This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Omaha • Turns out, Missy Franklin didn't emerge from her sleepless night with visions of Buckingham Palace, the queen and 4.7 billion TV viewers. When the euphoria of making her first Olympic team finally wore off, Franklin's focus remained in America's heartland. Her eyes never went past the finish line here Thursday at CenturyLink cq Center, let alone the Atlantic Ocean.
The 17-year-old from Denver rubbed the sleep from her eyes, pulled on her Colorado Stars' swim cap and made the Olympics in a second event. She used her patented second half of the race to finish second in the 200 freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials behind Allison Schmitt.
"It's definitely hard," Franklin said. "The emotions of this meet are unbelievable. You see people make it and you're so excited. You see people you want to make it who don't who get really sad and if you make it, obviously, it was real hard to fall asleep last night."
Her victory in Wednesday's 100 backstroke, in a world-season best 58.85, lifted a silo's worth of pressure off her. Franklin needed only a top six in the 200 freestyle to make the 200 x 4 relay team.
She entered the race with a second-seeded time of 1:55.06, nearly a second and a half faster than anyone else but top-seeded Allison Schmitt (1:55.04), the American record holder.
But combine the thrill of making the Olympics with a lack of sleep and swimming three races the day before and ... well, disaster hasn't been part of her vocabulary. She didn't want to start here.
"I still have to stay focused on my other races; I knew the 100 back was so awesome," Franklin said. "I'm so happy with it but I have to put it behind me now. It's over."
She followed her usual plot by starting slow. While Schmitt broke out to a world-record pace, Franklin hit the first wall in fifth. On the second leg, Schmitt wasn't slowing down and Franklin wasn't speeding up much.
With 100 meters left she was fourth. But, on the third 50 she mowed past Dana Vollmer and Lauren Perdue cq for second and held them off to the finish. Her 1:56.79 was well behind Schmitt's American record of 1:54.40 but well ahead of Vollmer's third-place 1:57.47.
"I knew Allison and Dana were going to be out there and they'd be out there fast," Franklin said. "I had to make sure I stayed in [the middle of] my own lane. I still need to work on that a little more. There are still a few things I need to tweak and hopefully I can do that before I get to London."
Said her coach, Todd Schmitz: "It went exactly as planned. I knew that side of the pool was going to be the fastest side with her and Dana and Allison lined up. I just said, 'Be out with them and I know what you can do in the last 50'' and, honestly, I said, 'Take second place.'"
Franklin earned her second individual event for London, but that doesn't mean she'll swim it. Schmitz said Team Franklin will consider dropping the 200 freestyle if they feel the workload is too heavy.
If she finishes in the top six in Saturday's 100 freestyle, she'll make the 4 x 100 relay team. Assuming she'll be on the medley relay, she could be swimming seven events in London.
Wednesday night she won the 100 back less than 18 minutes after finishing her semifinal in the 200 freestyle. The same schedule looms in London with a lot stiffer competition and three added relays.
However, her 1:55.06 best from last summer is the third fastest 200 freestyle time in the world.
"We probably have a few days after the Olympic Trials to decide," Schmitz said. "The competition at the world level is a lot stiffer than we have here. I want to look at the whole thing and make sure it's a successful venture.
"There's no doubt we can do doubles and triples but it's going to wear on you eventually."