Shanteau Sets American Record -- Twice -- in 200-Meter Breaststroke

INDIANAPOLIS, July 11 -- A year ago at this time, Eric Shanteau fretted and trained, trained and fretted. He had testicular cancer diagnosed days before the Olympic trials, qualified for the team in the 200-meter breaststroke, then put off the necessary surgery to remove his cancerous testicle until after the Summer Games.

When it was all over -- the Olympics, the surgery, the panic and preparation -- Shanteau felt lost. He did not know what to do next. And his worries were far from over.

So he got back in the pool. As many of his Olympic teammates vacationed, Shanteau, 25, worked himself into the best shape of his life. And it's paid off in a way he could never have imagined.

Shanteau capped a great day, an excellent week and a stunning year Saturday night with a runaway victory in the 200 breast in 2 minutes 08.01 seconds. The dominant performance gave Shanteau his first U.S. title and his second American record of the day in the event.

It also gave him his fourth berth on the U.S. team that will compete at the late-July world championships in Rome.

"My situation has been pretty [lousy] -- for the past two years," Shanteau said. "I kind of have light at the end of the tunnel now. There's some bright spots shining through now, which is nice. I've been through a lot of hard spots."

Added Shanteau: "I'm obviously very, very happy."

Neither of Saturday's races was even close. In the evening's race, Shanteau topped second-place finisher Adam Klein by more than two seconds; Klein touched the wall in 2:10.39, as Shanteau already was celebrating. Curtis Lovelace finished third in 2:10.96.

"When I was behind those blocks," Shanteau said, "I was probably more relaxed than I've ever been."

In his morning preliminary heat, Shanteau had been urged on by announcer Sam Kendricks, who riled a sleepy crowd at the Indiana University natatorium into a bit of a frenzy. He touched the wall in 2:08.43 seconds, going under Brendan Hansen's 2006 American mark of 2:08.50.

That mark had stood as the world record until June, when Japan's Kosuke Kitajima swam a 2:07.51 in Tokyo.

"Obviously, I was shooting for it, but not necessarily this morning," said Shanteau, who has competed this week in Arena's acclaimed new X-Glide suit. "It's kind of funny that the first American record I would break comes in a preliminary swim."

Shanteau has qualified for the world championships in three events, the 100 and 200 breast and 200 individual medley, and he also will have the option of swimming in the 50 breast in Rome -- though Shanteau said competing in four individual events might be too taxing.

"It's a lot," Shanteau said. "People see Michael [Phelps] doing 50 million events. We're not all like Michael."

For the moment, it's not so bad to be Eric Shanteau. Shanteau's parents are here watching, another bonus for the Georgia native. His father, Rick, found out he had terminal lung cancer about a year before Shanteau received his diagnosis. But unlike his son, Rick Shanteau did not have the option of surgery, or the hope of being cured.

"He's here, two years after being diagnosed," Shanteau said. "I think for the situation he's in, and what he was given, you can't ask for anything more.

"It's everything," Shanteau also said. "All aspects of my life are going very well right now."

A competitive turnaround, Shanteau said, came at the short-course U.S. championships in Atlanta last December. Few Olympians bothered to attend that meet, but Shanteau had been undergoing heavy workouts and weight training at his training home in Austin for two months.

Largely unnoticed, he posted personal-best times in several events. He could not, he said, believe it.

It was then that Shanteau directed his training toward improvement rather than merely escape. For a while, he sought distraction; he hadn't bothered chasing concrete goals. But as time went on, and the blood tests he must take for the rest of his life continued coming up negative, he realized he could still swim -- and, perhaps, better than he had before the cancer.

"I definitely surprised myself at the short-course nationals in December when I went all best times," he said. "That was kind of like the start of things. . . . That was really like the turning point of my career."

There is more, Shanteau hopes. He wants the world record. He wants a strong performance at the July 26-Aug. 2 world championships, a medal or two. At the Olympics last year, he finished 10th.

"It's different this year," Shanteau said. "I don't have a gorilla on my back going into the world championships. . . . In the last year, I've learned a lot about myself, what I'm capable of, and I think I got to prove that to myself this week."