2022 SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – WEST
- December 7-10, 2022
- Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, Texas
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Prelims at 10 a.m. ET, Finals at 6 p.m. ET
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet
- Storylines to Watch
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Day 4 Finals Live Recap
16-year-old Katie Grimes saved her best performance for the last night of the 2022 Winter Junior Championships, where she swam a massive best time of 15:26.17 to become the fifth-fastest swimmer of all-time in the women’s 1650 free. With that swim, she broke her own Speedo Juniors — West meet record time of 15:34.74 set last year, as well as Katie Ledecky‘s pool record time of 15:28.36 set back during 2012 Winter Nationals.
However, despite breaking her pool record, Grimes is still nearly ten seconds away from Ledecky’s national age group record time of 15;15.17 and remains the second-fastest performer in the U.S. 15-16 age group.
Grimes is now the seventh female in history to get under the 15:30-barrier in the 1650 free. She joins her former club teammate Erica Sullivan in the sub-15:30 club, meaning that two out of the seven fastest women’s 1650 free performers of all-time were Sandpipers of Nevada.
All-Time Top Performers, Women’s 1650 Free:
- Katie Ledecky, Stanford — 15:03.31 (2017)
- Erica Sullivan, Sandpipers of Nevada — 15:23.81 (2019)
- Katie Hoff, North Baltimore Aquatic Club — 15:24.35 (2008)
- Leah Smith, Virginia — 15:25.30 (2016)
- Katie Grimes, Sandpipers of Nevada — 15:26.17 (2022)
- Brittany MacLean, Georgia — 15:27.84 (2014)
- Kate Ziegler, FISH — 15:29.15 (2007)
From looking at the splits below, you can see that Grimes saw major improvements throughout the entirety of her race. Last year, when she went 15;34.74, she was holding primarily 57-low and 56-high splits, whereas this year she was holding 56-mids and lows. At the 1000-yard mark of Grimes’ 2022 swim, she was out in 9:22.11, compared to being out in 9:27.89 in 2021.
Grimes’ time from Saturday is over 30 seconds faster than the fastest time in the NCAA for the 2022-23 season, which is Abby McCulloh’s 15;57.08.
Comparative Splits, Katie Grimes 2021 Winter Juniors vs. Katie Grimes 2022 Winter Juniors:
| Split | Katie Grimes 2021 Speedo Winter JR Champs – West | Katie Grimes 2022 Speedo Winter JR Champs – West |
| 100y | 53.54 | 53.57 |
| 200y | 57.06 | 56.56 |
| 300y | 57.23 | 56.68 |
| 400y | 57.45 | 56.54 |
| 500y | 57.50 | 56.63 |
| 600y | 57.07 | 56.02 |
| 700y | 57.18 | 56.14 |
| 800y | 57.20 | 56.40 |
| 900y | 56.84 | 56.69 |
| 1000y | 56.82 | 56.88 |
| 1100y | 56.70 | 56.20 |
| 1200y | 56.86 | 56.11 |
| 1300y | 56.80 | 56.26 |
| 1400y | 56.93 | 56.54 |
| 1500y | 57.01 | 56.50 |
| 1600y | 55.78 | 56.01 |
| 1650y | 26.75 | 26.44 |
| Final Time | 15:34.74 | 15:26.17 |
Grimes’ 1650 free swim was her first out of three races in Sunday’s final session. Later on, she finished second in the 200 back and 200 fly to her teammate Bella Sims in both races, posting times of 1:52.04 and 1:54.92 respectively. Both marks were slightly off her best times of 1:51.46 in the 200 back and 1:53.93 in the 200 fly.