2020 Pro Swim Series – Des Moines: Day 1 Race Videos

2020 PRO SWIM SERIES – DES MOINES

The 2020 Pro Swim Series in Des Moines kicked off on Wednesday with the men’s and women’s 1500 free timed finals. The meet started with Katie Ledecky blasting out the 5th-fastest 1500 free time in history, breaking 15:30 at 15:29.51. 2016 Olympic teammate Leah Smith finished 46.83 seconds behind Ledecky at 16:16.34.

Ledecky’s time this evening knocked 6 seconds off her 2019 US Open season best of 15:35.98, remaining #1 in the world this season. Meanwhile, Smith’s time entered the top-25 for the first time in 2020, ranking 12th. Third-place finisher Kristel Korbich of Chile (16:22.35) sits in 13th, now behind Smith, with her season best of 16:17.86 from PSS Knoxville.

On the men’s side, Jordan Wilimovsky held a slight lead on 18-year-old Arik Katz throughout the majority of the race. With 200 meters remaining in the race, however, Katz crept up on Wilimovsky to take the lead with 100 meters to go. At the finish, it was Katz (15:10.94) who took out veteran Wilimovsky (15:12.49) for the win. Akaram Mahmoud was close on the pair’s tails, settling for bronze with his 15:16.56.

Katz’s time this evening is good enough to rank 21st in the world this season. Wilimovsky was roughly 9 seconds off his World #12 time of 15:03.29 from the 2019 US Open.

Women’s 1500 Free Timed Finals

  • PSS Record: 15:20.48, Katie Ledecky (USA), 2018
  • Trials Cut: 16:49.19

Top 3

  • GOLD: Katie Ledecky (NCAP)- 15:29.51
  • SILVER: Leah Smith (Tuscon)- 16:16.34
  • BRONZE: Kristel Korbich (Chile)- 16:22.35

Men’s 1500 Free Timed Finals

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DBS
4 years ago

so what constitutes a current? first time looking at this kind of thing ( edit: apologies for the formatting ).

excluding the 1st and last 100s, these are the average odd and even 50s for swimmers in lanes 3, 4 or 5 ( I believe anyway, wasn’t able to watch and the heat sheet link went MIA so I went by psych sheet and apparent scratches ):

Ledecky: 30.95 | 31.33 ( +0.37, +1.2% )
Smith: 32.52 | 32.95 ( +0.44, +1.3% )
Wilimovsky: 30.45 | 30.68 ( +0.24, +0.8% )
Grothe: 30.76 | 31.28 ( +0.52, +1.7% )
Katz: 30.39 | 30.68 ( +0.28, +0.9% )

by comparison:

Mahmoud: 30.77 | 30.56 ( -0.21, -0.7% ) — lane 7?

eagleswim
Reply to  DBS
4 years ago

is it true that it’s not very typical to have a current in the inside lanes? or is that just a poor understanding of how this works on my part

DBS
Reply to  eagleswim
4 years ago

the current at the rio olympics pool impacted outside lanes, but if a current’s primarily caused by water flow, overflow, etc / whatever, it’s going to be pool-specific.

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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