4-time Olympic medalist Simone Manuel owned the sprint frees at the Mesa Pro Swim. Her 24.6 50m free currently ranks her 7th in the world. Simone was happy with the swim considering she’s not been working speed and power. According to her, since NCAAs, it’s been all about building a base for the summer season.
Simone’s on track for a great performance a U.S. World Championship Trials in late June in Indy and the FINA World Championships in Budapest. I think she sweeps the 50 and 100 freestyle. I’d like to see a sub 24 second 50m free. Her personal best is the 24.07 she clocked in Rio. I’d like to see a 52 low, 52.1-3, in the 100m free. She tied for Olympic Games gold with Penny Oleksiak at 52.70, her lifetime best swim. My prediction: 23+ 50m free and 52.2 100m free is enough to pick up two individual gold medals at World Championships. What do you think?
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Just a reminder:
Manuel swam 53.36 (flat start) in the 4×100 free relay in Rio and 52.43 (flying start) in the 4×100 medley. These two swims indicate that even in her Rio shape she was probably not able to replicate this 52.7. She was clearly a 52.9-53.0 swimmer.
I think swimming 52.6 would be an excellent improvement
For next GMM.
Will Sjostrom sweep 50 and 100 free and fly at Worlds?
I know that a 200 flier Olympic gold dislikes the easy previews ?, but perhaps this is more probable than a 50/100 free golden sweep from Manuel…
She can do it. Three girls have the opportunity/capability to win 4 individual Golds in Budapest. She is one of them.
They coudi but it would be exclusive & elitist . – 3 girls winning 12/17 events. That leaves breastroke as the great hope for diversity & inclusivity .
Anyhow its in the EU & I’m sure there are laws against it .
It wouldn’t go against the laws, otherwise the 200fly and the 50back are there too :).
It’s only an exciting and historical possibility, not more.
One of these three has definitely the capability to repeat such a feat. Another one has opportunity and capability to make the achievement of historical magnitude in sprint. The third one needs really a great deal of luck to win three titles and a miracle to win four. But to be that lucky for two years in a row …. She has to sale her soul for that if it hasn’t been sold already. She wishes she belonged to this club of greatest.
Simone will break both world records this year 51.77 and 23.54, otherwise she is an imposter to the crown!
You’ve departed Mel Stewart Land and gone straight off into Bill Bell territory there.
What are you smoking?
weed ! lol
Sjostrom is on fire right now, setting personal bests in-season, and now that she’s dropped the 200 free from her program, she’s dialed into the sprint events in a way she hasn’t been able to before. All signs point to this being the Summer of Sarah, and everyone else is swimming for second. The sprinter I see having the major breakthrough this summer is Rikako Ikee. Her stroke is beautiful, fluid, and powerful. It reminds me a lot of Therese Alshammar’s.
Most expectations of Simone Manuel improving her personal best at 100 are based on her recent achievements in NCAA. The problem is that it is hard to determine what her great SC times indicate. It maybe a sign of accelerating progress of her as a swimmer in general
or it can only tell us that she improved some part of her racing skills that are SC specific (turns, underwater, …) and wouldn’t have much effect in 10% longer LCM race
or that this SC progress is simply an aftershock – the reflection of great form achieved last summer. Like in Ledecky’s case.
That’s why it is important to watch for details of her swims at LCM now… Read more »
“On track to take the sprints at worlds”?
Sorry, but do i miss the joke here? You can’t seriously think that. It’s completely ridiculous to say that Manuel is on track to win the 50 free, considering how strong Sjöstrom currently is. The 100 free is a different topic and she is for sure among the favorites there, although i would favor Oleksiak, considering that she is much younger and more likely to improve.
Manuel is very, very good (Obviously), I definitely see a 23.9 50 from her, but 52.1-.3 is a little ambitious. She is still young, but a .5 improvment is insane when you are that fast. She may get tgeir someday, but only 2 women have ever been under 52.4, and I don’t really foresee anyone doing this year. I say she swims 52.5 and whether or not she gets the gold depends on sjostrom
No mention of Oleksiak in this discussion? She hasn’t hit amazing times so far this year, but shouldn’t be overlooked on this basis given her surprise performances in Rio.
There are only three swimmers competing in Budapest who are regulars at 52 club. That is where medals will go to. By swimming twice under 53 Penny Oleksiak became a member of this exclusive club.
Femke Heemskerk has been also twice under 53 and i wish her to succeed finally this summer. But Penny being two generations younger has my vote.
She also went under 52 seconds twice in the short course if you keep the relays in mind. One of those times she went 51.07, which is insane for a 16-year-old.
I don’t think we should overlook her and assume that she won’t be a factor. But she had a bit of an injury hiccup and hasn’t been as sharp in the lead-up as last year. But we won’t really know until July. She may still have time to work herself into the frame.
If she races in June, that will probably be the best way to see how she’s improving and how much of a threat she’ll be this summer. That said, she was almost a full second faster in the 100 free at trials than she was a month before that, and almost 2 seconds faster in the 100 fly (she swam 100m in the 200m butterfly). That is a good sign.
Hopefully Penny swims at Santa Clara, or at least the Mel Zajac at the very end of May