2016 Atlanta Classic
- Friday, May 13th — Sunday, May 15th
- Prelims 9:00 AM (Eastern Time)
- Finals 6:00 PM (Eastern Time)
- Georgia Tech McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
SCHEDULE
Friday:
- 200 Free
- 100 Breast
- 100 Fly
- 400 IM
Saturday:
- 200 Fly
- 50 Free
- 100 Back
- 200 Breast
- 400 Free
Sunday:
- 200 IM
- 200 Back
- 100 Free
- Women’s 800 Free
- Men’s 1500 Free
Less than a month after the short course pool record board was decimated during the NCAA championships, the best swimmers in the country will return to Atlanta’s McAuley Aquatic Center on Georgia Tech’s campus to participate in the Atlanta Classic this weekend. Though two pro-caliber meets are taking place this weekend, the meet in Atlanta will boast 37 national-teamers and 22 junior national-teamers, despite contending against a USA Swimming-sponsored Pro Swim Series meet in Charlotte. Some of the biggest names competing in Atlanta include Nathan Adrian, Natalie Coughlin, Elizabeth Beisel, Simone Manuel, Maya Dirado, Melanie Margalis, Eugene Godsoe, David Nolan, and Andrew Gemmell.
5 STORYLINES TO WATCH
- Caeleb Dressel Swimming 200 Free and 100 Fly: On Friday, the first day of competition, we will get a peek at what Caeleb Dressel can do in the 200 free and the 100 fly. For now, both events, along with the 100 breast, are on his schedule for Olympic Trials, though coach Gregg Troy has stated that the schedule is subject to change. While Troy has great faith in Dressel’s ability to do exceptionally well in each race, the two have not yet decided which they will drop and which they will keep (in addition to the 50 and 100 frees) come Olympic Trials. Perhaps after Friday everyone will have a better idea.
- NCAA Champions Returning to ATL: Ryan Murphy, Townley Haas, Jack Conger, Hali Flickinger, Joseph Schooling, Will Licon, Josh Prenot, Ella Eastin, Olivia Smoliga, and of course Caeleb Dressel. And this list only contains NCAA swimmers that got to stand atop the podium within the last year. Many other NCAA participants and finalists will be at Georgia Tech, getting their feel for long course racing back before the summer season kicks off.
- Ledecky Sprinting, Plus Swimming IM: In addition to the 200, 400, and 800 freestyles that Ledecky will swim in Atlanta, she is also entered in the 100 free, the 200 IM, and the 400 IM. While Ledecky won’t be swimming the IM’s at Olympic Trials, she will swim the 100 free, where she hopes to at least make it on the 4 x 100 relay. Ledecky is seeded sixth in the 100, despite having the fastest time of any American female this year. Having just come down from altitude training in Colorado where Olympian Conor Dwyer said Ledecky was “breaking guys” during practice, expect her to be fast as ever.
- North vs. South American Sprinter Showdowns: Joining Nathan Adrian and Caeleb Dressel in the sprint frees are Bruno Fratus and Marcelo Chierighini of Olympic host nations Brazil, and Renzo Tjon a Joe of Suriname. Fratus placed fourth in London in the 50 free, but he won a bronze medal at the FINA Word Championships last summer in Kazan. Chierighini won the 100 free at the Maria Lenk championship meet in Brazil last month with a time of 48.23. Renzo Tjon A Joe is also the fastest swimmer from Suriname since Anthony Nesty, who Pablo Morales famously held off for the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
- Wilson-Whitley-Prenot-Licon Breaststroke Battles: Division-3-phenom Andrew Wilson, NAG-record-holder Reece Whitley, and NCAA champions Josh Prenot and Will Licon are the top four seeds in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes this weekend. Prenot is currently ranked 4th in the world in the 200 breast, and Wilson is ranked 12th in the 100. It will be interesting to see which order the four of them place in, or whether someone else can knock any of them out of the top four. It is very possible that these four will make up half of either, if not both, of the championship finals of the breaststroke races in Omaha.
Is there some reason that so many national team members have chosen to swim in Atlanta rather than Charlotte?
The Charlotte GP wasn’t on the USA Schedule at the beginning of the year because they didn’t know if the pool was going done its renovation in time. So the Atlanta meet was formed and people committed to that….then Charlotte saw that their renovation was going to be done so they put it on the schedule.
I too wish it was going to be streamed!
There are others not at either meet beside Missy….Michael Phelps, Allison Schmitt, Chase Kalisz, Nic Fink, all the Cal girls, etc. Other commitments, not in their plan, whatever…..
Thank you!
It appears that the Charlotte meet has the USA Swimming live stream but not Atlanta. I could be wrong but this is the impression I am getting on the USA Swimming site.
I noticed that some unfamiliar names are at or near the top of some seedings. I guess that they have SCY times that haven’t been flagged.
I’d say Anthony Nesty is a lot better known for what he did in ’88 — when he beat Biondi for gold in the 100 fly by 0.01
Is there no live stream?
Yes, I would love an answer to this also.
Just a small correction, but Bruno Fratus did not beat Nathan at the World Champs.
Pan Pacs
Brittney MacLean also stood atop that NCAA podium and will be participating in Atlanta Classic. She may also own a few of those aforementioned pool records.