A few days ago we took a closer look at the entries for some of the US’s up and coming male swimmers, specifically three of the young men highlighted in a recent Gold Medal Minute video. Today we’re going to take a quick look at the women’s side, and talk about a few of the more interesting or significant event lineups or specific entries for this week.
Here’s the psych sheet. Did you see something else interesting as you looked through? Leave a comment below.
Katinka Hosszu — Everything
The Iron Lady is once again entered in each and every individual event. She was also entered in all 17 individual events for the Charlotte Pro Series, but actually swam the full seven events. It will be interesting to see if she sticks with those seven events here, or mixes her lineup around a little as she seeks to keep her Pro Series lead and prepare for Kazan this summer. In Charlotte, she swam the 200 free, 400 IM, 200 fly, 400 free, 100 back, 200 IM, and the 200 backstroke.
Elizabeth Beisel – 1500 Freestyle
Beisel is an established swim star, having already won two Olympic medals and a World Championship gold. Maybe that fact makes it all the more interesting that she’s slated to swim the 1500 tonight. According to the SWIMS database, she hasn’t contested this event since 2008. Her personal best, a 16:59.39, came when she just 14, and has her ranked at 88th all-time the 13-14 national age group. She also swam a 17:10.54 when she was 12, still good for fifth in the 11-12 age group.
She is also entered in the 200 free, 400 IM, 200 fly, 100 back, 400 free, 200 IM, and 200 back, although she can only swim seven events total. She will be representing the US in the 200 back and the 400 IM at Kazan this summer.
Elizabeth Pelton — 200 Freestyle
Pelton is still looking for her first Olympic berth, and with her freestyle developing, it could be one her best options to make the team next summer. While she is primarily known for her backstroke, she’ll face stiff resistance in the 100 and 200 backstroke, especially from her Cal teammates Missy Franklin and Rachel Bootsma, among others. Meanwhile, while Franklin and Katie Ledecky seem to be the clear top two, there will be plenty of women vying one of four relay spots next summer, and Pelton could be in that mix. She is one of eleven women whose seed time in the 200m free here is a 1:58, and was consistent all college season in yards as a member of Califrnia’s record-setting 4×200 relay. Her personal best time of 1:58.52, done at the 2013 Santa Clara Grand Prix would have qualified her each major US international team from 2013 to this summer, and was just over a tenth of a second behind Alyssa Anderson‘s sixth-place time at the 2012 Olympic Trials. How she performs this weekend may have an impact on how much focus she puts on this event leading up to trials next summer.
I hope Beisel is back and clear from her injury 🙂 good luck to her! I have always loved watching her swim.
I hope the Santa Clara meet organizers have done the one most important thing to make this event more watchable: PUT SOLID COLOR LANE LINES BETWEEN LANES 3-5. That’s the way they do it in the Olympics and the World Championships. Why? So that fans have a much easier time picking out who is in which lane.
Using all the same color lane lines for the whole pool is an obsolete practice from another era, and should be discontinued.
I don’t think they have an extra set of lane lines for competition and they probably won’t by another set (given the cost) before this pool is demolished. I’m sure the new pool will have the right ones.
And this is a 9 lane pool so makes it even harder to find the top seed, etc.
there are probably 30 girls who think they have a shot for spots #3-6 in the 200 free at Trials next summer.
i think Beisel is probably swimming the 1500 for points for the BMW and that is the only reason.
Name 30.
Schmitt, Vreeland, Smith, McLaughlin, Margalis, Mattern, Hoff, Runge, DiRado, Pelton, Chenault, Beisel, Drabot, Manuel, Neal, Henry, Cheng, Romano, Goss, Bispo, Allen, Ryan, Stafford, Murez, Moseley, Flickenger, Baker, Anderson, Pickeram, Brown…
So these are people I think have a realistic shot at top six based on best times in this quad (2013-present), age, and potential. Almost all of these names have been on some sort of international team, whether junior or senior.
Missy Franklin, Katie Ledecky, Allison Schmitt, Shannon Vreeland, Katie Hoff (1:58.29), Jordan Mattern (1:58.27), Katie McLaughlin (1:58.00), Kiera Janzen (1:58,28), Quinn Carrozza (1:58.31), Cierra Runge (1:58.35), Maya Dirado (1:58.41), Liz Pelton (1:58.52), Chelse Chenault (1:58.60), Elizabeth Beisel (1:58.66), Katie Drabot (1:58.73), Simone Manuel (1:58.77), Lia Neal (1:58.87), Sarah Henry (1:58.89), Megan Romano (1:58.99, has been 1:57), Karlee Bispo (1:59.10, but split a 1:57 at worlds), Madisyn Cox (1:59.22), Emily Allen (1:59.45), and Stanzi Moseley (1:59.88)
I feel like Allen… Read more »