2018 PRO SWIM SERIES – AUSTIN
- Thursday, January 11 – Sunday, January 14, 2018
- Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center
- Austin, TX
- Prelims 9 AM (Th-Sat) / Finals 6 PM (Th), 5:40 (Fri-Sat) / Timed Finals 8 AM (Sun) – U.S. Central Time
- Links, Schedule & Points/Money Info
- Meet site
- Live Stream
- Meet info
- Psych Sheets
- Thursday Finals Heat Sheet
- Live Results
Today marks the first day of the 2018 Pro Swim Series stop in Austin, Texas. After competing in this morning’s prelims, swimmers are now gearing up for finals of the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 back, 200 breast, 200 free, and mixed medley relay. There are several stars in tonight’s lineup, including Melanie Margalis, Li Bingjie, Sydney Pickrem, Taylor Ruck, Regan Smith, Chase Kalisz, Zane Grothe, Clark Smith, Jack Conger, Michael Andrew, and Ryan Murphy.
WOMEN’S 400 IM:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Katinka Hosszu, 4:31.07, Santa Clara 2015
- GOLD: Melanie Margalis, 4:37.43
- SILVER: Madisyn Cox, 4:42.22
- BRONZE: Hannah Moore, 4:47.40
Melanie Margalis rocked a new best time as she put together a dominant 400 IM. Leading from start to finish, Margalis touched in 4:37.43 for the win, clipping her former best off 4:37.84 from 2014. According to the USA Swimming Database, that was also her first sub-4:40 400 IM since summer 2014. She was the only swimmer to clear that barrier tonight, but Madisyn Cox and Hannah Moore each broke 4:50 to round out the podium.
Moore trailed Bethany Galat (4:48.50) after the breast leg, but used her freestyle speed to move ahead for the bronze. Galat held off Evie Pfeifer (4:48.77) and Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (4:48.82) down the final stretch.
MEN’S 400 IM:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Chase Kalisz, 4:09.43, Atlanta 2017
- GOLD: Chase Kalisz, 4:10.80
- SILVER: Anton Ipsen, 4:19.27
- BRONZE: Tristan Cote, 4:20.93
World Champions Chase Kalisz raced to a new Pool Record to win his signature 400 IM, finishing just over a second shy of his own Pro Swim Series Record. His 4:10.80 tonight cleared his own former Pool Record of 4:11.51. Kalisz was head and shoulders above the field, dominating by over 8 seconds as Anton Ipsen was the only other swimmer to break 4:20. Ipsen and bronze medalist Tristan Cote were within a few tenths of each other until Ipsen pulled ahead on the free leg. Daniel Sos (4:22.01) and Jacob Foster (4:23.72) battled for the 4th place spot, with Sos using his closing freestyle speed to get the job done.
WOMEN’S 100 FLY:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Sarah Sjostrom, 56.38, Austin 2016
- GOLD: Amanda Kendall, 58.29
- SILVER: Zhang Yufei, 58.39
- BRONZE: Rebecca Smith, 58.72
Amanda Kendall used her front-end speed to take the early lead in 26.84. Zhang Yufei chased after her down the final stretch, but Kendall was able to hold her off by a tenth to win it in 58.29. Canadian junior star Rebecca Smith joined them under 59 seconds for the bronze. Regan Smith, another junior standout, was in the mix up front, but faded slightly on the back half to finish 6th in 59.20 behind Alys Thomas (59.09) and Hellen Moffitt (59.16).
MEN’S 100 FLY:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Li Zhuhao, 51.34, Indianapolis 2017
- GOLD: Jack Conger, 51.80
- SILVER: Tripp Cooper, 53.02
- BRONZE: Masayu Umemoto, 53.09
Jack Conger was all business in the 100 fly, leading from start to finish as he came within a half second of the Pro Swim Series Record with his winning time of 51.84. Fellow Texas postgrad Tripp Cooper just clipped Masayu Umemoto for the silver. Narrowly behind them was another Texas-based postgrad, Bryce Bohman, in 53.34 for 4th place.
WOMEN’S 200 BACK:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Meagen Nay, 2:07.16, Santa Clara 2011
- GOLD: Peng Xuwei, 2:08.17
- SILVER: Regan Smith, 2:08.64
- BRONZE: Taylor Ruck, 2:08.90
Fresh off a finals appearance in the 100 fly, 15-year-old Regan Smith was back at it minutes later in the 200 back final. Smith battled closely with Peng Xuwei and Taylor Ruck, with Xuwei slightly outpacing her on each 50 to win in 2:08.17. Smith and Ruck joined her in the 2:08-range to round out the medals. They were the only swimmers to break 2:10, as Quinn Carrozza (2:11.01) narrowly held off 15-year-old Isabelle Stadden (2:11.17) for 4th place with a pair of 2:11s.
MEN’S 200 BACK:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Xu Jiayu, 1:55.04, Indianapolis 2017
- GOLD: Ryan Murphy, 1:56.11
- SILVER: Jacob Pebley, 1:56.40
- BRONZE: Carson Foster, 2:00.73
Cal teammates Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebley were neck-and-neck in this one. Pebley led Murphy, 56.70 to 56.96, up front and extended his lead to half a second at the 150-meter mark. Murphy shifted gears on the final 50, outsplitting Pebley 29.17 to 30.00 to take the win in 1:56.11. That was just a half second shy of the Pool Record set by backstroke legend Aaron Piersol.
Luke Greenbank had touched 3rd, but was ultimately disqualified for a 15-meter violation. That bumped 16-year-old junior star Carson Foster up to bronze. Foster battled closely with Robert Hill (2:00.76), doung just enough to out-touch Hill on the final 50.
WOMEN’S 200 BREAST:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Yuliya Efimova, 2:21.41, Orlando 2016
- GOLD: Chloe Tutton, 2:23.92
- SILVER: Emily Escobedo, 2:25.94
- BRONZE: Breeja Larson, 2:28.34
Chloe Tutton‘s lead was never in question. She took a commanding lead up front and continued to stretch it out as she won the race in 2:23.92 ahead of Emily Escobedo. There was a tight battle for bronze between Breeja Larson and Madisyn Cox (2:28.35). After taking 400 IM silver earlier, Cox nearly won her 2nd medal of the night, but came up just shy s she ran out of room to run down Larson by a hundredth.
MEN’S 200 BREAST:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Josh Prenot, 2:09.30, Charlotte 2015
- GOLD: Yan Zibei, 2:10.33
- SILVER: Josh Prenot, 2:10.91
- BRONZE: Chase Kalisz, 2:11.21
Andrew Wilson (2:15.42) took advantage of his speed up front, taking the lead in 1:02.98 with Yan Zibei trailing by just hundredths. In the end, Wilson faded to 8th, but Zibei held steady to win it in 2:10.33. Josh Prenot was also sub-2:11 for the silver. Chase Kalisz was less than a half second shy of his best time, outpacing Will Licon 2:11.21 to 2:11.99 for bronze. That gave Kalisz his 2nd medal of the night after he won 400 IM gold to start things off.
Fellow National Teamer Nic Fink was 5th in 2:12.09. Junior star Reece Whitley (2:13.92) wound up 7th behind Carlos Claverie (2:13.34).
WOMEN’S 200 FREE:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Katie Ledecky, 1:54.43, Austin 2016
- GOLD: Li Bingjie, 1:56.96
- SILVER: Melanie Margalis, 1:58.23
- BRONZE: Taylor Ruck, 1:59.26
15-year-old Li Bingjie won in dominant fashion, flipping in 57.76 en route to a 1:56.96. That was just 2 tenths shy of her lifetime best 1:56.74 from Chinese Nationals. Melanie Margalis and Taylor Ruck battled for the silver, with Margalis outsplitting Ruck on the back half. That gave each of them multiple medals for the session, as Margalis won the 400 IM and Ruck took bronze in the 200 back earlier. The only other swimmer to break 2:00 was Canadian junior standout Kayla Sanchez (1:59.79).
MEN’S 200 FREE:
- Pro Swim Series Record: Sun Yang, 1:44.82, Santa Clara 2016
- GOLD: Zane Grothe, 1:48.18
- SILVER: Clark Smith, 1:49.34
- BRONZE: Matias Koski 1:49.91
Zane Grothe took it out just a nail ahead of Clark Smith and Matias Koski, but really made his move on the back half. As usual, Grothe kicked it up a notch coming home, pulling himself a body length ahead of the field as he won in 1:48.18. Smith took advantage of the 3rd 50 to move up for the silver. Koski faded to 4th behind Trey Freeman (1:50.15) at the 150-meter mark, but turned it around down the home stretch to out-touch Freeman for the bronze.
MIXED 400 MEDLEY RELAY:
- GOLD: Lezak Squad, 3:49.85
- SILVER: Krayzelburg Squad, 3:52.05
- BRONZE: Sandeno Squad, 3:55.04
Krayzelburg’s team had the early speed with a 54.13 back split from Olympic champion Matt Grevers, but Lezak’s group bounced back with Josh Prenot (1:00.73) on the breast leg. The Krayzelburg squad took the lead again with Ryan Held‘s 53.86 fly leg, but the Lezak squad finish in true Lezak form as Justin Ress (49.03) ran down Krayzelburg’s Olivia Smoliga (55.11) on the free leg to give Lezak’s team the win.
The Coughlin squad (4:02.10) finished a distant 4th. Notably, they struggled on the fly leg with a 58.61 split. Tom Shields, who went a 1:00 in this morning’s 100 fly prelims, was listed on the live results as their butterflier. However, USA Swimming has confirmed that breaststroker Nic Fink took over the butterfly duties.
Kalisz on his own planet in the 400 IM.
Margalis solid.
“Foreign” swimmers didn’t travel to just visit Austin. Most of them look pretty well rested. Especially the Chinese.
Regan Smith very good 2.08 after swimming the 100 fly. Isabelle Stadden is a name to remember.
Claire Tuggle only 2.03 in the 200 free. She almost missed the qualification in prelims. No C-Finals. Very few young swimmers have the opportunity to have a second swim with that new format. Why does she swim the 400 IM before the 200 free in prelims? It puts her 200 free qualification at risk. Already at last US short course nationals I remember she couldn’t have a good 200 free… Read more »
Regarding Claire Tuggle, I think it’s good for a 13 year old to be swimming a lot of events at a meet like this. She’s young and doing back to back events is good training for her. While her 2:03 in finals wasn’t great for her, her heat was pretty slow overall. She went in seeded 16th with a 2:02.6 from prelims and ended up 13th with a 2:03.4. It easy, especially as a young athlete, to get caught up in a slow heat. I’m not too worried about her future–most 13 year olds have plenty of off meets. Hers are just on a bigger stage because she’s so talented.
I agree with you on Reece. I feel like… Read more »
Crazy flu bug going around Northern California. My money is on Tom Shields being sick and trying to swim through it
Errr… 1:00 fly for a 51 swimmer?
The flu will do that to you.
It is interesting to know how seriously Li Bingjie trained for this particular meet (rested, tapered). She was two tenths short of her personal best at 200 shown at National Championships where she for sure was tapered. At that meet she was 4:02 at 400. We may see something like this here in Austin or even around 4:01.
Maybe it is good for Leah not to race Li Bingjie now if she is in deep training. There is no need to be dramatized by challenger in the intermediate meet.
They’re probably only coming once this year. Might as well make it worth the trip. Resting and tapering are pretty important as you don’t wanna run yourself into the ground. 7 months til Asian games, this won’t throw off any schedule
I think li bingjie is deep in training. I read somewhere that she,s in high altitude training.
She could MAYBE be the first chinese female to break 1:55 in the 200 free but she,s not tall. She,s ahead of shen duo and is more consistent than shen duo. shen duo is taller at 6 feet. At a height of just 5,8. She,s shorter than ledecky (6 feet), penny oleksiak (6,1) Sarah sjostrom (6,1) and Taylor Rick (5,11). So the longer distances may be a better fit for for her based on her height.
What is her pb at 100? Just wondering what her raw speed is. To be under 1:56 at 200 is a prerequisite for swimming 400 under 4 min. Ledecky broke this barrier in Barcelona at the age of 16 when her 200 was 1:56.32. But she was tapered, 400 was her first race and her last fifty was very fast.
Li Bingjie swam 200 yesterday as a long distance: very even splits. It is not the way to be under 1:55.
On another note, theres a post on twitter that Missy has moved to UGA to train.
link please 🙂
https://swimswam.com/missy-franklin-reboots-georgias-jack-bauerle/
Any drug testing going on at this meet. Always suspicous of our visiting Chinese friends. Didnt the men’s breastroke winner test positive a few years ago?
Maybe they just don’t do Christmas/ Thanksgiving and get fat like everyone else last month
It’s Wang Lizhuo who was tested positive, not Yan Zibei. Wang never competed at international stage.
If they were doping they wouldn’t let them on the plane to come here unless they could pass a drug test.
From the meet information:
“This event is subject to testing under USADA and FINA rules. All athletes competing in the meet may be tested.”
58.61 by Shields on that mixed medley relay ? If that wasn’t a serious piano – that was was it ?
That wasn’t Shields. That was Nic Fink I think?
Live results have Shields listed. I’ll have to go back and watch the video. But it’s possible considering he was 1:00 in the individual 100 fly today.
Korn was right. It was fink.
what’s going on with tom shields?
Might not be training/sick
Believe he took some time off to get surgery so probably lack of fitness
unsurprisingly Lezaks team with the big last leg :~)