2016 Arena Pro Swim Series At Austin: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

• Friday, January 15 – Sunday, January 17
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, University of Texas
• Austin, Texas
• Psych sheets
• Meet website
• Live Stream 
• Live Results
• Friday Finals Heat Sheet

WOMEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

Swedish showstopper, Sarah Sjostrom, just threw down sheer speed tonight, clocking a new U.S. Open Record in the women’s first event. Sjostrom’s 53.12 blasted over a tenth off of the previous mark held by Australian Cate Campbell since 2008. Sjostrom split 25.83/27.29 to surge ahead of the field and touch comfortably ahead of America’s Katie Ledecky.

Ledecky’s time in itself was extraordinary (53.75), however, as the 18-year-old world record holder blasted her first sub-54-second time in the event. Coming into this meet, Ledecky’s quickest mark was the 54.55 she clocked at this same meet last year. Not only does that place Ledecky in the world’s top 5 for the season, it absolutely enters her into the conversation for 4 x 100m freestyle relay contention. World-record times across 1500m/800m/400m and now a huge contender in the 200m and a sub-54 100?  Bow down.

American Abby Weitzeil scored the bronze medal time tonight, registering 54.00 for her effort. Weitzeil was 54.21 in prelims, so she shaved a nice two tenths off of her morning swim to finish on the podium to finish with a personal best.

MEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

Despite being the top seed of the morning, Frenchman Jeremy Stravius was overtaken by American Nathan Adrian tonight, although both clocked sub-49-second marks. Adrian registered a time of 48.91 to lead the field, with Stravius touching just behind in 48.96.  Adrian’s time is over half a second slower than the 48.31 he swam in Kazan and Stravius’ mark is well-off his 48.34 he swam earlier this November, most likely pointing to where these men are at in their training at the moment.

SwimMAC Elite’s newest member, Jimmy Feigen, rounded out the top three with his time of 49.20. That time is right where Feigen was at this time last year at the Aquatic Super Series in Perth, where he touched in 49.20. Nonetheless, for Feigen fans it’s encouraging to see the sprinter dip beneath the 50-second-threshold.

Remember, there have already been a handful of Brazilians who raged sub-49-second times at the 1st of 2 Brazilian Olympic-qualifying meets, putting the world on notice.

WOMEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

It was a 1-2 American finish in the 200m breaststroke on the women’s side, led by Bluefish Swim’s Laura Sogar. Splitting 32.71/37.06/37.31/37.61, Sogar comfortably beat out the field by over two seconds to win the event.

Her partner in crime tonight was Tennessee Aquatics’ Molly Hannis, who touched in 2:26.73 for silver, knocking about a second off of her morning swim. Hannis has only been sub-2:26 3 times in her young career, so a 2:26-high is a nice swim for the 23-year-old.

Bronze this evening went to Nation Capital youngster Anna Belousova. At just 19, Belousova was the youngest swimmer of the A-final, although Lakeside’s Brooke Forde was the absolute youngest of both A and B Finals at just 16 years of age. Belousova touched painstakingly close to Hannis, only .03 of a second behind.

Of note, SwimMAC Elite’s Katie Meili roared to the B-Final wall with a winning time of 2:23.69, a mark which beat all of the A-finalists. That time is now positioned as the 5th-fastest in the world this season.

MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

It was a tightly-contested race in the men’s A-Final, with the top 3 finishers touching less than 4 tenths apart. Josh Prenot was able to beat out the field, stopping the clock at 2:10.26. That sits as Prenot’s 4th-fastest time of his career, with his fastest ever being that of the 2:08.90 he scored last July at the World University Games.

Nic Fink swam swift enough for 2nd place after blasting the field’s only sub-30 split on the first 50m. His final time was 2:10.51, followed by Kevin Cordes who touched in 2:10.63.  For Cordes, that mark is towards the quick-ish end of his time spectrum, which ranges from 2:07.86 to 2:16.

WOMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

Did we say showstopper after the women’s 100m freestyle race?  Multiply that by infinity and you have Sjostrom, tonight’s winner of the 100m butterfly event, again in a new U.S. Open Record. Sjostrom touched the just .01 of a second behind American Dana Vollmer at the turn (26.50 Vollmer, 26.51 Sjostrom), only to blast a 29.87 closing 50m split to take the win in a final mark of 56.38.

Sjostrom’s time surpassed the old U.S. Open time of 56.42 held by Vollmer since 2012, but Vollmer finished in fine fashion herself tonight in a time of 57.61. That time shaved just .01 of a second off of her morning swim, but is still the fastest since she returned to racing last year. Vollmer has only been improving since she has gotten back into the swing of competing, so her time tonight is good news for Americans, who still have Kelsi Worrell, Claire Donahue and a few youngsters in their butterfly arsenal.

For their efforts tonight, Sjostrom and Vollmer now own the top 2 times of the season in the event.

Noemie Thomas brought home the bronze with her time of 58.38.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

30-year-old Michael Phelps raced his way to a solid win tonight, taking gold in the sprint fly event in a time of 51.94. That mark sits within MP’s Top 10 since coming out of retirement and is a solid start to his 2016 season. Phelps pulled a dirty double, having already swum the 100m freestyle tonight, where he finished out of the medals (6th, 49.77). Splits for Phelps in this fly race were 24.69/27.25 and his signature smooth stroke came on strong to beat out a surging Tom Shields. 

Shields split 24.85/27.54 to claim runner-up to Phelps in a time of 52.39. Tim Phillips registered a mark of 52.61 for 3rd place tonight.

Phelps now owns the world’s 2nd- and 5th-fastest times in the event so far this season.

WOMEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – FINAL

Speaking of dirty doubles, as if Ledecky didn’t already blow our minds with her scorching 53.75 100m freestyle, she turns right around and sets a new pool record in the 400m free event. 3:59.54 got the job done for Ledecky tonight, as she started out under World Record pace, yet finished about 5 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Ledecky’s time tonight was less than a second off of the U.S. Open Record, which she holds at 3:58.86. She now represents the only sub-4-minute swimmer of the season, but still holds the top 2 times in the world this season.

MEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – FINAL

Solid swimming in the men’s final, with the top 3 finishers all scoring times under the 3:51 mark. Leading the pack was Frenchman Jordan Pothain, who touched first in 3:50.06. That time is the 2nd-fastest of Pothain’s career, with just the 3:49.66 he registered in Moscow last summer having been faster.

The Woodlands’ Michael McBroom made a move at about the halfway mark, with McBroom spouting out a couple of 29-low 50s to Pothain’s 29-high’s, but the Frenchman would ultimately not be denied. McBroom finished just .09 of a second behind in 3:50.17, with Trojan Swim Club’s Mads Glaesner also standing on the podium in 3rd in 3:50.81.  Glaesner actually threw down the swiftest final 50m of the field, clocking 27.65 to McBroom’s 27.77 and Pothain’s 28.27.