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Grodzki Breaks NCAA Record; La Tourette Breaks American Record in 1650

Georgia’s Martin Grodzki has broken the NCAA and U.S. Open Records in the mile free on the final night of the 2012 Men’s NCAA Swimming Championship. I’m not sure that anybody saw this swim coming – the old mark of 14:26.62 held by Michigan’s Chris Thompson had stood since 2001, and withstood attacks from a lot of very good distance swimmers. But Grodzki obliterated it with a 14:24.08, which is the fastest mile in history.

Grodzki and Stanford’s Chad la Tourette (14:24.35) both were under the old mark, and the pair pushed each other the whole way. They didn’t look like they were swimming a 1650 in this race, rather it looked more like a sprint for both men with unbelievable speed. When they were coming home and the clock was only reading 14:10, I couldn’t believe it, and thought for a moment maybe the bell-ringer made an error. This was one of the best mile battles you’ll ever see.

When looking at the comparative splits, it’s the third 500 that was clearly the difference makers for this pair. La Tourette’s mark goes down as the American record.

Here’s the comparative splits by 500:

Thompson ’01: 4:21.46 – 4:22.7 – 4:26.4 – 1:16.1
LaTourette ’12:  4:21.18 – 4:23.20 – 4:23.5 – 1:16.5
Grodzki ’12:  4:20.70 – 4:23.89 – 4:22.5 – 1:17.0

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12 years ago

So proud of you and being a Bulldawg-mom!!!!

12 years ago

Would love to see the video of this mile.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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