Stanford senior David Nolan has broken the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open Records in the 200 yard IM on Thursday at the 2015 Pac-12 Conference Championship meet.
Nolan swam a 1:40.07, which snuck just under the 1:40.08 that Ryan Lochte did in 2007 at Winter Nationals – the old fastest-ever result in this event.
The swim also broke the 2009 NCAA Record done by Bradley Ally, then at the University of Florida, in 1:40.49.
Nolan came out of high school with one of the most unbelievable National High School Records in history, with a 1:41.39. In his first three seasons at Stanford, he only improved that by .18 seconds until his explosion on Thursday evening.
Comparative splits:
- Nolan ’15: 21.96/24.95/29.05/24.11 = 1:40.07
- Lochte ’07: 22.00/24.24/29.28/24.56 = 1:40.08
- Ally ’09: 21.46/24.42/29.86/24.75 = 1:40.49
- Nolan HS: 22.07/24.92/29.76/24.64 – 1:41.39
Where Nolan’s race has really improved since high school has been on the breaststroke leg. That’s shown when he’s dabbled in the race individually over the past couple of seasons, and really showed up in this race.
FULL RACE VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😎
https://twitter.com/treeSIDjorge/status/574969323569090561
A Personal Note to Mom and Dad: HEY KOOL AND TERRIBLE!! YOUR BOY DID GOOD.
IS AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL IN THE CARDS FOR DAVID?? WAY TO GO NOLAN CLAN.
Your adopted Bro and Sis, Ric and Gayle
Great performance cu @ the Olympics
I am really happy for him. He set the bar really high for himself with his high school times, and this swim is better than anything he did in high school. I hope that this swim motivates him to give it a go for the Olympics next year. I think he could be a great asset to the US next year, but with a Stanford degree he may be on to bigger and better things outside of the pool.
Dan – I agree, I’ve always had that in the back of my mind too… I believe he’s persuing a degree in Biomechanical engineering. Now there are a whole host of biotech startups in the Bay Area, so he’s in the best place in the world assuming that’s the line of work he wants to pursue, and the locale may let him do some postgrad training as well. He very well may not elect to go pro though, it will be interesting to see how everything plays out – his swim last night will just give him more to mull over. Hoping for all the best for him
I’ve been following Nolan ever since 2011, and this is awesome. As a fellow 2IMer, that time is just such a mindf**k on so many levels. Additionally, I’ve always found his disposition and sincerity in interview to be fantastic. What a guy. I was saying the same thing in 2011, but I really hope he can translate his talent fully to long course and take things to the next level.
Congratulations to Mr Nolan. I’ve been quietly pulling for him for years to make a statement swim like this. Coming off of a legandary HS career like he did and bearing the weight of expectation can’t have been easy. Hopefully it changes his calculus on post-grad swimming a bit. Also, it’s got to be a huge boost of confidence for him to finally post a massive PB. I’ll be looking forward to see what he does in preparation for Rio.
Any full race video available?
Michael Phelps did 1.40.84 200yard IM last night. Unofficial one but good sign!