Ledecky Joins Class of Nation’s Elite in 800 Free to Wrap Charlotte

As has become a theme, the final day of the 2012 Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix was a bit of a quiet one. Michael Phelps, the major star of the meet, was off to Dallas for the pre-Olympic media summit. But that didn’t stop a 15-year old from stealing the show on the final day. It’s not clear if all in attendance at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center knew what they were witnessing (the 800 free usually sees a late-arriving crowd), but it was a special swim.

Women’s 800 Free

A the Charlotte Grand Prix, 15-year old Curl Burke swimmer Katie Ledecky has gone from “great for her age” to a bona fide national star. First by breaking two minutes in the 200 free for the first time; next with a 4:05 in the 400 free to break a meet record and take 2nd-place; and now she dominated the 800 free with an 8:25.85 – a lifetime best by four seconds. That’s the fastest time by a 15-year old in at least the last 15 years.

There was no Allison Schmitt or Chloe Sutton in this 800 (Sutton’s coach Bill Rose decided to train her today instead of having her race), so Ledecky pulled off an 11-second victory in the race. That did include, though, beating NBAC’s Gillian Ryan (8:36.56) by 11 seconds. Ryan was Ledecky last year – as fast or faster as we’ve ever seen anybody at this age.

Ryan’s swim was a calculated one; she negative-split the 400’s 4:20.4/4:16.2. This is a strategy that a lot of coaches use with their distance swimmer at these sort of late-season races to encourage them to push through pain at the end of a race, and hit the very beginnings of that race-specific preparation that we’ll hear a lot of swimmers talk about as they head toward their tapers.

Elizabeth Beisel swam an 8:37.40 for 3rd. That’s her best time by 6 seconds, and as we’ve seen throughout the meet, is a huge leap from where she was at this meet last year (21 seconds, to be precise).

Open water champion Ashley Twichell was 4th in 8:38.48.

Women’s 200 IM

Caitlin Leverenz had another great IM swim in the 200, giving her a sweep of the pair, with a 2:10.25 on Sunday evening. That’s the third-fastest time of her career, with all three of those times coming at mid-season meets in the last 6 months. Unlike what we saw in the 400 IM on Friday, she went back to a pretty standard pacing for her – not a very good backstroke leg, and a huge breaststroke leg. That’s as juxtaposed to a much better backstroke swim in the longer race that she’s developed. This 200 IM was split almost identically to her swim in the finals at last year’s World Championships, with a bit better of a finish.

Leverenz would say in her post-race comments that she thought it would take under a 2:09 to make the American team in this event. That’s almost a scary statement as an American fan, given that only one swimmer in the world was under 2:09 last year. If two Americans are faster at Trials than they were all of last year, that could be trouble for ultimate medal chances as the whole world has stepped up their collective games in the IM’s.

Ariana Kukors was 2nd in 2:11.09, which is a bit slower than (but right in the same range as) her time from Indy a month ago. Liz Pelton was 3rd in 2:11.87. Speaking to the increased competitiveness of this event, all three of those swimmers were under Katinka Hosszu’s old Meet Record.

There was a big dropoff to 4th, where Melanie Margalis swam a 2:15.65.

Men’s 200 IM

After a struggle of a meet through the first three days of competition, things clicked for Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM. He scratched the 200 back (though it would have been great to see him practice that double for the Olympics) to focus on this race, and that resulted in a great 1:57.63 win here, which is a new Meet Record. That’s the best time of his year by a second-and-a-half, and the third-fastest by anybody in the world. Based on his final 50 meters though (28.70 split), he’s still pretty tired, and this swim was all about going out hard and hanging on as best he could.

His Gator Swim Club teammate Conor Dwyer also had the best swim of his meet with a 1:59.29. That’s easily the fastest time he’s been since the Pan Am Games. Eric Shanteau, who usually swims well at this meet, was 3rd in 2:00.46.

He broke up a stranglehold on this race by the Trojan Swim Club, as 4 out of the top 5 swimmers work in Gainesville. Sebastien Rousseau was 4th in 2:01.59, and Bradley Ally was 5th in 2:01.74.

Women’s 200 Back

Liz Pelton had a great “consistency” swim in this 200 back, as her 2:09.41 win was nearly identically matched to her last swim in Indianapolis. In terms of front-half, back-half it was identically split as well, though broken down a further level to 50-by-50 it was actually quite different. She was very fast on the first half of each 100, then trailed off at the end. The ability to mess with her pacing and still come out with ultimately the same time shows good athleticism and a lot of very good overall body-awareness.

The next three swimmers were all internationals, headed by Stephanie Proud in 2:10.58. The British swimmer is about a month away from the biggest meet of her life, as she’ll make a last-ditch effort to clear the British qualifying standard and make the Olympic Team. This time, which is as fast as she was at Worlds last year, is a great start on that quest. She’ll have to hold off Georgina Hohmann and Karley Mann, both 6 years her younger, to earn that spot, or in the least hope that they don’t beat her 2:09.94 from Trials.

Canadian Dominique Bouchard was 3rd in 2:11.10, and former Indiana NCAA Champion Kate Fasenko was 4th in 2:11.90.

Men’s 200 Back

After the Lochte scratch, this race was left without a big “star” per se, but the times ended up being pretty quick. That’s thanks, in part, to a star of the future in 16-year old Ryan Murphy from Bolles, and in part to Omar Pinzon. The pair got locked in a great battle, with Murphy fighting back from a slight deficit at the half-way mark to pick off the win in 1:58.07. That’s his second-best time. Pinzon, already a two-time Columbian Olympian at only 22, was 2nd in 1:58.12.

Local SwimMAC’er Nick Thoman was 3rd in 2:00.26.

Women’s 100 Free

Young Lia Neal from Asphalt Green is the forgotten youngster in the latest wave of Americans, as she doesn’t swim a ton of these big national meets (instead focusing on local, and many yards) meets. But every time she shows up at one of them, she reminds us of her talent. She won this 100 free in 54.35, which is the best time of her career by four-tenths of a second. That’s a huge drop at a pre-taper meet.

She took the win here against a pair of America’s best, making it even more impressive. Jessica Hardy swam a 54.36, just .01 behind, and Natalie Coughlin took 3rd in 54.59. Those are 2012-bests for both of those women as well.

Megan Romano was 4th in 55.22.

Men’s 100 Free

Ricky Berens continued his hot swimming with a 49.07 win in the men’s 100 free. As a 200 freestyler, he didn’t take the race out as hard as the pure sprinters like Anthony Ervin and Matt Targett, but also as a 200 freestyler he finished like a demon. His splits were 23.77-25.30. He got out way faster in this race than he did in his last meet; this swim comes after kicking off the 100 at the Fran Crippen SMOC three weeks ago, a self-described “sluggish” swim, with a 24.0.

Ervin took the lead at the first turn, and though he didn’t hold on for the win, a 49.61 is the best time of his comeback. That brings some disappointment that we didn’t get to see his full speed in the 50, following a DQ in the prelims of that race. The Australian Targett, who’s in Miami working with Aaron Ciarla, also got out to a fast start, and swam a 49.65.

Scot Robison was really impressive in 49.66 for 4th. He’s been sort of overlooked to make his way onto the Olympic Team (even though he was on last year’s Worlds team).

Out of the B-Final, Josh Schneider continued to settle well into long course. Even though he’s still not really a 100 freestyler (the all-out burst of the 50 is his best bet), he’s looking better with a 49.76 – the best time of his career.

Men’s 1500 Free

It took every inch of speed that Mission Viejo’s Chad la Tourette had to take top honors in the men’s 1500 free, with his 15:06.73 just holding off the 15:07.29 that Michigan’s Connor Jaeger swam in the early heats. The two ended up with similar times, but obviously had very different strategies. La Tourette was shooting for his famous consistency, whereas Jaeger’s splits show that he was clearly thinking about building each 100. Both were successful in executing their plans, and it would have been great to see their final times had they been swimming head-to-head.

Jaeger doesn’t swim this race very often, and in fact this is only the second official USA Swimming record for him. But with that 15:07, he should now get the opportunity to swim up with the big-boys in the last heat. That’s important as the American 1500 has become very deep. There’s no major contender to battle with the likes of Ryan Cochrane and Sun Yang, but the depth has exploded in the race, so being in a good position for the heats is huge.

Full, Live Results available here.

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jean michel
11 years ago

@ Leonidas : Lochte is like no other swimmer on this planet ! I still don’t really understand why he doesn’t swim his best at Grand prix but what i saw from him since the Pan Pacs in august 2010 is incredible . In Dubai short course world champs 2010 : 6 medals , Shangai 2011 : 5 Golds . He is the guy who will be ready for Omaha and for London and probably will demonstrate amazing races .

Charles Morton Esq.
11 years ago

Wow, 8:25. Would have been a world record time as recently as 1978. Watch out!

NDB
Reply to  Charles Morton Esq.
11 years ago

Sorry that the swim doesn’t excite you, Negative Nancy. It was a great performance by a 15 year old rising star in a MID-SEASON meet. I can’t wait to see how she does at trials. Cheer up butter cup!

aswimfan
Reply to  Charles Morton Esq.
11 years ago

A 15 yo Tracy Wickham absolutely destroyed the previous WR, and brought it down to the then-unfathomable level of 8:24.62

The record lasted for 9 years until another 15 yo Janet Evans blasted 8:22.44 in 1987

Will we get to see another 15 yo break Evans’ 8:16.22 in London?

Not likely, but one can only hope.

Karoline
Reply to  aswimfan
2 years ago

yes

leonidas
11 years ago

Lochte pulled a little bit of a ringer move throwing on that suit for the 2IM. Fantastic time in comparison to his other swims, and really provides a good indicator of where he can be in omaha. However, we always chalk up Lochte’s lackluster swims as being a result of his outrageous training (which I realize breaks him down more than most). But if the difference between those pretty uncompetitive swims like his 4:26 4IM, or his 1:49.7 2 Free, and being a 1:57 in the 2IM at the end of a 3 day, 9 event meet, is simply wearing a jammer, why doesn’t he wear one all the time?? If nothing else, for the sake of the sport it… Read more »

coacherik
Reply to  leonidas
11 years ago

“why doesn’t he wear one all the time?? If nothing else, for the sake of the sport it would be nice if arguably the worlds best swimmer didn’t lose almost every race he swam all year…by significant margins. Excellent 200 IM, just feel like if that was in the tank it would have been nice to see an excellent 400 IM, 100 and 200 back and 200 free.”

Why should he? He is not training for the Ultraswim or any other in-season meet. I’m only pretty sure he, Coach Troy and N.T.D. Busch could really care less how many in-season swims he loses as long as he shows up, races and just behaves like the normal Ryan Lochte; signing autographs,… Read more »

leonidas
Reply to  coacherik
11 years ago

Because part of moving swimming forward is going to be putting fans in the seats at Grand Prix meets and making them more visible and popular, so that swimming isn’t a once every 4 years thing. Part of that is fast swimmers swimming fast. If Lochte is capable of a 1:57 200 IM in the middle of absolutely insane training and the ONLY thing he has to do is put on a jammer to do it, without any detriments to his Olympic performance, he should do it. I’m not saying he should train for the Charlotte Grand Prix, but I do think we should see the best he’s got every time out.

completelyconquered
11 years ago

Link to video from the pic?

jean michel
11 years ago

Well said BOBO GIGI ! I totally agree with those observations and statements ! Owesome young talents are rising so well , just before the Us trials ! I will add that Ricky Berens had a great meet too . Of course he is at home but on 100 free , he has a back end powerfull finish just ahead of 2 very good freestylers . Anthony Ervin missed a chance to show us how fast he is on 50 free ( will see on the trials ) but showed us he has tremendous speed over 75 meters . That’s how he was so fast back in 2000 Sidney Olympics . I truly wish to see him improve on his… Read more »

bobo gigi
11 years ago

I’m also impressed by the consistency of Caitlin Leverenz. If she improves a little more her freestyle she will be olympic champion in the 200 IM. Ariana Kukors is for me the favorite to win the second spot in the american team. If Elizabeth Pelton improves her breaststroke in the years to come she will be able to swim easily under 2.09 too.

bobo gigi
11 years ago

Great races in every event for the day 4. The live webcast didn’t work during a few minutes and I haven’t watched the men’s 200 back and the women’s 100 free. I was very angry. Fortunately the races are archived on youtube.
Youth american swimmers take the power a little. There are no big surprises. We know they have a big talent. Katie Ledecky, Lia Neal and Ryan Murphy will dominate the world very quickly. But these wins are a huge boost of confidence for the 3 swimmers.
First, Katie Ledecky is a beast. As a swimming fan from France I can say that Camille Muffat must be very pleased that olympic games are this year and not… Read more »

joeb
11 years ago

Who said ‘ruh-ro’ this weekend? Kate Ziegler, Gillian Ryan and Chloe Sutton after watching Katie Ledeckly swim this weekend. Good timing for Ledecky and it doesn’t look like Gillian’s move to NBAC has done much (although Trials are still to come).
Impressed with Levrentz AGAIN. She is a consistent racer. She has improved her weaknesses. She doesn’t protect herself during meets…She swims lots of events and still is tough the last day!!
I can’t believe how DEEP the men’s mile will be at Trials. Everyone will have to give an honest effort in prelims in this field. I can’t wait. Both Chad and Connor had awesome last 8oo’s or so!
43 days!!

SwimCoach
Reply to  joeb
11 years ago

Again, no mention of Yuri (or even Curl Burke) in the article. Congrats to Katie and Yuri. Keep taking things one step at a time.

DCD3
Reply to  SwimCoach
11 years ago

Does every article about a good swimmer need to mention their coach?

coacherik
Reply to  DCD3
11 years ago

DCD3, it does not.

About Braden Keith

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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