arena Swim of the Week: Audrey Derivaux Climbs To #3 In 15-16 Age Group With 4:03 400 IM

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

Budding age group star Audrey Derivaux continued her climb into the elite ranks of American swimming last weekend at the Speedo Southern Premier (SCY), setting five new lifetime bests highlighted by a blistering swim in the 400 IM.

The 15-year-old came into the meet with a personal best of 4:06.11, set in December at the Winter Junior Championships – East, which ranked her 12th all-time in the girls’ 15-16 age group. Prior to that, her PB stood at 4:08.51 from the 2023 Winter Juniors, which ranks #3 all-time in the 13-14 age group.

Last weekend in Nashville, Derivaux lowered her best time down to 4:05.45 in the prelims, and then got down to 4:03.31 in the final, rocketing her up nine spots into 3rd all-time for 15-16 girls.

Split Comparison

In the Southern Premier prelims, Derivaux showed signs of an improved third leg with a 36.09 split on the second 50 of breaststroke, and then closed faster on freestyle than she did at Winter Juniors in 56.63.

In the final, the key differences were a faster fly split, a drop of eight-tenths on the second 50 of back, and a drop of a second and a half on the first 50 of breast.

Among the names Derivaux overtook in the all-time age group rankings with her swim include Katie Hoff, Bella Sims, Elizabeth Beisel and Ella Eastin.

All-Time Rankings, Girls’ 15-16 400 IM (SCY)

1. Katie Grimes (Sandpipers of Nevada), 3:57.02  – 2022
2. Dagny Knutson (Minot YMCA Swim Club), 4:00.62 – 2008
3. Audrey Derivaux (Jersey Wahoos), 4:03.31 – 2025
4. Katie Hoff (North Baltimore Aquatic Club), 4:03.46 – 2005
5. Bella Sims (Sandpipers of Nevada), 4:03.67 – 2021
6. Meghan Small (York YMCA), 4:03.96 – 2015
7. Kayla Han (La Mirada Armada), 4:04.44 – 2024
8. Elizabeth Beisel (Bluefish Swim Club), 4:04.59 – 2008
9. Jasmine Tosky (Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics), 4:04.65 – 2011
10. Ella Eastin (SOCAL Aquatics Association), 4:05.25 – 2013

In addition to being #3 all-time in the age group, only NAG record holder Katie Grimes has been faster at the age of 15, having gone 4:00.66 in December 2021.

The swim for Derivaux comes after she had a breakthrough performance at the U.S. Olympic Trials last June in the 400 IM, making the final of the event at the age of 14.

At the Speedo Southern Premier, Derivaux also set new best times in the 100 free (49.27), 200 free (1:45.20), 100 fly (51.73) and 200 fly (1:52.78). The Jersey Wahoos product now ranks 5th all-time in the 15-16 age group in the 200 fly, 14th in the 100 fly and 39th in the 200 free.

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