by Jessica Delos Reyes // USA
Swimming
The 2023 Phillips 66 National
Championships continued Friday with action in the 400m freestyle, 100m
breaststroke and 100m backstroke lighting up the pool at the Indiana University
Natatorium in Indianapolis.
For the second time this meet, Regan
Smith broke one of her own records, this time in the women's 100m backstroke,
besting her own U.S. Open record with a time of 57.71 on her way to her third
national title of the week.
“After my 200 (backstroke), I was
happy with that, of course,” Smith said. “I wanted to go for (a world record)
tonight and couldn’t quite do it, but I’m really pleased with 57.7. That’s my
best time of the season. Based on how it felt those last 20 meters, I’m
especially pleased with it.”
Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Gator
Swim Club) opened the night with another win at these national championships,
this time in the women’s 400m freestyle, swimming a 4:00.45 – the
fourth-fastest time in the world this year.
“It was okay for me,” Ledecky said.
“I’ve been better a couple times this year, so I know I can learn a lot from
this race moving forward over the next couple weeks.”
In the men’s 400m freestyle, David
Johnston (Dallas, Texas/Longhorn Aquatics) swam a personal best time of 3:45.75
en route to his first national title.
Lilly King (Evansville, Ind./Indiana
Swim Club) picked up her third national title of the competition with her win
in the 100m breaststroke. Her surge in the last 25m proved key to defending
Olympic gold medalist Lydia Jacoby (Seward, Alaska/Seward Tsunami Swim Club)
and Kaitlyn Dobler (Aloha, Ore./Trojan Swim Club). King’s time of 1:04.75 is
the fastest in the world this year.
“I really switched it up from
normal,” King said of her strategy. “Normally, I’m out like a shot and trying
to make it home. I wanted to go off the easy speed I had in the 200
(breaststroke) and give something a try. I went a lot longer this morning and
surprised myself with a 1:05 and I said ‘Oh, that works. Let’s do it again
tonight.’ It was good and I’m really happy with that. Honestly, especially over
the last two years, I feel like I’ve been spinning out the first 50 and dying
so badly on the way home. I know what I do in training does not reflect dying
on the last 25 so I thought it was a good chance to switch something up, went
for it, trusted my gut, and it turned out pretty good.”
Nic Fink (Morristown, N.J./Metro
Atlantic Aquatic Club) beat his personal best time by .01 seconds in the 100m
breaststroke as he won his second national title of the meet. His time of 58.36
is the second-fastest time recorded in the world this year.
“I tried to stay on top of the water
as much as I could the first 50, hoping the energy and the atmosphere would
take me out, so I saw at the turn I was ahead, felt pretty good and I knew I
could bring it home pretty fast,” Fink said. “I don’t know the splits, but we
were practicing that tempo on the last 50 and it showed for a huge (personal
record) today.”
In a stacked men’s 100m backstroke
final, Hunter Armstrong (Dover, Ohio/NYAC) won his first national title with a
time of 52.33, posting the second-fastest time in the world this year and
out-touching Ryan Murphy (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./California Aquatics) by .06
seconds.
“That was probably one of the most
painful 100 (backstrokes) of my career so far,” Armstrong said. “It was a very,
very tight field. Destin (Lasco) impressed me a lot. I knew he was a great
backstroker, but he popped off a great 100m (freestyle) and dropped more than a
second in the 100 back so whenever (Ryan Murphy) and I are done, we have a
great future of backstrokers after us.”
2023 World Aquatics Championships
Qualifiers as of June 29:
Women:
Katherine Berkoff – 50m backstroke,
100m backstroke
Jillian Cox – 800m freestyle
Kate Douglass – 100m freestyle, 200m
breaststroke
Erin Gemmell – 4x200m freestyle relay
Katie Grimes – 400m individual medley
Torri Huske – 4x100m freestyle relay,
100m butterfly
Lydia Jacoby – 100m breaststroke
Lilly King – 200m breaststroke, 50m
breaststroke, 100m breaststroke
Katie Ledecky – 800m freestyle, 200m
freestyle, 400m freestyle
Lindsay Looney – 200m butterfly
Bella Sims – 4x200m freestyle relay,
400m freestyle
Regan Smith – 200m butterfly, 200m
backstroke, 100m backstroke
Olivia Smoliga – 4x100m freestyle
relay
Alex Walsh – 400m individual medley
Gretchen Walsh – 4x100m freestyle
relay, 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly
Claire Weinstein – 200m freestyle
Abbey Weitzeil – 100m freestyle
Rhyan White – 200m backstroke
Men:
Jack Alexy – 100m freestyle
Hunter Armstrong – 100m backstroke
Matt Fallon – 200m breaststroke
Nic Fink – 50m breaststroke, 100m
breaststroke
Bobby Finke – 1500m freestyle
Carson Foster – 200m butterfly, 400m
individual medley
Chris Guiliano – 100m freestyle
Luke Hobson – 200m freestyle
David Johnston – 400m freestyle
Drew Kibler – 4x200m freestyle relay
Matt King – 4x100m freestyle relay
Destin Lasco – 4x100m freestyle
relay, 200m backstroke
Jake Mitchell – 4x200m freestyle
relay
Ryan Murphy – 200m backstroke, 100m
backstroke
Dare Rose – 100m butterfly
Kieran Smith – 200m freestyle, 400m
freestyle
No comments:
Post a Comment