OMAHA, NEB. — Centennial’s Missy Franklin, at age 13 the second-youngest swimmer at the U.S. Olympic Trials, finished 40th in the 200 individual medley Tuesday in a personal best of 2 minutes, 18.77 seconds.
It beat her previous best of 2:19.12.
“I was a little nervous coming in, especially when I heard the 8,000 people,” said Franklin, who will be an eighth grader at Powell Middle School. I just got out there and just got up on the blocks and was focusing and it’s just another pool and just another race.”
Did she believe it?
“Yeah, except for the spectators,” she said. “They outnumbered the other meets by a little.”
Franklin actually led her heat after the backstroke — the halfway point — but fell behind winner Sarah Henry in the breaststroke and stood fourth going into the final 50. However, a strong kick in the freestyle gave Franklin second place in her heat, 3.09 seconds behind the qualifying mark for the semis.
“My breaststroke is my worst stroke so I kind of expected to behind on that,” Franklin said. “She’s just a phenomenal breaststroker.”
