Just a few heats after putting up the 3rd-best 200 IM in age group history, Michael Andrew upped the ante, scoring the 2nd-best 50 meter free in USA Swimming’s 15-16 history with a 22.63.
That’s a drop of almost two tenths from his previous best, and moves him from #5 to #2 on USA Swimming’s all-time top ten list:
- Caeleb Dressel – 22.39
- Michael Andrew – 22.63
- Shayne Fleming – 22.72
- James Jones – 22.81
- Nathan Rickard – 23.07
Andrew currently holds the 50 free National Age Group records in both the 13-14s and 11-12s, and there’s no doubt he’s got his sights set on breaking the record in the 15-16 bracket as well. So far, Andrew has only been able to crack the 15-16 NAG record book in the 100 breaststroke, but he did take a big step towards the 200 IM NAG earlier tonight.
A quick splits comparison between Andrew’s time tonight and the NAG record:
- 2015 Michael Andrew: 22.63
- 2013 Caeleb Dressel: 22.39
(That’s a joke, swimming fans.)
Andrew, who turned pro at age 14, has had a pretty nice improvement curve in the long course 50 free as of late. Last summer, he broke 23 for the first time, going 22.82 at Jr. Pan Pacs. The previous year (2013) his best time was just 23.45.
His time tonight won him the title at Columbia Sectionals at the University of Missouri, beating out a number of Mizzou’s sprinters. Andrew has around 10 months to chase down the NAG record held by NCAA champion Caeleb Dressel.
Michael Andrew is “money good”. There is no other way to describe him. He delivers exceptional progression every six months, and it normally happens just as people are saying he has peaked, or that he looks tapped out. Rio still looks a year or maybe 6 months too early for him, but if he carries on like this we should not be surprised if he sneaks onto the Olympic team. The fun bit is that we don’t quite know which event it could be. Imagine being that talented across all of the strokes.
bobo gigi, canada can develop dept (especially on the women,s side) even with taylor ruck swimming for them. They also have another rising star in penny oleksiak who swims the free, back and fly. The only stroke where canada struggles with on the women,s side is the breaststroke.But all in all, there are young girls coming up especially in the backstroke and freestyle.
On the men,s side they don,t really have any youngsters coming through.
Canada is developing dept slowly on the women,s side as more young girls are stepping up. I suspect that more Missy franklins will come out of canada. Taylor ruck and penny oleksiak are just the begining of that journey.
All the 100’s of sets of 30×25’s or 30×50’s just wash away from your memory and lose their monotony when you accomplish your goal. And you can’t wait for the next round of race pace to find something else fix and improve on.
Very impressive to come off 3 months of vacation (Jan 15-Apr 15) and have really only a 90 day cycle (Apr 15-July 15) and then do best times. But that’s all you really need if you do it right. A few more 90 day cycles like that and it should be an exciting 2016!
Don’t be fooled. 2 sets of 30×25’s or 50’s at race pace with :20 rest hurts like hell. Just like a 2:01.1… Read more »
The real Josh Davis?
Yes, the real Josh Davis.
david – long course meters.
At this pace, he will be soon in the US top 10 performers of a season in each 100-meter event. It doesn’t look impossible. Has it happened before in the US history? Men and women… Read more »
MP could have done it but he didn’t swim breaststroke rested or tapered.
In 2007 he was:
– 1st in the 100 free in 48.42
– 2nd in the 100 back in 53.01. Only 0.03s off the world record.
– 33rd in the 100 breast in 1.03.88 in February
– 1st in the 100 fly in 50.77
In 2008 MP was:
– 6th in the 100 back in 53.42 not tapered a few weeks before olympic trials
Happy to see him improve his freestyle times.
I still think that’s his weakest stroke.
But he improves.
Some dude on here reprimanded me for suggesting this guy should have been on the Pan am team and you all agreed with him. This was just a week ago..you guys are so fickle and now you are all a bunch of MA nuthuggers.
Canada lost Missy franklin to the US. I hope the canada don,t lose taylor ruck to the US.
If Taylor wants gold medals in relays, she should swim for USA.
That’s a fact.
They didn’t lose her. They never had her. You can’t lose something you never had. And the US didn’t lose Ruck either. She’s a Canadian living and training in the US.