Natalie Coughlin wants people to know she can still swim competitively. Teen star Missy Franklin is just getting started.<\/p>\n
Coughlin won the 50-meter freestyle and Franklin took the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke Saturday in the Santa Clara Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old Coughlin, a three-time Olympic champion, took the 50 free in 25.06 seconds. The 18-year-old Franklin, a four-time winner last year in the London Olympics, won the 200 free in 1:58.26 and the 200 back in 2:08.24.<\/p>\n
Olympic star Ryan Lochte won the 400 individual medley in a meet-record 4:11.36 and took the 200 back in 1:57.51. Nathan Adrian set his second meet record in two days, winning the 50 freestyle in 21.76, and Connor Jaeger won his third event of the meet, topping the 200-free field in 1:49.14.<\/p>\n
Coughlin, who failed to qualify for an individual event in last year’s Olympic Games, has been training since the middle of January to gauge the possibility of another Olympic run.<\/p>\n
“I think people think I should be having babies,” said Coughlin, who has been married four years. “I wanted to continue swimming.”<\/p>\n
Coughlin felt she needed to end her swimming days on a better note than last year’s Olympics, where she was limited to swimming one relay event, in the trials only, and a bronze medal.<\/p>\n
“I’m better than that,” she said. “I didn’t want to end like that. I’m treating last year like a learning experience.”<\/p>\n
Coughlin said she got interested in the sprints as a way to change things up. She’ll likely limit herself to one or two events as she moves forward.<\/p>\n
“I’m training with some of the best sprinters in the world,” Coughlin said. “It’s something different and I find it interesting. I’m enjoying the process. I get bored doing the same things every day.”<\/p>\n
Caitlin Leverenz won the women’s 400 individual medley in 4:40.05. Coughlin and Leverenz graduated from the University of California in Berkeley, where Franklin starts in the fall.<\/p>\n
“I went over to Berkeley before I came here,” Franklin said. “I got my classes and it was awesome just being on the campus. I’m looking forward to so much.”<\/p>\n
Franklin and Rachael Bootsma finished just ahead of Coughlin in last year’s 100 freestyle Olympic trials, regulating Coughlin to the relay pool.<\/p>\n
Franklin’s victories were in back-to-back events, something she enjoys.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t give me a lot of time to think,” she said. “You just go and swim.”<\/p>\n
Adrian won his sprint in a field that included the world record holder in Brazil’s Cesar Cielo.<\/p>\n
“It’s a solid time,” said Adrian, who works out with Coughlin. “It’s where I want to be moving into the trials.”<\/p>\n
The national championships and world trials will be held in Indianapolis late this month.<\/p>\n
“As far as I’m concerned, the Olympics never happened,” Lochte said. “Whatever has happened, is over and I can’t do anything about it. All I can do is try to fix some of the small things.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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