In A Breakthrough Year, Noah Nichols Takes Down 100 Breast ACC Record With A 50.82

2023 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 14 to Saturday, February 18, 2023
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Virginia (3x)
  • Men: NC State (results)
• Full Event Schedule
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After not improving at all in the 100 breast as a sophomore, UVA junior Noah Nichols turned things around this year and broke the ACC record.

The 2021 ACC Championships was Nichols’s breakout meet as a freshman—in a season, he his smashed high school personal best of 53.77 to go 51.34 and finish second at conferences. At NCAAs that year, he earned himself a finals swim, swimming a 51.99 to finish 14th.

However, Nichols struggled to replicate his freshman times as a sophomore, finishing with a season-best of 52.00 that he set at 2022 NCAAs—a time that was 0.66 seconds slower than what he went the season prior.

When the 2022-23 season started, things looked promising for Nichols as a junior. He opened things up by swimming a 52.23 at the UVA-Florida dual meet, nearing his NCAAs time unsuited and unrested in October. Then, at the UVA-Texas meet, he dipped under the 52-second barrier for the first time in over a year, going a 51.73 before improving upon that time to go 51.51 at midseason invites.

However, even after swimming significantly faster than he did last year, Nichols’s freshman year personal best still loomed over him. That all changed this morning, as in the prelims of the 100 breast at the 2023 ACC Championships, he clocked a 51.03 to finally beat out his freshman year mark. In addition, he also tied Evgenii Somov‘s ACC record in the process.

Later, in finals, Nichols made sure that the ACC record was solely in his possession, swimming a 50.82 to win his first-ever ACC title, break the ACC record, and go under 51 seconds for the first time. It was a tight race for him, as he was behind Carles Coll Marti at the 50-yard mark, but had a strong back half to pull himself to the front. As you can see from the splits, improvements on his final 50 were what allowed Nichols to drop time from prelims.

Splits Comparison:

Race Video:

Nichols’s breakthrough goes to show that one off year doesn’t define you, as it’s never too late to come back even better.