Swimming Video / Race Video courtesy of Universal Sport’s Network, a SwimSwam partner.
WOMEN’S 400 IM
Hannah Miley picked up her second win of the night, and the double was as tough as they come. On the heels of the 200 free victory, the Scottish swimmer turned around to dominate the 400 IM, one of the sport’s toughest events.
Miley cruised through the butterfly, trailing a few swimmers early, but dropped the hammer on backstroke. At the halfway point, she led by over two seconds, and only increased from there, going 4:36.74 to win by about four ticks.
Caitlin Leverenz was the early leader, and though she was powerless to stop Miley’s charge, she was able to hang on for second place, going 4:40.65. Former Georgia Bulldog Melanie Margalis started to close on the final leg, but it wasn’t quite enough to catch Leverenz, and Margalis ultimately took third in 4:41.29.
18-year-old Vien Nguyen was fourth. Nguyin swims for Saint Augustine out of Florida, but competes for Vietnam internationally. She rounded out the first big wave of finishers in 4:43.09.
American record-holder Katie Hoff, on the comeback trail after a lengthy break from swimming, went 4:48.67, followed by two British teenagers: Abbie Wood (4:49.66) and Georgia Coates (4:50.32). Both girls are 15. Fellow 15-year-old Regan Barney out of Texas’s Nitro Swimming was 4:51.59 for 8th.
Also of note: current Pro Swim Series points leader Elizabeth Beisel did not swim this race, scratching out of prelims. But the Gator Swim Club pro did join Rowdy Gaines in the announcing booth, explaining that she had scratched the race due to a groin injury suffered in Austin.
Beisel said she hadn’t done a breaststroke kick since that swim in Austin, and has been training almost entirely freestyle as she rehabs. But the US Olympian did say that she was expecting to be back in action for the Pro Swim Series’ next stop in Mesa, Arizona.