It’s time for the last session at the 2013 USA Swimming World Championship Trials and it’s time for the last few spots on the World Championship roster to be awarded.
At the conclusion of the session, USA Swimming will announce the full roster and give out a slew of awards.
The events in Saturday’s finals session include the women’s 1500 free, the men’s 800, both 200 IM’s, and both 50 freestyles.
The sprints that will punctuate the meet will be perhaps the most exciting. In the men’s race, it’s a matter of which one of the stars will be left out, as there’s a lot of guys who can be better than 22 seconds, and in the women’s race it’s a matter of who will be able to get under 25 seconds and establish them as star-class in this race.
All of the results you’ll need to follow tonight’s action can be found here.
Women’s 1500 Free – TIMED FINAL
It’s the Katie Ledecky show in the women’s distance freestyles in the United States. She was ahead of the World Record pace for the first half of this race, swam a World leader time of 15:47.15 to just jump Great Britain’s Jazmin Carlin, broke Janet Evans’ National Age Group and Meet Records, and none of those facts is the most impressive part of this swim.
The most impressive part of this swim was how hard Ledecky took the swim out. Though in post-race interviews she said she was trying to be ‘controlled,’ she had little to lose in the race. As the winner of the 800, she had the option to swim this 1500 regardless of how she finished here. She ended up taking this race out in an 8:22.61, which might sound familiar, because she won the individual 800 in 8:22.41. That’s a two-tenths-of-a-second difference, and though her pace withered ever-so-slightly, she certainly didn’t die. She mustered enough energy to close in 29.1, which was the fastest 50 of any split of any race for the entire field.
Few people can take out a distance race like Ledecky does, but Carlin was out in 8:24, so she wouldn’t be too far behind if things play out the same way.
This World Record, that they’re both five seconds away from, looks like one of the more probable victims of the World Championships.
In 2nd place was Chloe Sutton in 16:07.75. She’ll have the option to swim this race in Barcelona, though with how good she’s looked in the shorter 400 and 800 at this meet, she might give strong thought to whether she needs to accept that challenge. Haley Anderson, who’s already qualified for open water, placed 3rd in 16:12.29. That’s her best time by 6 seconds.
North Baltimore’s Gillian Ryan was 4th in 16:19.20, which is just ahead of the top time out of the early heats Alicia Mathieu from Florida.
Women’s 200 IM – FINALS
If you get to the breaststroke leg of a 200 IM, and you are looking at Caitlin Leverenz’s feet, it’s time to start scheming for second place. Leverenz had a full second lead on everybody, including Elizabeth Beisel, who final’ed in both the 200 fly and the 200 back, at the halfway mark, and built that lead by another second on the breaststroke leg before cruising home to a 2:10.13 victory.
Despite a meet that she said wasn’t what she’s hoped for, that’s the 4th-best time in the world this year and a great finish for her. It’s her first qualification for Barcelona, allowing her to avoid the trap that caught a few other Olympians this year.
Beisel and Georgia’s Melanie Margalis came down to the wire, but it was Beisel who held on for 2nd in 2:12.11, which locks up a second individual swim for her in Barcelona. Margalis was 3rd in 2:12.34, and Celina Li was 4th in 2:12.73.
After DQ’ing the 400 IM, and having a conservative start in prelims, Li finally started going after the block again and got out very well. The result was a best time by half-a-second as she heads into her freshman season at Cal.
Jana Mangimelli almost left a very interesting storyline. She was sitting in 2nd place until about the last 25 meters of the race, which would’ve been notable given that she and the Georgia NCAA program parted ways (on who’s terms, nobody has commented on the record) mid-season this year. She ultimately was 5th in 2:12.75, which is a best time for her as well.
T2’s Justine Mueller was 6th in 2:14.03, followed by Jasmine Tosky in 2:15.00 and Shannon Vreeland in 2:15.68.
Longhorn Aquatics’ Karlee Bispo won the B-Final in 2:14.62.
Men’s 200 IM – FINALS
If there’s one real takeaway from this meet that every swim fan in the world will be interested in, it’s that maybe Ryan Lochte wasn’t in as bad of shape as he led us all to believe. That, or he’s incredibly tough. Lochte leapt to the top of the World Rankings and is three-tenths of a second faster than anybody else has been after a 1:55.44 to win the 200 IM title and grab at least a 7th event.
Lochte was out in 53.0 – four-tenths of a second faster than his own opening split at the 2011 World Championships where he broke the World Record that still stands.
He lost that pace on the second 100 meters, but that’s still a statement-making swim for Lochte in this race.
Close behind him was his former training partner Conor Dwyer in 1:57.74, and also out of the NBAC stable Chase Kalisz was 3rd in 1:58.52.
For Dwyer, that’s about a half-second time drop from last year’s Olympic Trials and a nice recovery from his DQ in the 400 free on Friday night.
Texas’ Austin Surhoff went another lifetime best of 1:58.80 for 4th place, followed by Cal’s Josh Prenot in 2:00.33.
Dynamo Swim Club’s Gunnar Bentz was 6th in 2:00.88, followed by Kyle Whitaker (2:01.31) and Georgia sophomore Ty Stewart (2:01.45).
David Nolan won the B-Final in a very good 2:00.35, which finally breaks him through for a new personal best: one he’s been waiting since the 2010 Jr. Pan Pac Championships. If anyone has benefited from the many developments in Stanford, including new head coaches for both men’s and women’s programs and a new-look professional training group, it’s Nolan.
Men’s 800 Free – TIMED FINALS
A new distance rivalry is developing in the US – just as they did in the 1500 earlier in the meet, and just as they did in the 1650 freestyle at the 2013 NCAA Championships, Connor Jaeger and Michael McBroom went 1st and 2nd in the men’s 800 free.
Both swimmers were under the U.S. Open Record and Meet Records in this swim. The old Meet Record stood since 2007 at the hands of Erik Vendt (7:49.75) and the U.S. Open Record belonged to Stanford’s Chad La Tourette in 7:47.27 in 2009.
The two never separated by much more than a meter in this race, but a little bit of a move in the middle of the race gave Jaeger all the edge he needed to win in 7:46.78, with Michael McBroom taking 2nd in 7:47.13.
The swim is key for McBroom, as it gives him the tie-breaker with Matt McLean (2nd in the 400 free) to swim the men’s 800 free in Barcelona, though it’s unlikely that McLean would’ve chosen to swim the race either way.
Andrew Gemmell took 3rd in 7:57.83, followed by Michigan’s Ryan Feeley (8:01.28), Auburn’s Zane Grothe (8:02.06), and Florida Gators Arthur Frayler (8:02.31).
Women’s 50 Free – FINALS
Natalie Coughlin got a fantastic start off the blocks and ended up winning wire-to-wire in 24.97, which is within a tenth of a second of her season (and career) best times of 24.90. Second behind her was exciting young phenom Simone Manuel in 25.01, re-breaking her own National Age Group Record set in the prelims. She, like Coughlin, added an individual swim to her including in the 400 free relay with that performance.
The question becomes can either swimmer final, let alone medal, at the World Championships.
Christine Magnuson was 3rd in 25.05, just missing adding a second swim of her own.
NCAA Champion Margo Geer was 4th in 25.13, and SwimAtlanta’s Amanda Weir was 5th in 25.18.
Jessica Hardy was 6th in 25.19, and Ivy Martin was 7th in 25.20.
Men’s 50 Free – FINALS
A big Cal 1-2 finish came in the men’s 50 free, as Nathan Adrian won in 21.47 to break the Meet Record and jump to the top of the world rankings, atoning for his miss at the Olympic Trials last year. After the race he said the key to not making the mistake again was to “swim faster”. Simple words, wise words.
He will be joined by his teammate Anthony Ervin, who was a 21.70 for 2nd place, and somehow got his hand into the wall ahead of Josh Schneider (21.87) and a tie between Cullen Jones and Jimmy Feigen at 21.88.
That’s an impressive 5 swimmers under 22 seconds in the same race; there’s 17 swimmers who have cleared that barrier worldwide, and almost a third of them now are Americans.
I think Gemmell will still be up there with Jaeger and Mcbroom in the long run. He wasn’t good this week but he is probably focusing on open water for Barcelona.
Beisel’s 2;12.11 time is very slow… It took 2:10.93 jus to make the olympic final. Beisel will need to drop a lot of time jus to make the final let alone medal in Barcelona in the 2im
200 IM has never been Beisel’s main events.
She has never even won medals in 200 IM.
Klueh is added to the 800FR as the 7th place finisher as they hadn’t used up all the roster spots.
Reid – sort of. See this link:
http://swimswam.com/jaeger-scratches-200-to-make-room-for-training-partner-michael-klueh-on-the-world-championship-roster/
But it’s sort of a formality since they can still use Jaeger on the relay if they want.
When reading these posts, it’s like the USA vs. the world mentality. Why aren’t the US on top? Is there a problem with US swimming? although for awhile now we had known the swimming world is becoming more and more diverse. In the future, we shouldn’t really be surprised that after these meets, the Americans don’t come out on top. I wouldn’t be surprised in a decades ahead, the medals will be distributed much like track and field.
Harder..
Track and Field is a CHEAP sports.. and sum that the former USRR countries have a long tradition on that… on contrary to swimming
To find a track and field star you need little money and the athlete itself needs almost no money too..
i disagree. the US has had a stranglehold on the top for a long time, though it has not been steady.
in 1932 Japan dominated the US at the Olympics, however the US rebounded. In 1956 Australia beat America but by 1960 the US began a streak of total dominance that lasted until 1976. In the 80’s the US began to decline, (except for ’84) and in 1988 America claimed “only” 18 medals. In 1994 the US won only 4 gold medals total. However by ’98 we were back up to 14 golds. Starting in the early 2000s Australia began dominating, winning more relays and golds than the US. However the US has been resurgent, winning 20 golds in… Read more »
I agree…you take Phelps out of the equation the past 12 years and it changes the dominance factor on the men’s side in a major way. I think now they have a little more depth, but it’s in the younger swimmers that need another year or 2. A lot of NAG’s are being broken in the US these days which is a promising sign. For example Murphy is almost a full second faster than Peirsol was at that same age in the 100m back.
Also take into consideration that many of the times haven’t moved significantly in the past 12 years, minus the suit era, and things aren’t looking too bad for the US with the younger talent setting… Read more »
Murphy is 2 seconds faster in the 100 backstroke than Plummer and Grevers were at the same age.
Mcgill.. there is a pool of young talent.. but if you check at the rest of the world.. you have plenty of swimmers who can match that.. to put only a few names you have Mcevoy Sedov Proud Imai and others..
Lochte continues to swim at a different level in the 2im, happy for Beisel after not making it in the 2back, CJ is the future of US men’s distance, and where can I find videos of all of these awesome swims?!?!!?
All the swims were posted on the usaswimmingorg YouTube channel. Or just look up “Phillips 66 national championships swimming”. I would link it but I’m on my phone.
Okay – I’ll say it – pretty unflattering warmups for the National Team
Even more worrying is the freestyle relays.
the best shot for free relay gold is men’s 4×200, but then again on paper Australia is better, although we know “on paper” means zilch when actual race starts.
Specialy when you count Australia on Paper.
But I maybe crazy.. but with the times of the 4 styles.. US is no longer favorite on 4×100 medley too
USA is still the firm favorites in 4×100 medley in both men and women, especially men.
There’s complication in the women 4×100 medley:
Will Franklin swim 100 back or free?
is the gap between Franklin and pelton is bigger than Franklin and Vreeland to justify Franklin swimming back?
Or will Manuel improves a lot so the coaches use her instead of Vreeland in the medley relay final and put Franklin in the back?
US ( on paper )
53:10 Plummer
59.99 Cordes
51.66 Godsoe
And Adrian
Australia:
53.63 Delaney
59.05 Sprenger
51.77 Wright
Magnussen
The Russian would have a very strong team if Vyatchanin were in with Morozov, Korotyshkin and Strelnikov
Ok. Best swimmers of the meet have been in my opinion Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky on the women’s side and Ryan Lochte, Connor Jaeger and Nathan Adrian on the men’s side. Honorable mentions for Breeja Larson and Kevin Cordes too.
It’s a transition year for the American swimming. You will not win in Barcelona a number of gold medals as huge as last year but we have seen in Indianapolis the next generaton of American stars. I talk about Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel, Justin Lynch or Cassidy Bayer.
Who was the guy who accepted the combined team championship trophy for Cal?
Aaron Schulman, Director of Olympic Sports Operations at UC Berkeley. He works with all the aquatics sports at Cal, among others. Great guy!