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Simone Manuel: “That 50 may have been the longest 50 of my life”

2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

Reported by James Sutherland.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE FINAL

  • World Record: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 23.67 (2017)
  • American Record: Simone Manuel – 23.97 (2017)
  • US Open Record: Simone Manuel (USA) – 24.10 (2018)
  • World Junior Record: Claire Curzan (USA) – 24.17 (2021)
  • 2016 Olympic Champion: Pernille Blume (DEN) – 24.07
  • 2016 US Olympic Trials Champion: Abbey Weitzeil – 24.28
  • Wave I Cut: 25.99
  • Wave II Cut: 25.65
  • FINA ‘A’ Cut: 24.77
  1. Simone Manuel (ALTO), 24.29
  2. Abbey Weitzeil (CAL), 24.30
  3. Torri Huske (AAC), 24.46

Simone Manuel has always thrived under pressure, and she delivered in spades in tonight’s women’s 50 free final.

Manuel, 24, edged out a tightly-bunched field at the finishing wall in a time of 24.29, qualifying her for the U.S. Olympic team after missing the 100 free final.

Manuel’s time is her fastest since the 2019 World Championships, where she was the gold medalist in a time of 24.05.

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FluidG
3 years ago

Beautiful triumph over adversity. Beautiful photo, too.

deepblue
3 years ago

And thus the long pool theory has finally been proven, thanks Simone.

Awsi Dooger
3 years ago

The longest of my life seems to describe the final stroke of many young American freestylers, particularly the women. Several spots on the Olympic roster changed hands based on that aspect alone. Huske had her arm out of the water before Manuel or Weitzeil but did the familiar looping rainbow finish just like Paige Madden in the 200 final. I don’t see how this is allowed to happen. I didn’t swim competitively in college but I wrote many articles on the men’s and women’s team for the Daily Trojan. I remember those practices down in the dungeon very well. There was one assistant coach who used to scream that the final stroke had to be like an arrow barely above… Read more »

Texas Tap Water
3 years ago

Attn. coaches:

Queen Simone needs to anchor all relays, and smash Aussies like guitars!

SwimShark
3 years ago

Sprinting requires so much mental focus in addition to physical conditioning. This was a huge win for Simone. Well done!

Lpman
3 years ago

Its been 24 hours and i am already bored with this. Can we talk about other swimmers that bounced back from a bad swim? Perhaps Haas in the 200 free or Shields in the 100 fly.

Not that it was a bad swim, but maybe Smoliga overcoming 3rd in the 100 back to make the 4 x 100 FR.

Vanilla Gorilla
3 years ago

Great bounce back, way to go Simone!

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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