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U.S. OLYMPIC SWIM TRIALSJuly 2, 2016Leah SmithOmaha, Nebraska Q. Congrats. LEAH SMITH: Thank you. Q. How did you feel about your swim? LEAH SMITH: I'm pretty happy with it, because I went into this meet with an 8:24, so I dropped four seconds off my best time, but would have loved to have been 8:20. Q. How tough is it with somebody so far ahead and everybody else a decent amount behind? LEAH SMITH: Sometimes it's tough, because you obviously want to be racing the person who is leading, but then you can get caught up in racing people that are behind you. I mean, this meet I've just been trying to inch a little bit closer to racing the leader, so I'd just say it's helpful to get faster to race those people. Q. (No microphone.) LEAH SMITH: I mean, it does a lot for my confidence, especially because I didn't swim any individual events at Worlds last summer, and I had hoped to, so swimming well here just gives me the confidence that I can be a medal contender, which is what the US needs. Q. You had such a great NCAA meet. Is it easier as a distance swimmer to make the long course changeover? LEAH SMITH: Yeah, I definitely like the mile better long course -- or the mile better short course than the mile long course. I think it just depends on who you are, like if turns help you out and if they don't. I mean, being in the (Away from mic.) And I know they weren't great. Yeah, I think it helps because I can churn out pretty hard long course workouts. Q. (No microphone.) LEAH SMITH: Um, well, my coaches were pretty happy with me because they basically said that I didn't race to get second; I raced to win it, and even though I wasn't going in there thinking I'm definitely going to be here, I don't want to go into a race accepting one position or the other. I think that's just kinda the way I've been since I was little, though. That's just how I race. Q. Were you that way tonight? LEAH SMITH: Yeah, my times in prelims weren't anywhere near hers, so I was just hoping to close the gap a little bit more and didn't really do that, but I wasn't just going to go into the race like -- what I really did not want to do was be like, I already made the team, I don't care about this one, because I really do care about it. Q. (No microphone.) LEAH SMITH: I would say I think she swims her races similar to the way I swim them, like tries to take it out and sees what she has, and I think that's definitely one of her strengths. It can make the rest of the competitors pretty worried on the front half if you're taking it out, so I think that's probably one of her best strengths, and I think everybody tries to do that, too. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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