As the defending World Championships gold medalist in the 200 free, Missy Franklin‘s gigantic swim on Friday evening isn’t really a surprise.
But still, as Franklin rounds out the midway point of her NCAA swan song, her time in the 200 yard freestyle boggles the mind. Missy Franklin not only became the first woman ever under 1:40 in the 200 yard free, but she went way under with a 1:39.10. That broke her own NCAA, American, and U.S. Open Records set last season in 1:40.31.
On Friday, Franklin won the 200 yard free at the 2015 Women’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships for the second-straight year, and also broke her all-time best swim for the second-straight year.
From her first stroke, Franklin was all-out. There was no holding back in this swim, it was a full 200 yard sprint (as evidenced by her 47.74 opening 100 – which taking the turn into consideration, isn’t a whole lot slower than she’ll be in the individual 100 on Saturday).
The comparative splits between last year and this year bear it out further:
Franklin 2014: 23.49/25.22/25.82/25.78 = 1:40.31
Franklin 2014: 22.98/24.76/25.17/26.19 = 1:39.10
The difference between last year and this year was almost entirely on the front-half. That aggressiveness is what she’s always showed in long course, but last year, there was nobody to challenge her in the first 100. The second-fastest front-half split last year was a 50.0. This year, with Simone Manuel riding second, it was good race strategy for Franklin to not give her Stanford opponent even a scent of the lead, and that paid off for Franklin with the final time.
With four of the top nine finishers in this race, the Cal women seem almost inevitable to break through another barrier later in the session and become the first 800 free relay ever under 6:50.
it’s GREAT to see her having FUN in COLLEGE SWIMMING!!! What a fantastic competition!
Some historical perspective:
Missy Franklin would have won Men’s NCAA in 1969, when Mark Spitz took the title in a 1:39.53. She would have won for men as recently as 1974, when Jim Montgomery won in 1:39.18.
Her pace for the 200 would have beaten the Women’s 100 free champion as recently as 1985 (won in 49.70 by Mary Wayte).
Missy’s first 50, even with a turn, even at the start of a 200, would have tied for the Women’s 50 free title as recently as 1984 (won by Krissie Bush in 22.98).
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/swimming_champs_records/2009-10/md1_swim.pdf
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/swimming_champs_records/2009-10/wd1_swim.pdf
Go Simone!!!! “This girl is on fire!!!!!!!” Well done Missy and Simone and all of the ladies that have worked so HARD!!!!! God be with you all!!!! Some are called to greatness.
Missy Franklin versus Jack Conger free to fly? Sound like a good matchup to anyone else?
Sounds great! If Cordes gets back to the top of his game in a few weeks I’d like to see Worrell 100 fly vs. Cordes 100 breast! He’s gonna have his hands full as it is, but it might take the prospect of getting “chicked” to get him under 50.0…
I don’t see her winning this event @ Kazan. Long course is different.
Of course she can win this in Kazan. Sjöströms 1:50 SCM being a sprinter is far better at the moment though.
She’ll have good competition, but she’s defending world champion, and if anything, she’s better at long than short course. In ’16 she may have to contend with Schmitty again! And in the meantime she’ll be pushed this summer by Sjostrom, Ledecky, and a slew of other 1:55’s from last year, but on balance I’d say she’s still the favorite.
I see that you guys corrected the day and Worlds instead of Olypmics, but you still have Missy swimming the individual 100 tomorrow. Did she actually swap individual events?! I’m hoping not, because as amazing as she did today, I still think she’s got a better shot of winning the 2Back then beating Manuel in the 100 free. Either way, we’ll be treated to great races tomorrow though.
Nice to see Cal girls swimming extremely fast and Missy going out on top. McKeever and her coaching staff are super.
Missy… SMASH