Erika Brown Scratches 50 Back, 100 Fly on Thursday in Knoxville

PRO SWIM SERIES – KNOXVILLE

• January 11-14, 2022
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• LCM (50 meters)
• Prelims/Finals
  • Prelims: 9:00 AM (EST)
  • Finals: 6:00 PM (EST), Day 1 4:00 PM
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• Psych Sheets
• Ways to Watch
• Storylines to Follow
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Thursday morning heat sheets/timeline

University of Tennessee post-grad Erika Brown has scratched out of both events on Thursday morning at the Pro Swim Series stop in her home pool in Knoxville, and Simone Manuel is scheduled to make her return to racing, 18 months after the Tokyo Olympics.

The 24-year-old Brown, who won Olympic relay medals as part of the US women’s 400 free and 400 medley relays in Tokyo, was scheduled to swim the 200 free (14th seed) and 50 back (8th seed) on Thursday morning.

SwimSwam’s Coleman Hodges, who has been in Knoxville all week filming for Practice & Pancakes, says that Brown participated normally in practice on Monday and Tuesday.

Brown is also scheduled to swim the 50 free (2nd seed) and 100 free (53.59), her primary events as a pro, later in the meet.

One swimmer who is expected to make her 2023 debut on Thursday morning is Arizona State post-grad Simone Manuel. Manuel has raced in exhibition at Arizona State dual meets, but this will be her first official competition since finishing 11th in the 50 free and swimming a finals leg of the bronze medal-winning American 400 free relay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Manuel is best known for her sprint freestyle races, and historically her secondary race has been the 200 free. On Thursday, though, she’ll swim the 50 back and 100 fly.

Manuel last swam the 50 back at the 2019 Pro Swim Series meet in Bloomington, part of a few different backstroke races she swam that season.

She last swam the 100 fly at the Knoxville stop of the 2020 Pro Swim Series. Her best time is from 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana where she swam 1:00.81.

Manuel was the 2016 Olympic Champion in the 100 free, but suffered from Over Training Syndrome (OTS) heading into the 2021 US Olympic Trials that impacted her performance. As part of a long break from the sport, Manuel made at least a brief appearance at the University of Tennessee in 2022 before landing at Arizona State last summer.

Also watch for Chinese Olympian Wu Peng, who hasn’t swum an official race in almost a decade, but is now training back in the United States with the Mission Viejo Nadadores. The 100 fly is his only entry at this meet, and he has a yards-course entry time, which means he’ll swim in heat 2 of 10 (around 10:37AM Eastern Time).

Noteworthy Late Entries

A few swimmers appeared in Thursday morning’s events who were not in the original psych sheets. Among the highest-profile of those is former US National Teamer Sean Grieshop. He is now entered in the 200 free as the 18th seed and the 400 IM as the 4th seed. He has raced once in the new season, at the US Open, where he was 8th in the 400 IM in 4:24.57.

Also joining the fray is 22-year-old Canadian National Team member Finlay Knox. He is the 14th seed in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.29) and the 4th seed in the 100 fly (51.86). Knox’s best event is the 200 IM, and he has the versatility to take on that unusual double.

Other Scratches

• German swimmer Julia Mrozinski, who recently returned to Tennessee after spending the fall semester training in her home country, has scratched out of the 200 free. The Volunteers undergrad has only been back stateside for a few days; her best events are the 200 and 400 free in long course. She was the #8 seed, and also dropped the 100 fly as a much lower seed. She still has three further entries this week.
• Egyptian Marwan Elkamash, who trains in the US, dropped the 200 free, his only entry on Thursday. He also dropped the 800 free on Wednesday. The holder of 10 Egyptian Records, he broke the 200, 400, 800, and 1500 free records in the last three months of 2022. He was the #6 seed in the 200 free.
• 18-year-old Spaniard Ignacio Campos (18th seed – 1:50.18) has scratched out of the 200 free.
• 17-year old Spaniard Emma Carrasco (13th seed – 1:11.11) and University of Missouri undergrad Malin Grosse (15th seed – 1:11.40) have both dropped the women’s 100 breaststroke.
• Canadians Tess Cieplucha (4th seed – 4:37.26) and Ella Jansen (5th seed – 4:40.17) both dropped the 400 IM to focus on other races on Thursday. Cieplucha will swim in an early heat of the 200 free (2:04.36 seed time), while Jansen will swim as the 10th seed in the 200 free (1:58.93) and the 2nd seed in the 100 fly (59.27). The 18-year-old Jansen is one of her country’s top junior-aged prospects and one to watch in that 100 fly, especially.
• 17-year old Aquajet Charlie Egeland scratched his only event of the meet, the 100 breaststroke, where he was the 7th seed.
• US National Team member Sam Stewart scratched out of the 50 back, where he was the #5 seed. He has remaining entries in the 100 back (6th seed – 53.84) and his best event the 200 IM (1st seed – 1:56.91).
• 17-year old Michael Mullen scratched out of both the 50 back and 400 IM on day 1 of the meet. He was the 4th seed in the 400 IM (4:21.50).