Leon Marchand Is Scheduled to Race at the Westmont Pro Swim Series

2023 Pro Swim Series – Westmont

• April 12-15, 2023
• FMC Aquatic Center, Westmont, Illinois
• Long Course Meters (50 meters)
• Event Central
• Pre-Scratch timeline
• Psych Sheets

Last year, the inaugural edition of the USA Swimming Pro Swim Series hosted in Westmont, Illinois, had some big names but relatively-small fields. This year, the FMC Aquatic Center will get the full force of the Pro Swim Series, with both stars and depth of large fields descending on the suburbs of Chicago as most of the country turns their focus from short course racing to long course racing.

That includes many of the big winners from the series’ first stop in Fort Lauderdale, like Michael Andrew, Chase Kalisz, Regan Smith, and Katie Ledecky.

They’ll be joined by some of the best collegiate swimmers in the country, who are rolling off March’s NCAA Championship meet into their long course season.

Perhaps most exciting of those names is Leon Marchand, the Frenchman who trains at Arizona State.

After obliterating NCAA Records two weeks ago in the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 breaststroke, he will begin his quest for the long course titles, and maybe records, this summer in Fukuoka at the World Championships. He is also entered to race the 200 fly in Westmont.

He is the defending World Champion in the 200 IM and 400 IM, and the second-best man in history in the latter race. There remains open questions about whether he’ll add a third individual event at the World Championships. In a vacuum, he certainly has the talent and versatility to medal in more than two races. The challenge is that the 200 fly final overlaps with the 200 IM semi-final, and the 200 breast semi-final overlaps with the 200 IM final.

His entries this week, though, seem to indicate that he’s at least toying with the decision. With the Westmont schedule, he doesn’t get to try either double specifically: the 400 IM is on day 2, the 200 fly and 200 breast are on day 3, and the 200 IM is on day 4.

Among the swimmers he’ll race in those events include Carson Foster, who didn’t offer much challenge at NCAAs but was the silver medalist in both IMs at last year’s World Championships; and Chase Kalisz, the defending Olympic Champion in the 400 IM and the double IM World Champion in 2017.

He’ll also face Nic Fink, the top seed in the 200 breaststroke, and many of the top Americans in the 200 fly, including Gabriel Jett, Leonardo de Deus, Zach Harting, and Nic Albiero.

The meet also will feature big sprint battles on both the women’s and men’s side of the racing.

Abbey Weitzeil, Simone Manuel, Erika Brown, Gabi Albiero, Natalie Hinds, and Olivia Smoliga highlight the women’s race. They’ll show off against some rising talent like breakout Louisville swimmer Christiana Regenauer, who dropped half-a-second in yards this season; Lily Christianson, the Indiana high school state champion in the 50 free and one of the few non-Carmel winners at that meet; and Chelsea Piers 15-year-old Annam Olasewere, who is seeded at 25.44, which makes her one of the fastest American 15-year-olds ever in that event.

In the men’s races, Michael Andrew leads the field, and will race, among others, Ryan Held and Bjorn Seeliger.

There are also two surprising entries on the sheet: University of Virginia junior Matt King and American-Canadian-Italian-Canadian Olympic medalist Santo Condorelli. Both are registered with Texas Ford Aquatics, meaning training in the relatively-new pro group under sprint guru Coley Stickels.

King hasn’t raced since the US Open in December, with Virginia coaches citing a “family matter” for his absence in the spring semester. Condorelli is currently under suspension by World Aquatics for a Whereabouts failure under the World Anti-Doping Association’s anti-doping rules.

Update: Santo Condorelli is no longer suspended by World Aquatics.

Beyond that, most of the usual suspects will be in attendance. That includes Lilly King, Annie Lazor, German Anna Elendt, and Lydia Jacoby in the women’s breaststrokes; Ryan Murphy, Hunter Armstrong, and Shaine Casas in the men’s backstrokes; and Bobby Finke, Charlie Clarke, and Kieran Smith in the men’s middle-distance and distance freestyles.

Katie Ledecky is racing, but will sit out the 1500 free, like she did in Ft. Lauderdale, in spite of breaking the US Open Record in the equivalent 1650 yard free earlier this year.

The most noticeable changes from the Fort Lauderdale meet is that the elite junior squad from the Sandpipers of Nevada won’t be there, meaning no Katie Grimes, Bella Sims, Mackenzie Hodges, Claire Weinstein, or Ilya Kharun. They will instead race at the Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions next weekend, which in part is because that meet will have relays.

Kharun is also part of the absence of Canadians at the meet: they’re rolling off their World Championship Trials meet last week in Toronto. That means, among others, no Summer McIntosh, who won three races in Ft. Lauderdale.

The field will also be absent the NCAA women’s champions from Virginia, which includes the biggest international threats Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, and Gretchen Walsh.