16 year-old Michael Andrew lowered his own 15-16 National Age Group record in the 50 free tonight at the Austin Pro Series.
Despite swimming in a loaded A-final where most of the other competitors were a decade older than him, Andrew finished fourth with a 22.33. That mark just eclipsed his previous record, a 22.34 which he swam at the 2015 Speedo Junior National championships.
His time from tonight would already put him fifth all-time in the 17-18 age group, behind Caeleb Dressel (who holds the record with a 21.53 from this past summer), Vladimir Morozov, Paul Powers, and Santo Condorelli.
While the finals of the 50 free tend to feature swimmers older and more powerful than in most of the other events, this was Andrew’s first A-final of the meet. Last night he placed third in the B-final of the 100 fly, finishing about a second off his best time in that event.
Tomorrow, the last day of the meet, Andrew is entered in both the 100 breast and the 200 IM. He currently holds the NAG record in the 100 breast and he’s second all-time in the 200 IM for the age group, with his time of 1:59.86 only .02 behind Andrew Seliskar, who is also slated to compete in the event tomorrow.
USRPT showing even more promising results, I like that!
Def knows how to swim the big pool
2 of those all time top 5 are non-US swimmers who lived in the US and given their swims last year some pretty good company.
The good thing for MA is that the older swimmers have proven that careers can extend into the 30s. If he misses the Olympic team, a wave of retirements, coupled with even more physical growth and training, could put MA in line for a long international career on the senior level that starts with Worlds in 2017, and possibly extend into the 2024 Olympics, when he’d be “only” 25, and beyond. Sure, he might not qualify as a teenager the way Phelps did, but he has years ahead. That’s no failure, and I’m sure he doesn’t think of it that way.
Unfortunately for Mr. Andrew, I believe the Olympics are about 18 months early for him to qualify on the US team for his preferred events. Still he will make finals in several events at only 17 and that’s impressive.
Why do you have to point out the unfortunates this guy deserves to be commended and at the least receive positive criticism.
Because he isn’t going to make the team