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Jackson Wilcox to Rome and the 2009 World Championships |
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Welcome to Jackson Wilcox's 2009 World Championship blog! Jackson has offered to let us follow along as he represents the United States in Rome! We will post information as it arrives, so check back frequently!
to email Jackson! Jackson's Texas Longhorns Profile Universal Sports US Championships Recap
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8-4-09 - 9:16 PM CT I'm finally back home in Nashville. It was a great trip overall. The last few days of the meet were very exciting for team USA. We crushed the point and medal scores. Overall I think it was a great meet for us. I know for me, this meet was one step in the road to London. This experience has given me a whole lot to go back to Austin and train with. I learned so much from my coaches and teammates. Placing 12th and 14th in my respective events is a great start, but I have left Rome wanting more. Thanks again to everyone for all of support, and thanks to the great coaches at NAC for letting me share my experience. God Bless, ~Jackson~ 8-3-09 - 7:19 AM CEST ~Jackson~ 7-30-09 - 10:27 PM CEST Hey guys. As most have you have seen, it's been quite an exciting meet here in Rome. World Record after World Record. Some seriously fast swimming. Team USA has had some really great swims. Too many to recant. Spirits are high and everyone is still in the zone putting out fast times. I swam the 800 on Tuesday, and was happy with my swim. I finished up 14th overall. The finals was incredibly fast. My teammate Peter Vanderkaay had a personal best swim in the final, which was exciting. So now I prepare for the big mile on Saturday. I'm in the last heat, with some very fast swimmers. It should be a lot of fun. I'll post again soon. Time for bed. Thanks for the notes. ~Jackson~ 7-26-09 - 10:31 PM CEST Hey guys. The meet started today, and what a great way to begin the meet for Team USA. There were some great swims from my teammates. My training partners Dan Madwed and Peter Vanderkaay had awesome 400s, with Dan barely missing the final. Peter placed 4th at finals with a 3:43.20. Eric Shanteau and Mark Gangloff both made the semifinals. Eric broke the AR record and will be in the finals tommorrow night. The girls are swimming great as well, with Ariana Kukors dominating the WR in 200IM semis tonight. Alison Schmidt had a great 400 and placed 4th. Dana Vollmer made the finals in the 100 fly. Individually it was an awesome day for us. However, the highlight for me was the 4x100 Free Relays. The girls had some great splits. Went from 8th to 4th on the last lef, swum by Vollmer. The mens relay was so exciting. It is too much to explain what happend, but if you go to Omega Timing and look at the splits it is easy to tell what a great race it was. The US relay took first with a great split on the end by Nathan Adrian. This is shaping up to be an incredibly fast meet. I can't beleive i witnessed Ian Thorpes 400 Free record go down. Bierdemen had an unbelievable negative split (1:51.0-1:49.0). I have already forgotted the WR count so far. As for myself, I am getting prepared for the 800 Free on tuesday. I am really excited about this race. It would be great to make the final...should take somewhere in the low 7:50s (or faster looking at the way things are going!). Jon has had me doing wither 50s or 100s pace after a 2000 or so warm-up. I have been feeling great and hope that feeling stays with me throughout the meet. USA swimming has provided us with ice baths and trainers to make sure we have all we need. I am taking full advantage of these perks. I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks for the notes of encouragement everyone! ~Jackson~ 7-23-09 - 10:37 PM CEST Hey everyone. I'm in Rome in one piece. Traveling went wonderfully. We were able to fly out from Riccione instead of a bus...it made all the difference. We had a short practice to swim off the travel. The pool looks great. Pictures outbound soon. FINA really did a great job. It looks like the next few days all the teams will be getting here. It's supposed to be a HUGE meet (~1600 athletes). Our accommodations are outstanding as usual...with great, catered food. Our hotel (Crowne Plaza), actually has an outdoor 25m pool, which will be great for light swims and wake-up practices. I, along with the rest of the team, greatly look forward to the start of the 2009 FINA World Champs. Thanks for all the emails of support. ~Jackson~ 7-21-2009 - 11:40 PM CEST Hey everyone. It's a little late but I have to morning off, so I'm just relaxing out on the balcony of my hotel room. Its a beautiful night here in Riccione. I hope all is well in the States. Nothing new here. Just more training. We leave this Thursday.
This time we fly to As far as my swimming next week goes, the meet starts on Sunday, and I swim prelims of the 800 on Tuesday. Prelims for the mile are on Friday. It would be great to make a final in one of those events.It may take some serious time-drops, but I will be giving it everything I have to drop more time. It's been great weather since we've been here, and I hope it stays that way. Swimming outside is different, but a nice change. I have sent some pictures of the pool we are training in. Its a great facility. (Photo 1 | Photo 2) Well, it's about time to get to bed. Thanks for reading and go USA! ~Jackson~ 7-19-09 - 4:29 CEST Greetings from Riccione! I hope all is well back in the states. I apologize for not writing again sooner, but I have been pretty busy and the internet here is not very reliable. Everything is going quite smoothly here, and I am having a blast! It is great fun training with Jon Urbanchek and the other mid-distance/ distance guys. Practices have been very demanding, but it looks like we are starting to rest up for Rome. The team looks great and is in good spirits. We have a solid amount of free time, so we have all had the chance to explore part of the town. Today we all went out to the beach and got some sun. Yesterday in practice we wore suits to do some pace. This was also an opportunity to wear a suit you have not previously tried out. I tried the new Arena suit for the first time. I have not quite experienced anything like that. It was most definitely the fastest suit I have ever worn. I did things in practice yesterday I never have done before. I think I will be swimming in it at Rome. Well that’s about it from here. I’m still working on getting some pictures sent. By the way, if anyone has questions or comments, you can email me at . I would be happy to answer any questions through the blog NAC has set up for me. Thanks and God Bless. ~Jackson~ 7-15-09 – 9:34 PM CEST Well, I made it safe and sound. It was smooth traveling for the most part, but also quite tedious. We flew out from Indy to Washington D.C and then to Rome at 6:30 Eastern after a two hour layover. The flight to Rome was about eight hours long. Fortunately, I was asleep for about 6 of them. We arrived at 8:30 AM CEST in the Rome airport. From there, we crammed onto two buses and drove six hours east! After we arrived at our hotel in Riccione, Italy (site of the training camp until the championships start) we were overwhelmed by a plethora of gorgeous and delicious food. Our accommodations are very nice and will be a lot of fun over the next week and a half. As far as training is going, I have and will continue to be under the direction of Jon Urbanchek. Jon is one of the best distance coaches in the country and I could not be happier. A few years ago, Jon came to NAC to speak to us and watch us train. Since then, he has always been kind to remember me and throw me the occasional tip here and there. It is very cool to me that I can now swim under his lead. I haven’t had many practices with the National Team, but the ones I have had so far have been very difficult, yet fun. I am having a blast. I am with a great group of guys: Peter Vanderkaay, Dan Madwed, Tyler Clary, Brennan Morris, and myself. Occasionally, some of the middle-distance guys, like Michael Phelps, Ricky Berens, Dave Walters, and Ryan Lochte will come over to do a few workouts with us. All in all, everyone is already working very hard to be better than we were at Trials last week. Our hotel is right on the beautiful beaches of the Adriatic Sea. Hopefully we will be able to get some sun! My teammate Kathleen Hersey is nice enough to upload some pictures for me, so those will be up soon. Thanks again for all of the support. ~Jackson~ 7-14-09 - 5:31 PM Eastern First of all, let me say thank you to all of those who have been extremely supportive and congratulatory to me these past few exciting days. I am extremely excited to represent the United States, University of Texas, and Nashville Aquatic Club at the FINA World Championships. I have been asked to keep track of my progress, and some of the awesome coaches at NAC will be posting this for all to read. This will be more a quick note, as we are boarding the plane to Rome as I write this. I have been training with some of the world's best these past few days, and I very much look forward to preparing further for World Champs. Thanks again to all for all of the support. I will represent well. ~ Jackson ~ |
