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Thomas Heilman Re-Breaks Hours-Old 100 Fly NAG With a 45.81

SPEEDO WINTER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – EAST

14-year old Thomas Heilman broke his 11th National Age Group record in 10 days tonight in the finals of the Speedo Winter Junior Championships – East.

Heilman came into the meet with a personal best of 47.35, but the writing was on the wall last night when he split 45.8 on Cavalier Aquatics’ 400 medley relay. Sure enough, this morning he set a new personal best, and a new 13-14 National Age Group Record, with a time of 46.42. That time broke the previous NAG of 46.95 held by Michael Andrew.

Tonight, Heilman lopped another six-tenths of a second off the NAG, winning the event against a final heat consisting entirely of 17 and 18 year-olds.

Splits Comparison in Yards:

Thomas Heilman Thomas Heilman Michael Andrew
Finals NAG Record Prelims NAG Record Old NAG Record
50y 21.59 21.59 21.58
100y 24.22 24.83 25.37
Total Time 45.81 46.42 46.95

Heilman took his finals swim out in the exact time as this morning, 21.59. That put him only 4th at the halfway point, but he came roaring home in 24.22, over half a second faster than anyone else in the race, to win in 45.81

To provide some more context — that time is less than two-tenths of a second shy of Luca Urlando‘s 15-16 NAG record of 45.62. He’s also less than a second away from Tom Shield’s 17-18 NAG record of 44.91. Heilman’s 45.81 also would’ve qualified for NCAAs last season — or any of the previous three seasons — something almost unheard of for a 14 year-old boy.

Heilman is scheduled to swim the 200 free shortly — another event in which he broke a NAG this morning.

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Dr M Bowen
1 year ago

Finally, the recap of his 45.81 states he split at 21.59 then came “roaring home” in 24.22. That’s so wrong because it was absurdly omits the minimum of 1″ for the turn. So, pushing off the wall for lap 2, he would have in truth swum the 2nd 50 in only 23.22.

Dr M Bowen
1 year ago

I well remember when, in 1966, Mark Spitz at 16 broke 50.0 in the 100 fly with a 49.9 and what a HUGE thing it was. Now here’s Tom @ 14 doing 4+ second faster! Assuming he breaks 45.0 @ 16 he’ll be exactly 5 seconds faster–for just 100 yards–than Spitz.

zdhamme86
2 years ago

When I was 14 I was going 45.8 too.

At the 75.

Dr M Bowen
Reply to  zdhamme86
1 year ago

When I was 14 I was going 45.8 on my bicycle at the 75 🙂

Drewbrewsbeer
2 years ago

Absolute madness!!

Distance Per Stroke
2 years ago

What is this kids training like?

thomas the crank
Reply to  Distance Per Stroke
2 years ago

he’s had 3 coaches in 3 years. this man’s a beast

CraigH
Reply to  thomas the crank
2 years ago

I thought one of the articles said that he had dad three teams but the same coach, he just followed the coach to the different teams. Maybe I’m thinking of someone else though.

PFA
2 years ago

The fact he went 1:34.6 in the 200 about 20 minutes later makes all of this even more impressive. It just doesn’t make sense he obliterated 2 nag records in one day.

super classy swim
2 years ago

i think if i had to swim next to him at a club meet i would literally start crying

Wild Bill
2 years ago

Wow!

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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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