2021 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS WEST
- December 8-11, 2021
- Jamail Texas Swim Center, Austin, Texas
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Prelims: 9 am (ET)
- Finals: 5 pm (ET) – Wed. relays at 6 pm
- Meet Central
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- Psych Sheets
- Live Stream
GIRLS 1650 FREESTYLE – TIMED FINALS
Meet Record: Gabrielle Kopenski – 15:56.39 (2014)
Top 3:
- Katie Grimes (SAND), 15 – 15:34.74
- Claire Weinstein (SAND), 14 – 15:52.84
- Hayden Miller (CFSU), 17 – 16:02.22
15-year-old Sandpipers of Nevada Olympian Katie Grimes unleashed in the girls 1650 free at the Speedo Winter Junior Championships West meet tonight, absolutely obliterating the meet record of 15:56.39, which had stood for 7 years. With the swim of 15:34.74, Grimes is now #2 all-time in the 15-16 age group, and the #2 all-time 15-year-old, sitting behind only Katie Ledecky in both instances.
Here is the updated all-time top 5 in the girls 15-16 SCY 1650 freestyle:
| Rank | Time | Swimmer |
| 1 | 15:15.17 | Katie Ledecky |
| 2 | 15:34.74 | Katie Grimes |
| 3 | 15:40.89 | Kate Ziegler |
| 4 | 15:45.33 | Becca Mann |
| 5 | 15:46.54 | Tiffany Cohen |
Grimes has a lot of work to do in order to catch Ledecky’s record, but the silver lining is that she has over a year to do so. Grimes is also the #2 15-year-old of all-time, behind Katie Ledecky‘s 15-year-old top time of 15:28.36.
| Split | Katie Grimes 2021 SPEEDO Winter JR Champs – West | Katie Ledecky 2012 Winter Nationals (15yo) | Katie Ledecky 2013 Winter Nationals – 15-16 NAG (16yo) |
| 100y | 53.54 | 52.53 | 52.55 |
| 200y | 57.06 | 55.99 | 55.71 |
| 300y | 57.23 | 56.64 | 55.57 |
| 400y | 57.45 | 56.92 | 55.74 |
| 500y | 57.50 | 56.74 | 55.78 |
| 600y | 57.07 | 56.55 | 55.66 |
| 700y | 57.18 | 56.94 | 55.82 |
| 800y | 57.20 | 56.37 | 55.67 |
| 900y | 56.84 | 56.88 | 55.74 |
| 1000y | 56.82 | 56.79 | 55.98 |
| 1100y | 56.70 | 57.25 | 55.84 |
| 1200y | 56.86 | 56.88 | 55.70 |
| 1300y | 56.80 | 56.65 | 55.69 |
| 1400y | 56.93 | 56.26 | 55.67 |
| 1500y | 57.01 | 56.04 | 55.88 |
| 1600y | 55.78 | 56.14 | 55.61 |
| 1650y | 26.75 | 26.79 | 26.56 |
| Final Time | 15:34.74 | 15:28.36 | 15:15.17 |
The most striking part of Katie Ledecky‘s NAG swim is just how consistently she swam her pace. Throwing out the initial 100, Ledecky kept all of her remaining 100 splits between 55.57 and 55.98, a range of just 0.41 seconds. Compare that swim to her 15:28 from a year earlier. When comparing Grimes’ race tonight to this pair of Ledecky swims, we can see the difference in racing style. Grimes was out slower, and settled into a slower pace earlier in the race, then gradually brought the pace down a little as the race progressed. On the other hand, Ledecky’s racing style is more that of finding her pace as soon as she can, then maintaining it as long as possible.
Has Janet Evans ever swum 1650 yards? I’m surprised she isn’t on the list of best performers.
Evans’ best at a 15-16, according to the rankings, is 15:56.53. That ranks her 10th all-time in the age group.
Sandpipers is this decade’s Bolles
She will topple KL next year in 1500 free.
Weinstein a year younger and now only 18 sec behind Grimes. Truly impressive all around by the Sandpipers.
Maybe by 2024. But Ledecky’s advantage is she knows the value of the lead. Sullivan was too cautious early in Tokyo instead of allowing adrenaline to carry early pace further than ever before. It’s preferable to learn to push early even, if you completely collapse. Eventually you keep going. Lingering back is settling for minor awards.
If you watch Sullivan at Olympic trials, she let adrenaline take over too much at the beginning and ended up spinning a little too much at the end which gave Katie Grimes a run at her at the end. Sullivan learned from it and swam her race at the Olympics and was closing on Ledecky and ran out of pool. Grimes has all the tools capable to be right there or win come 2024
Lmao no grimes is great and all but ledecky was a whole 20 seconds ahead of grimes in the 1500 at age 15 in the 1500
Ledecky didn’t swim the 1500 at 15.
what time was Ledecky going at 15? Swimcloud has a 15:49 from July 2013 when she was already 16 listed as a PB, which is only a couple seconds faster than Grimes’ current PB
That was her prelims time from worlds, she swam a 15:35 in finals
What a meet!
1650 is yards (y) swim BTW 🙂