Living up to its name as the International Grand Prix, the first night of finals at the 2013 Santa Clara Grand Prix saw every final but two have swimmers from at least three different countries. There were a lot of great times, as the Americans (who are on a different timing than the Canadians and Australians that have already qualified for Worlds) look to be rounding into form about four weeks out.
Megan Romano, newly turned pro, won the women’s 100 free – mirroring her run up to the 2012 Summer Olympics (Photo: Bill Collins)
Women’s 100 Free Finals
Megan Romano, after disappointingly missing the Olympic team, began her quest to qualify for the 2013 World Championship team with a 54.19 to win the women’s 100 free.
If you’re ready for a sign: this is almost identical to the time that Romano went at last year’s Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite, which was a month before the Olympic Trials. This meet is a month before Worlds Trials. Last year, going so fast this close didn’t work out, and she wasn’t able to hold it. The hope for the Americans, with how good she is in relays, is that she’ll be able to hold that time this summer and make at least a top 6 spot for a relay.
That’s the fastest time by an American this year, supplanting Missy Franklin, who was 3rd in this race in 54.56. In between the pair was Natalie Coughlin in 54.33. As Coughlin continues to resurge as a sprint freestyler, that’s actually faster than she’s been since 2011. After swimming a lifetime best earlier this year in the 50, watch that race for a really special swim.
Australian 18-year old Brittany Elmslie was 4th in 54.85. That’s almost identical to the time when she came into town for this meet this year as well.
Allison Schmitt was 5th in 55.52, and margo Geer took 6th in 55.65. Australian Ellese Zalewski won the B-Final in 55.25, followed by her countrymate Emily Seebohm in 55.27. Dana Vollmer was 12th overall in 55.37.
Connor Dwyer (left) matched his lifetime bests in the 100 free final, but Olympic Champion Nathan Adrian poured on the speed coming home for the victory in Santa Clara. (Photo: Bill Collins
Men’s 100 Free Finals
Olympic champion Nathan Adrian said in early April that his training had been inconsistent. If a 48.08 Meet Record is an “inconsistent” Adrian, he might be able to go with Aussie James Magnussen at Worlds if Magnussen goes for the 47.0 he’s capable of, assuming Adrian is back into his normal routine.
Adrian’s training partner Anthony Ervin pushed this race early, as he’s wont to do, but Adrian wasn’t far behind (22.82 split for Adrian to 22.73 split for Adrian), which is a good sign for him.
Ryan Lochte ended up 2nd in 49.53, which is another season-best for him (after the 100 fly in prelims). Lochte is suited up in a jammer for the first time this season, and the results are showing.
Conor Dwyer matched exactly his lifetime best from prelims, and he was followed by Brazilian Nicolas Oliveira in 49.60.
Jimmy Feigen was 5th in 49.69, as Ervin faded all the way to 6th in 29.93.
Also in the 9-swimmer A-Final, Matt Grevers was 9th in 51.29.
Texas’ Laura Sogar added the Santa Clara International title to her NCAA crown earlier in the year. (Photo: Bill Collins)
Women’s 200 Breaststroke Finals
First an NCAA Championship to close out her senior year at Texas, and now Laura Sogar zooms to the top of the American rankings with a 2:26.53 in the 200 breaststroke.
With Rebecca Soni out for the Americans this year, Sogar has zoomed to the top of a lot of peoples’ lists for a spot at the World Championships in this 200 breaststroke. She gave a little back to the Olympian Micah Lawrence on the last 50 meters, but when you go out so fast, you can afford that.
Lawrence was 2nd in 2:27.32, and Caitlin Leverenz was 3rd 2:27.35, swimming from the front up with Sogar for the first 150 meters: a position that were not used to seeing Leverenz in.
In what was a bang-bang finish for 2nd-5th, Annie Zhu was 4th in 2:27.42, followed by Canadian Martha McCabe in 2:27.96. That’s a full second faster than she was this same weekend last year.
Kaitlin Freeman from the Santa Barbara Swim Club dropped another second from her prelims time, and Australian Jenna Strauch was 7th in 2:28.51. Strauch is only 17, and is another in a long line of great young Australian breaststrokers (their breaststroke group is like the American women’s breaststroke group.)
Arizona’s Kevin Cordes was satisfied with his year-after-year improvement in the 200 breaststroke after winning in nearly a lifetime best on Friday. (Photo: Bill Collins)
Men’s 200 Breaststroke Finals
American Kevin Cordes is already right on top of his lifetime best: specifically, his 2:10.95 was just .03 away from his best time swum at last year’s Olympic Trials.
Cordes, who has very long strokes, was out in 1:02.9, giving high hopes for his 100 split later in this meet (it should definitely be better than 1:01.) Cordes typically has big tapers, so his hopes for the World Championships squad in this 200 increase exponentially with already a sub-2:11 swim.
That result also makes him 9th in the world in 2013.
New Zealand’s Glenn Snyders was 2nd in 2:13.63, and sprinter Mike Alexandrov was 3rd in 2:14.02. That’s the third-best time of Alexandrov’s career, and a great sign for his 100 (his best chance for Barcelona).
Cal sophomore-to-be Josh Prenot took 4th in 2:14.40, followed by U.S. Olympian Clark BUrckle in 2:14.91.
BJ Johnson won the B-Final in 2:13.39, and the other American Olympian Scott Weltz was 11th overall in 2:15.59.
Women’s 400 Free Finals
This women’s 400 free final didn’t have any really explosive times, but it did have quite the explosive finish. Gillian Ryan went from 6th to first in the last 50 meters for a win in 4:11.83, folloed by Canadian Alexa Komarnycky from the great distance group at Island Swimming.
Olympic silver medalist Allison Schmitt was 3rd in 4:11.97, and Maya DiRado, who was leading going into the last turn, ended up 4th in 4:12.11.
Georgia’s Shannon Vreeland was 5th in 4:12.26. Her teammate Amber McDermott won the B-Final in 4:12.92.
Michigan’s Connor Jaeger has been hard to beat in 2013. He continued his roll with a win in the 400 free on Friday night in Santa Clara. (Photo: Bill Collins)
Men’s 400 Free Finals
Michigan’s Connor Jaeger just keeps winning. He picked up his second win of the meet with a 3:46.93 in the men’s 400 free, which is his best time by a full second.
He and Conor Dwyer were in a dead-heat at the halfway mark, but Jaeger’s distance abilities paid off on the back-half as he pulled away for a big win.
Jaeger went into the Olympic Trials last year largely untested in the distance events. This year, he should be riding with a lot of confidence, as he’s been hard to beat for the last few months.
Canadian Ryan Cochrane, of Island Swimming, was 3rd in 3:49.62.
Michigan/Club Wolverine swimmers took four of the top six spots in the race; Danish swimmer Anders Nielsen was 4th in 3:51.51, followed by Michael Klueh in 3:52.00 and Tyler Clary in 3:52.93.
The top junior swimmer was Australian Mack Horton, who at 17 years old was 7th in 3:54.07.
Women’s 100 Fly Final
In the biggest upset of the night, Canadian 20-year old Katerine Savard upeneded the defending Olympic Champion, and World Record holder, Dana Vollmer, by a margin of 58.83-58.90.
Savard held with Vollmer at the turn, which is bad news for the American who likes to put fields away early on. Coming home, the two were stroke-for-stroke, and being a few lanes apart it took until the scoreboard flashed to determine that Savard was the champion.
Vollmer’s opening split of 27.5 was half-a-second slower than she was last month at the Charlotte Grand Prix.
USC sophomore-to-be Kendyl Stewart placed 3rd in 59.22, and another Canadian Audrey Lacroix was 4th in 59.89.
Greece’s Kristel Vourna, who trains collegiately at Alabama, was 5th in 59.97 and American Felicia Lee took 6th in 59.99.
Jasmine Tosky was also in that A-Final, finishing 7th in 1:00.14. Cal’s Rachel Bootsma won the B-Final in 59.94, followed closely by Australians Seebohm and Elmslie.
Men’s 100 Fly Final
Ryan Lochte won his first Grand Prix A-Final since Orlando in mid-February to end the session, taking the men’s 100 fly in 52.29. He cruised through the front-half, but came on strong over the last 20-25 meters to run down the defending American Champion Tyler McGill (52.42).
Kenya’s Jason Dunford took 3rd in 52.69, and Eugene Godsoe was 4th in 52.85.
Tom Shields took 5th in 53.10, and the highest-finishing swimmer with NCAA eligibility remaining was Arizona’s Giles Smith in 53.14.
I would not underestimate Cordes just because he hasn’t yet proven himself to be a well established Long Course swimmer, his times will hang up there with the best of them by the end of the Summer. His attitude, putting very little pressure on himself, and the momentum he has garnered since Ncaas are creating a perfect storm for him in Barcelona. The US team is looking mighty good even without Phelps on board.
SInce I dont really follow SC yard meets, Im sure I can’t appreciate what Cordes’ achievements have been so far. While obviously most SC champions have not been able to transfer their success into the big pool, and therefore there was understandable doubt over how much of Cordes’ almost unfathomable time drops in SC can be translated in LCM. Obviously, without Brendan Hansen, America is looking to Cordes to be a potential medalist in the breaststroke. From what I’ve heard from reviews and interviews, Cordes is traditionally not a very fast in season swimmer, and the fact that he is 2:10 right now speaks to the fact that he may soon replace both textile American records currently held by Hansen,… Read more »
I don’t really follow the yards format either, although I do know Cordes has been phenomenal at that distance. However, I think some people should suppress their enthusiasm as to whether that success with translate to the big pool (a 2:05 are you kidding me?). I’m excited about Cordes too, but lets not set the bar too high. He will be the next American breaststroke star, but as to whether he can be a threat on the international stage remains to be seen. Judging from his front half speed on the 200, I think his better event will be the 100 as well. Breaking a minute isn’t totally out of the question.
I have always thought that because of his incredible distance per stroke that it would favour LCM. I do think that he is going to challenge for gold at worlds, based off that he tends to have big drops come taper.
If he wants gold in Barcelona he will have to swim 58.50 and 2.07.
sprenger wants 58 low of 57 in the 100 so i’m not sure 58.5 will win gold
The best argument I’ve heard yet is that we have no idea what Yamaguchi, Gyurta, etc. would go in yards. There’s only really been one great American male breaststroker in yards in the last 20 years, and that’s Hansen…and when Hansen was in college and last had a big yards taper, the World Record was a 2:09-mid. The record now is 2:07.0.
Consider that Mike Alexandrov held the U.S. Open Record in the 100 and 200 not too long ago. He’s never broken a minute in the 100, and never broken 2:11.6 in the 200.
Now, we know that Cordes is great, and the 1:48 is a time unlike one we’ve ever seen in yards. But with no van der… Read more »
To want it is one thing but to do it is another thing. Ryan Lochte wanted 7 or 8 gold medals last year too. Some swimmers also talk like that to impress their opponents. How many times we heard : “Wow! It’s a best time and I was not even tapered.” It’s very common in swimming.
Danny Gyurta has shown incredible 100m speed this year (for his standard), I’m not sure if he’s actually going to slow down, and if that’s the case he could try to reclaim his WR from Yamaguchi, who really hasn’t been on the radar this year, he hasnt really done much to convince that he’s even going to be in the final, let alone medal
With this his newfound sprint power I do like Gyurta to win the 200. Yamaguchi has been well off his bests this year and by his own admission his stroke has been off and he is severely lacking in confidence. On the subject of Cordes, I think he can contend in the 200 this year but a full 2 second drop in the 100 is a lot to ask, especially since much of his strength seems to lie in how well he carries his speed out of the turns. Yamaguchi’s turns, on the other hand, are less than world class; you can see where he got killed at the world SC championships. If he were to regain his 2012 form… Read more »
didn’t cordes drop 2 seconds in a shorter yards race? perhaps he got some of that on his turns but if he knocks off two in yards i don’t see why over the course of a longer race two seconds is out of the question
no one is denying that he can go sub209.
@mcgillrocks– Cordes dropped a little over half a second in his 100 in yards, and a little over 3 in his 200. That’s why I said Cordes is more likely to contend in the 200 than the 100. And yes, I would be surprised if he doesn’t break 2:09, but we don’t know what it’s going to take to win; it obviously depends on the form of Gyurta and Jamieson (who have looked pretty good) and the Japanese (I think Tateishi and Yamaguchi, both of whom have swum poorly since last summer overall).
We are seeing the birth of the next 2 big American stars: Nathan adrian and Connor jaeger, both seen to just be getting better every time they hit the water
Nathan Adrian is already one of the biggest swimming stars in the world. He’s the 100 free olympic champion.
U meant Kevin Cordes and Connor Jaeger !!!
Yeah, Adrian has already proved himself among the worlds best (i.e. beating Magnussen twice at the Olympics).
Yeah I guess you’re right Adrian’s already a star but a lot of people seemed on here have said the us men have some issues with freestyle going into the next Olympic cycle but these two guys can probably get the us Medal in all freestyles except the 200 alone
Oh god if my English teacher read that comment she would be appalled.
Jaeger still needs some drops to have a chance on 400.. 400 will probably need a 4:03 this Worlds for medal and for the 1500 I would say 14:45 or less for medal…
You mean 3:40, right?
This season has made me scared of Nathan Adrian. On one hand, I really have no idea what he’s capable of. On the other hand, if he’s 48.0 because he’s not really been training that would reflect very badly upon him in a few months. But we’ll probably know the answer to that at Trials.
However, there is very little doubt in my mind that he’s going to be under 21.5 this summer.
Cordes has huge underwater…
Benefit of a long 6’5 frame.
A little late for me this meet (live webcast at 2 AM) but when you love you don’t count the cost.
A few thoughts about first day :
1. I’m jealous of your weather in California.
2. I hope Miss Romano has now begun to understand her future was the 100 free, NOT BACKSTROKE!!!! Great race for her. If she could have the starts and the underwaters of Natalie Coughlin… She has the potential to swim 53.50 this summer.
3. Lia Neal looks very sloppy this year. Hope she will wake up at the world trials. But the case of Allison Schmitt is much more problematic. Her long distance races are awful since London. Will she… Read more »
About Lia Neal, I wanted to say she looks very sleepy this year.
WOW!! Natalie Coughlin is rocking it!! That’s incredible. To be honest, I really thought perhaps she was just getting too old…but looks like it’s the training. Wonder what’s so different between the mens’ and womens’ training. Granted, training with Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin must be motivating…and a buttkicker.
Wonder how her body will respond in the long term. Men’s and women’s body are different…wonder if that requires fundamentally different training, tapering, conditioning, etc.
Coughlin said in her interview on here the other day that although she obviously can’t keep up with Ervin and Adrian, that she gets a little closer every day and very motivated by that. She is also taking more recovery/rest time this year and although she complained on Twitter that it makes her feel “lazy”, you can tell it’s the smart thing for her to do. She doesn’t usually have huge taper drops and I’m thinking from what she said that that pattern will likely continue.
A very impressive time by inconsistently trained Adrian indeed.
How about Allison Schmitt´s training? If she told her training has been inconsistent, I would believe it. Her time in 400m freestyle appears to be quite far behind from those of Ledecky, Muffat and Barratt.