2021 SPEEDO SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS – IRVINE
- August 3-7
- William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, Irvine, CA
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Website (USA Swimming)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Stream (USA Swimming)
With a 56.34 in prelims of today’s West Summer Championships, 14-year-old Teagan O’Dell cracked the top 15 all-time in USA Swimming’s age group 100 free ranks.
O’Dell, who competes for Irvine Novaquatics, was the top qualifier among 45 swimmers this morning. She was also the youngest swimmer in the entire 100 free field at age 14.
O’Dell headed into the morning with a career-best of 56.65 in the 100 long course meters freestyle. She set that time while leading off a relay at the MVN Summer Junior Olympics just last month. This morning, O’Dell was already three-tenths faster, going 56.34. No other swimmer in this morning’s field was faster than 56.69.
This morning’s swim marks yet another in a massive list of time drops for O’Dell in this event over the past three months. Here’s a look at her progress:
- Nov. 2019: 58.33 at Kevin Perry Invite (then a career-best)
- May 2021: 57.45 & 57.20 at CA Grand Challenge
- June 2021: 57.19 & 56.99 & 56.72 at Fran Crippen SMOC
- July 2021: 56.65 at MVN Summer Junior Olympics
- August 2021: 56.34 at West Summer Championships
O’Dell moves up from #25 to #14 in USA Swimming’s all-time ranks for the 13-14 age group – and she ties with a very well-known name on that list: eventual Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel, who was also 56.34 at age 14 in the year 2011.
If O’Dell can swim to a 56.20 or better in tonight’s finals, she’ll crack the top 10 all-time. The National Age Group record is a 54.03 from Missy Franklin, but only five American women in history have been under 56 seconds in this race as a 13-14: Franklin, Lia Neal (55.00 in 2009), Taylor Ruck (55.51 in 2015 before officially starting to represent Canada internationally), Erika Pelaez (55.51 in 2021 and competing at East Summer Champs today) and Erin Gemmell (55.87 in 2019).