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Michael Andrew cracks 1:44 in 200 back to rebreak NAG at NASA Showcase finals

The clock to Michael Andrew‘s 15th birthday continues to tick, but the Indie Swimming record-breaker is making the most of his last few days.

Andrew re-broke the 13-14 National Age Group record in the 200 yard back, taking nearly another full second off the mark in finals after first breaking his own mark in prelims. He went 1:43.15, meaning he’s smashed almost two seconds off the record in the course of one day – the old record stood at 1:45.14 from March of this year.

Here’s a quick splits comparison between Andrew’s prelims and finals swims:

Prelims: 24.27/26.35/27.03/26.37 = 1:44.02
Finals:  23.81/25.72/26.82/26.80 = 1:43.15

It appears that after finishing his morning swim with a great final 50, Team Indie decided to go after the front half of the race more at night, something that turned out very well for Andrew & Company.

Though he’s still quite a ways off the very-fast 15-16 NAG of 1:40.90 in the event from NCAA champion Ryan Murphy, Andrew has cut off just about half the distance between him and that record in one single weekend, and has yet to officially turn 15 (that happens Friday).

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bobo gigi
10 years ago

I think he’s ready to swim a 46 in the 100 fly this week.

bobo gigi
10 years ago
bobo gigi
10 years ago

Haha! MA turns 15 this week so it’s his last chance to break some 13/14 NAG records.
We knew he would go big at this meet! :mrgreen:
And he goes big!
1.43.15 in the 200 back! 😯
Amazing performance!
And I believed a few months ago that backstroke was his weakest stroke. 😆
Seriously, his weakest stroke appears to be today freestyle.
But it could change in the next months. 🙂

Swim philosopher
10 years ago

It is true that most swimmers spend a lot of time in their age group years working on endurance and hold off on race specific preparation until their late highschool or college career. that’s why the most successful swimmers tend to be good at longer distances as prior to college (Phelps, Lochte, and even Adrian)
Sure, MA is the fastest in the US, his yard times are amazing. But he can never swim NCAA and hasn’t put up LCM times that are comparable to his scy times, especially in the LC 400 im and 200 fly. He fast in LC, but not the best

I’m not passing judgement on his training but i’m interested how he will keep improving… Read more »

Satchmo
Reply to  Swim philosopher
10 years ago

He has 6 National Age Group records in Long Course Meters as well. The 200 IM record he broke was previously held by a guy named Phelps. I don’t know where this notion that he isn’t as impressive in LCM is coming from.

Reply to  Satchmo
10 years ago

From people not paying attention and with blinders on- aerobic base of bust!!!

Reply to  Hulk Swim
10 years ago

*or* not *of*

Rafael
Reply to  Satchmo
10 years ago

But still no World Age Records for him.. and at 15 it will be Much Much Tougher..

Phelps/Gyurta/Thorpe at 15 are off the charts.. and the 50/100 by Chalmers is pretty tough too..

Sven
Reply to  Swim philosopher
10 years ago

I’m not going to repost what I said in the other thread, but the chances of him lacking aerobic capacity are pretty slim. If you want, do a search on this (http://swimswam.com/michael-andrew-breaks-200-scy-backstroke-national-age-group-record-clearwater/) article for HisSwimCoach’s question about aerobic training with USRPT. Basically I posted a novel about how this can be the case with a high intensity/low rest program, and I linked a study explaining it in more scientific terms. Hopefully that clears up some misconceptions.

Of course, that’s assuming that the aerobic base isn’t a misnomer. I’ve been trying to read up on what exactly that is and how you can quantify it, and the results are dubious. I do believe that there is a… Read more »

Steve Nolan
Reply to  Sven
10 years ago

And even if it is something real, I honestly believe it isn’t something you need to be successful in most events. Hell, if all ya wanna swim are 50s and 100s you won’t be swimming more than a minute anyway.

sven
Reply to  Steve Nolan
10 years ago

Totally agreed. I think Ous Meloulli will do great in the 1500 and open water events with NBAC. Maybe better, maybe the same as he did with Salo. I don’t see why, with the 400 and below, we can’t get the same results and fewer injuries with less volume.

Greg Tucker
10 years ago

How many power points for this swim?

fatsmcgee
Reply to  Greg Tucker
10 years ago

1105… Anything over 1100 is PREPOSTEROUS. Amazing.

Reply to  fatsmcgee
10 years ago

Fats… here’s my mental chart…

500- pretty good
600- good
700- really good
800- awesome
900- amazing
1000- greatness
1100- stupid

tall n wet
10 years ago

Holy crap is there any event that MA cant do??? Cant wait to see this kid make the Olympic Trials.

aswimfan
Reply to  tall n wet
10 years ago

I havent seen MA broke any US Age LCM records in 200/400/800/1500 free and several other US Age LCM records. So that may be the events you are wondering of.

Steve Nolan
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

Well, loogit Captain Literal over here.

Fluidg
10 years ago

The 15-16 NAG is toast. Team Indie hasn’t even worked on underwater dolphin kick yet. When they add that weapon to Michael’s arsenal, it’s going to be ridiculous….I mean, even more ridiculous than his performance is already. They are exploring strength training, too. Rushall doesn’t believe in it, but the Andrews are open to it. Low hanging fruit everywhere.

Michael’s achievements are discounted and don’t deserve recognition because he’s really 17? That’s an offensive and absurd comment that’s also baseless. I don’t think he has started shaving yet. He’s big for his age but not beyond his years in his development. Remember a kid named LeBron who dominated like a man among boys in HS, then as a boy among… Read more »

Reply to  Fluidg
10 years ago

SMASH. SMASH. SMASH.

PVK
10 years ago

What did Krueger go in the 50???

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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