will also air live on Universal Sports from 5-7 p.m. PT.