2024 PRO SWIM SERIES – KNOXVILLE
- January 10-13, 2024
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- LCM (50 meters)
- Start Times
- All Prelims: 9am (EST)
- Thurs-Sat Finals: 6pm (EST)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Thursday Finals Session Heat Sheet
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
WOMEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – Finals
- World Record: 51.71 – Sarah Sjostrom (2017)
- American Record: 52.04 – Simone Manuel (2019)
- Pro Swim Series Record: 53.12 – Sarah Sjostrom (2016)
- US Open Record: 52.54 – Simone Manuel (2018)
- Kate Douglass – 53.12
- Gretchen Walsh – 53.64
- Simone Manuel – 53.73
- Torri Huske – 53.82
- Abbey Weitzeil – 54.00
- Alex Walsh – 54.55
- Maxime Parker – 54.58
- Beata Nelson – 54.70
Kate Douglass threw down in the finals of the 100 free, dropping over a second from her prelims performance of 54.14 to tie World Record Holder Sarah Sjostrom’s Pro Swim Series record of 53.12 from 2016.
Douglass split 25.71/27.41 to touch over half a second ahead of Virginia teammate Gretchen Walsh (53.69). That represents the fourth fastest flat-start time of Douglass’ career, only behind her three 52-point swims from last summer.
Kate Douglass’ Top-5 Performances in the 100m Freestyle
- 52.57 – 2023 US Nationals
- 52.81 – 2023 Fukuoka Worlds
- 52.98 – 2023 US Nationals
- 53.12 – 2024 Knoxville PSS
- 53.38 – 2023 Fukuoka Worlds
Douglass was a key member of the US women’s relays last summer, including a huge 51.79 anchor split on the mixed 4×100 medley relay. Her result tonight solidifies her as the top American sprinter heading into the Olympic year.
The performances behind Douglass were promising as well. Walsh swam the third fastest time of her career, only sitting behind her performances from last summer’s U.S. Nationals. We’ve seen Walsh throw down some nasty in-season times in yards already this college season, and it seems she’s carried that speed into the long course pool. She also improved on her performance from the U.S. Open.
Two other swimmers were sub-54 behind Douglass and Walsh. In 3rd, a resurgent Simone Manuel clocked 53.73, while Huske placed 4th (53.82). Both Manuel and Huske have been faster this season at the U.S. Open. Huske previously held the top American time this season with her 53.17 from December.
The Americans continue to chase the World Record holding Australians, who already have two swimmers faster than Douglass’ time this season. At the Queensland Championships in December, Shayna Jack swam 52.76, Meg Harris swam 53.03, Cate Campbell swam 53.23, and the defending World Champion Mollie O’Callaghan swam 53.27. Flexing their depth, Bronte Campbell has been 53.42 while Emma McKeon swam 53.50 in November before an injury sidelined her from competition.
Racers gonna race….
Not worried about less than 20 minutes between events and not worried about competing at Worlds less than 6 months before the Olympics.
Heart of a champion for sure!
I hate the timing of this world Champs, but from her perspective I don’t see how this is any worse than ncaas 3 months out, 6 months is enough time that it can not be be a problem.
I think we act like performance is way more of a hard science than it really is. How many times have we seen someone not getting better or even worse with a taper, than you have McKeown WR tear after taking time out of the pool after world’s.
I was surprised at how easy that looked. Clear winner with 15 meters remaining. I expected a dogfight between Douglass, Huske, Gretchen, Weitzel and Manuel.
My favorite part of the broadcast was immediately prior to this race when Curzan was laughing alongside DeSorbo, because he had so many names to shout encouragement to.
I was never surprised. Fukuoka showed me that Douglas 100 free is at a different level than all other American girls.
true unless/until Manuel completes her comeback… looking pretty good as of now.
Bingo! Manuel is quietly climbing the ladder.
Sarah Sjostrom’s 53.12 was an American open record that broke previous American open record of 53.30 swum by Cate Campbell in 2008 Santa Clara where the 15 yo Cate beat Nathalie Coughlin.
guy over here sayin’ coughlin’s name w/ a lisp
Douglas’ pb in the 100 breaststroke bodes well for his 200, looking forward to seeing what he can do in that category in Doha.
he?
Their first language is not English. And some languages don’t have specific pronoun for different genders.
And that 106.6 breast was just 16 min after 100 free.
It’s just weird that at this point 53 looks pedestrian when you compare it to a regional meet somewhere in Australia and you get constantly 1, 2 or 3 girls swim 52’s almost all season long at this point.
Having said that, Kate Douglass is amazing and everything about her! Specially how amazing and rare to have a 100 freestyler swimming the 200 breast so fast
I feel like this is partially true. I assume you’re referring to QLD Champs where Jack was a 52.7, Harris was a 53.0, CC was 53.2 and MOC was 53.2 (after a 400 free earlier in the session). Obviously those times are significantly better than the ones we just saw, but in fairness, all 4 of those women are world record holders in 100 freestyle in some capacity so it’s not really a “random regional meet” quality field.
I agree that its partially true like Kate’s 53.1 likely beats the winning time from SA champs next week but Knoxville has a much fuller field of the people who are genuinely vying for a relay spot in Paris compared to South Australia, QLD champs had a more representative field of those aiming for a relay spot but even then there were some obvious names missing
With the Campbells there it’s possible they beat it. Cate has been within a tenth of KD’s winning time recently.
Agreed. But it’s still impressive how KD manages to get her hand on the wall first.
Very impress. I repeat, I love erevrything about kate douglass. She is amazing! I just wanted to comment on the fact that de australian girls are so fast at this point that an amazing time by an amazing swimmer like kate douglass seems somehow pedestrian even tough it was a very very fast time for kate