You are working on Staging1

2021 Pro Swim Series, San Antonio – Day 1 Live Recap

PRO SWIM SERIES – SAN ANTONIO (#2)

Day 1 of racing gets underway tonight at the second stop of the 2021 Pro Swim Series in San Antonio, Texas. While the meet will run Wednesday – Saturday, tonight we will see the women’s and men’s 1500 freestyles. Among those racing tonight will be two-time Olympian and women’s 1500 freestyle world record holder Katie Ledecky. Her most recent long course 1500 came almost a year ago today on March 4, 2020, when she swam a 15:29.51 in Des Moines.

Tonight’s session will be streamed on USA Swimming which can be accessed here.

Women’s 1500 Freestyle – Timed Final

Heat 1:

  1. Katie Ledecky – 15:42.92
  2.  Ashley Twitchell – 16:04.29
  3.  Erica Sullivan – 16:07.66
  4.  Haley Anderson – 16:11.73
  5.  Leah Smith – 16:11.80
  6.  Ally McHugh – 16:20.27
  7.  Katie Grimes – 16:20.35
  8.  Bella Sims – 16:21.22

World record holder Katie Ledecky established an early lead in the first heat and held on the whole way through. Ledecky touched in a 15:42.92, ahead of second-place finisher in the heat Ashley Twitchell (16:04.29) and third-place Erica Sullivan (16:07.66). Ledecky’s world record currently sits at a 15:20.48 which she hit back in 2018 and this is Ledecky’s 13th fastest time according to swimrankings.com.

Ashely Twitchell hit a 16:04.29 to claim second place which was just 10 seconds off her PB of 15:54.19 from 2019. Twitchell’s swim was a season-best, improving upon her 16:18.11 from Greensboro in November 2020.

Erica Sullivan was just 3 seconds behind Twitchell, touching in a 16:07.66 to trail her best time of 15:55.25 by just over 7 seconds. Sullivan was a bit quicker last earlier in the year when she hit a 16:01.71 in Knoxville in January 2021.

Haley Anderson and Leah Smith battled it out for fourth place with Anderson getting the upper hand by 0.07 seconds, touching in 16:11.73 to Smith’s 16:11.80. That was slower than both of their bests as Anderson has been a 16:04.26 and Smith a 16:00.82.

Ally McHugh and Katie Grimes also had a battle, touching just 0.08 seconds apart for 6th and 7th, respectively. Bella Sims rounded out the first heat a 16:21.22.

Heat 2:

  1. Paige Kuwata – 16:28.18
  2. Abby Dunford – 16:39.77
  3. Caroline Pennington – 16:47.08
  4. Sophia Karras – 16:53.07
  5. Rachel Stege – 17:00.56
  6. Ayumi Macias Alba – 17:15.31

Paige Kuwata from Sandpipers of Nevada raced to a heat 2 victory and 9th place overall finish in the 1500 with a 16:28.18 to knock a decent amount of time off her previous best time of 16:46.63. Kuwata is currently a junior in high school and has committed to swim at the University of Louisville beginning in the fall of 2022.

Kuwata’s teammate Abby Dunford touched 11 seconds later, hitting a 16:39.77 for 10th place overall. Dunford narrowly missed notching a new PB, swimming just 0.23 seconds over her fastest-ever swim of 16:39.54 which she swam in November 2020.

Caroline Pennington picked up 11th overall and third in heat 2 for the TAC Titans with a 16:47.08, missing her PB in the event of 16:33.21. Pennington will graduate high school this year and has committed to swim at the University of Virginia beginning next fall.

Sophia Karras (16:53.07), Rachel Stege (17:00.56), and Ayumi Macias (17:15.31) were 4th, 5th, and 6th in the heat giving them 12th-14th overall in the event.

Men’s 1500 Freestyle – Timed Final

  • World Record: Sun Yang – 14:31.02 (2012)
  • American Record: Connor Jaeger – 14:39.48 (2016)
  • U.S Open Record: Peter Vanderkay – 14:45.54 (2008)
  • World Junior Record: Franko Grgic – 14:46.09 (2019)
  • Pro Swim Series Record: Jordan Wilimovsky – 14:53.12 (2016)

Final Results:

  1. Jordan Wilimovsky – 15:15.28
  2. Will Gallant – 15:20.39
  3. Marwan El-Kamash – 15:27.06
  4. Chris Wieser – 15:31.86
  5. David Heron – 15:51.36
  6. Christian Bayo – 15:54.13

Top seed going into the event, Jordan Wilimovsky won gold in the 1500 freestyle with a 15:15.28, trailing his best time in the event by 14:45.03 which he swam at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Wilimovsky has been under 15:00 in the event 9 times with his most recent being at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, where we swam a 14:59.94. Wilimovsky’s most recent long course 1500 was last year in Des Moines when he swam a 15:12.49.

Will Gallant swam a near-best time in the event, hitting a 15:20.39 to his PB of 15:18.39 from November 2020 in Greensboro. Gallant raced collegiately for the Indiana Hoosiers last year but has redshirted this year in order to train with Mission Viejo Nadadores in California.

Behind Gallant was Egyptian Olympian Marwan El-Kamash who touched with a 15:27.06 for the bronze medal. El-Kamash was just quicker than the 15:32.43 that he swam at the 2019 African Games.

Just missing the podium, Chris Wieser came in at a 15:31.86 for fourth which trailed his person best of 15:09.70 from 2016. David Heron and Christian Bayo were 5th with a 15:51.36 and 6th with a 15:54.13, respectively.

In This Story

28
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

28 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
SHARKSPEED
3 years ago

Would Ledecky place 5th among men? Impressive!!

Gramgju
3 years ago

Where did you say 2019 World Championships were?

cynthia curran
3 years ago

Mission Viejo trying to get another person on the Olympic team since 1976. The young guy got second.

Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

Ledecky gets 5th overall (men and women).

fwiw
3 years ago

I like Ledecky I really do but prolonged dominance in distance swimming is really difficult and her range in 2016 was ungodly. I know she trains her a** but I think she should drop the individual 200. gonna be a dog fight in 400 with the australian. without the 200 she’s got odds on favorite for 8 and 15. she can swim 200 at trials and make relay. may get a lot of hate but what do people think ?

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  fwiw
3 years ago

Why should she drop it if she qualifies for it and wants to swim it?

VA Steve
3 years ago

Give the Katie comments, Jordan is about to get pounded!

swimfan210_
3 years ago

Ledecky 15:42.92 – didn’t update yet. Fastest time in the world this season. Great to see her swim again, have quite a few memories of watching her swim at PSS. Maybe haven’t seen her swim in a while, but that looked pretty hard, not very smooth. She really saves her legs.

PVSFree
3 years ago

Crazy that Katie is still only 23. She’s been around for nearly a decade at this point

Coach
Reply to  PVSFree
3 years ago

It’s not easy to get to the top. It’s even harder to stay there. What she has done since 2012 is remarkable.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »