Regan Smith Blasts 2:08.48 200 IM at Solar Satan Open; Simone Manuel Wins 50 Free
In her first season as knowledgeable swimmer based mostly at Arizona State College, Regan Smith has proven her greatest kind since 2019, when she received a world title within the 200 backstroke whereas setting world information within the 100 and 200-meter again. Her most up-to-date national-level competitors on the TYR Professional Swim Sequence in Westmont, Ailing., in April featured a stellar 200 butterfly-100 again double which culminated in a 57.90 100 again after which a 2:04.76 U.S. Open document within the 200 again.
In possible her remaining competitors earlier than subsequent month’s U.S. Nationals, Smith is racing this weekend on the Solar Satan Open, hosted in her house base of Tempe, Ariz., and he or she started her racing slate Friday with the 200 IM. Smith has raced the occasion sparingly through the years, however she dropped three seconds from her greatest time when she final contested the occasion on the U.S. Open in early December. However six months later, Smith appears world-class within the occasion, with two extra drops suggesting she may make a critical run on the World Championships workforce within the occasion.
Smith swam a mark of two:09.78 in prelims, knocking greater than six tenths off her December time of two:10.40. At night time, she crushed that point with a 2:08.48. The mark moved her to fourth on this planet this yr behind Canada’s Summer season McIntosh (2:06.89), Australia’s Kaylee McKeown (2:08.16) and China’s Yu Yiting (2:08.34). The time would have been ok for silver ultimately yr’s World Championships behind fellow American Alex Walsh, and Smith now ranks fifteenth in historical past, with Ariana Kukors, Walsh and Kathleen Baker the one People to ever document faster marks.
A comparability of Smith’s splits in her numerous medley races over the past six months present slight enhancements on her greatest strokes (butterfly and backstroke) however an enormous soar on breaststroke. After splitting 41.22 in December (which was already an enormous enchancment from her earlier greatest cut up), Smith was one-and-a-half seconds faster Friday night at 39.67.
2022 U.S. Open: 27.64, 59.25 (31.61), 1:40.47 (41.22), 2:10.40 (29.93)
2023 Solar Satan Open (prelims): 27.64, 59.23 (31.59), 1:39.17 (39.94), 2:09.78 (30.61)
2023 Solar Satan Open (remaining): 27.45, 58.74 (31.29), 1:38.41 (39.67), 2:08.48 (30.07)
After her December swim, Smith indicated that she didn’t count on to significantly take into account a run on the 200 IM “until I can get my breaststroke all the way down to no less than a 39, and even that might actually be pushing it.” With this newest soar, she and coach Bob Bowman may need to make that call.
The occasion schedule at U.S. Nationals options the 200 IM on the ultimate day, after Smith’s ordinary backstroke and butterfly occasions are accomplished, so a run on the occasion is feasible. If she did contest the medley later this month in Indianapolis, Smith would face off in opposition to Walsh, 200-yard IM American-record holder and Olympic bronze medalist Kate Douglass and World Championships bronze medalist Leah Hayes with solely two spots accessible. Nonetheless, it’s price noting that the World Championships schedule presents a battle between the 200 IM and 100 again, presenting a doable battle for each Smith and McKeown, who’s already established as world-class in each occasions.
Simone Manuel, Chase Kalisz Seize Wins
A pair of Olympic champions at the moment beneath Bowman’s tutelage at Arizona State pulled off strong wins Friday. Within the 50 freestyle, Simone Manuel obtained the higher of coaching associate Olivia Smoliga by one hundredth, 25.22 to 25.23. Manuel was simply off her season better of 25.18 from the Fort Lauderdale cease of the Professional Swim Sequence in March.
The lads’s 200 IM went to Chase Kalisz, the fourth-place finisher within the occasion ultimately yr’s World Championships, in 1:57.51. The time moved Kalisz into the worldwide top-10 for 2023, and amongst People, solely Shaine Casas and Carson Foster have been faster. Hubert Kos, a World Championships finalist for Hungary final yr now coaching at Arizona State, took second in 1:59.18.
Jay Litherland, the 400 IM Olympic silver medalist behind Kalisz, received the boys’s 400 free in 3:52.24 whereas Luca Urlando, in his first remaining since shoulder surgical procedure, positioned fourth in 3:55.92. Urlando will race the 200 free Saturday, however he isn’t swimming his customary butterfly occasions this week. Hali Flickinger, the Olympic bronze medalist within the 200 fly, cruised to a win within the girls’s 400 free in 4:08.69, and one other Arizona State-trained Olympian, Ryan Held, received the boys’s 50 free in 22.10.
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