2023 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 27 – July 1, 2023
- Indianapolis, IN
- Indiana University Natatorium
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet (updated version, 6/26)
- Live Results
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- How To Watch
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap
Prior to the start of Day 4 finals at the 2023 U.S. National Championships, the U.S. Men’s 4×200 freestyle relay from the 2016 Short Course World Championships in Windsor, Canada were presented with gold medals for their performance. You can watch the medal presentation on the livstream provided by USA swimming down below:
Originally, the U.S. relay consisting of Blake Pieroni (1:43.14), Jacob Pebley (1:43.38), Pace Clark (1:44.16), and Zane Grothe (1:42.66) finished second to Russia in a time of 6:53.34. However, Russia’s relay that won in a time of 6:52.10 got disqualified in 2022 because Artem Lobuzov, the team’s third leg, was suspended in 2022 for an anti-doping violation.
In addition to the U.S. being awarded gold, Japan got promoted from bronze to silver, and Australia got promoted from fourth place to bronze due to Russia’s disqualification.
Lobuzov’s suspension entailed that he would forfeit all of his results since July 27, 2014, which included medals from the 2014 and 2016 Short Course World Championships and the 2014 European Championships.
Out of all the swimmers on the U.S. relay team from 2016, only Pieroni and Grothe have competed at an official meet within the last year. Grothe was the only one who raced at this year’s U.S. Nationals, having finished seventh in the 200 free.
Australia got promoted from fouth to third place in 6:53.72. Brazil was not in the final !!!
I thought it was Australia who got upgraded to bronze
Add this medal to their Wikipedia pages!
So the dude gets banned 6 years later and they revoke their medal?
That’s the idea of freezing urinate/blood samples and retesting them later. They can pick up cheats years later as better testing can pick up banned drugs that may not have been detectable at the time of the race.
Yes, that’s the way testing of frozen samples works.
How did they not catch it the first time
The article kind of explains why – “Lobuzov’s suspension entailed that he would forfeit all of his results since July 27, 2014, which included medals from the 2014 and 2016 Short Course World Championships and the 2014 European Championships.”
How do they decide when to forfeit results from? I assume this means the positive sample was from July 2014? Do they just forfeit any and all results following that, or do they need positive samples from other events?
Pace Clark – now that’s a name I have not heard in a long time.
Glad to see sims 100, 200 and 500 yard time transfer to LCM! She showed us her performance at winter HR was no fluke!
other note Leah smith still on team in the relay
Sims 2nd! She the 3rd fastest 500 yards swimmer just behind Macintosh time.
Sims might get 2nd!