Feigen takes fifth in 50 freestyle at Olympic Trials
July 1, 2012
OMAHA, Neb. -- Jimmy Feigen is likely to be named to the Olympic Team after his fifth-place performance in the 100 freestyle but on Sunday he still had one more race to swim, the finals of the 50 freestyle. Feigen went under 22.0 seconds for the second straight race as he clocked a 21.93 for fifth overall. He was one of five to swim under 22.0 on Sunday. "It is a quick race," said Feigen. "I hit my start pretty well and felt good until I got tired at the end. I guess that is due to the week's events. I am happy with the swim and happy with the time." Feigen made the finals in each of his two events on the week, placing fifth in both the 50 and 100 freestyle contests. In the past the United States has taken six swimmers in the 100 freestyle to the Olympics due to the 400 freestyle relay. Feigen is waiting for official word that he will be added to the roster. "It was good, but I wish my finals performances would have been a little bit better," said Feigen. "My times rank in the top 20 in the world so not too shabby." On hand to watch Feigen at the Olympic Trials were his parents Mike and Beth Feigen and his two older sisters, Annie and Lynn. "We all have our Team Jimmy shirts on," said Beth. "We also have a lot of people here in spirit. There are a lot of people who both of us work with who are tied to their television sets right now. After his races I have to step outside and answer about 50 text messages and phone calls because everybody is anxious to see what happens here." The Feigen family made the trip up from San Antonio where Mike is a retired radiologist and Beth is the Director of Student Health Services at UTSA. Both of Jimmy's sisters are married and made the trip to cheer on the rising star in the sprint freestyle events. "I was nervous and scared," said Beth. "There is definitely more pressure put on a person here, but if anybody can handle pressure Jimmy can. He has been doing it for years. He has always dealt with that nervousness a lot better than I have." Feigen has been swimming great leading up to the Olympic Trials. He won two individual NCAA Championships in the 50 and 100 freestyle events as well as swimming on the NCAA Championship 400 freestyle relay team. Then just a few weeks ago at the Longhorn Aquatics Invite in Austin Feigen won the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.63 to defeat Michael Phelps. While Feigen was on the national scene already that race was a boost of confidence as it came in the final event before Olympic Trials. "I was coming back from a conference in another area so I didn't get to see him beat Phelps," said Beth. "I was calling everyone and checking all the networks trying to see what happened with his race. Finally Jimmy called and said `Mom I am going to call you right back, you wouldn't believe what happened even if I told you.' I wasn't sure what happened and was thinking maybe he was disqualified or something. I couldn't believe it." Also on Sunday, Michael McBroom advanced to the finals of the 1,500m freestyle. He posted the fifth best time of the morning with a 15:10.32 to move on to the final eight. He will be the lone Texas swimmer competing on the final day of trials which starts at 6:45 p.m. Monday evening. Longhorns in 2012 Olympics Sunday, July 1 Finals Results 50 Freestyle Prelims Results 1500 Freestyle (91 swimmers)
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