2021 Pro Swim Series – Mission Viejo: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2021 PRO SWIM SERIES – MISSION VIEJO (#3)

Day Three Finals: Saturday, April 10

The third finals session at 2021 Pro Swim Series – Mission Viejo is taking place Saturday morning and will feature consolation and final heats of the women’s and men’s 200 fly, 50 free, 100 back, 200 breast, and 400 free. In flipping the traditional prelims-in-the morning, finals-at-night scenario, USA Swimming is preparing its athletes for the scheduling format at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

Katie Drabot is top seed in the women’s 200 fly, after Hali Flickinger bowed out of the final. Gabriel Jett leads the men’s entries in the event after he dropped 2.8 seconds in prelims to break 2:00 for the first time. He will be challenged by seasoned racers Chase Kalisz and Nicolas Albiero.

Abbey Weitzeil will swim in lane 4 of the 50 free final, with Kasia Wasick -the only other sub-25 out of prelims- in lane 5. In the men’s 50 free, it will be a matchup between Brazil’s Bruno Fratus, for whom this is his Olympic selection meet, and Caeleb Dressel.

Kathleen Baker and Olivia Smoliga both broke 1:00 in prelims to lead the qualifiers in the 100 back. Daniel Carr and Hugo Gonzalez qualified with sub-54s in the men’s race. World Record-holder Ryan Murphy will be in lane 3.

Lilly King and Annie Lazor, who have both swum top-5 world times already this season, will do battle in the 200 breast. Nic Fink will try to get the 100/200 double win in the men’s race.

After a stunning 1:54.40 U.S. Open Record in the 200 free on Friday and a world-leading 4:01.37 400 free in prelims, Katie Ledecky will be the one to watch in the women’s final. Zach Yeadon is top seed on the men’s side.

Women’s 200 Meter Butterfly – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 2:06.11 Hali Flickinger (2020)
  • Trials Wave II: 2:12.56
  • Trials Wave I: 2:14.59

Podium:

  1. Katie Crom 17 Mission Viejo Nadadores 2:10.38
  2. Lillie Nordmann 18 Alto Swim Club 2:10.62
  3. Katie Drabot 23 Alto Swim Club 2:10.94

17-year-old Katie Crom blasted a 33.02 final 50 to drive past Katie Drabot and Lillie Nordmann to win the 200 fly in her home pool.

Drabot had a strong lead over the field for the first half of the race. She led by half a body length at the 100 wall with 1:01.57. Remedy Rule was .5 behind her, while Nordmann trailed by nearly a second. Drabot held onto her lead through the 150 but began to face challenges from Nordmann down the stretch.

Neither Drabot nor Nordmann could keep pace with Crom, though. She swam 1:02.7-1:07.6 to move up to #32 all-time for 17-18 girls in the U.S.

Men’s 200 Meter Butterfly – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 1:53.84 Luca Urlando (2019)
  • Trials Wave II: 1:59.63
  • Trials Wave I: 2:01.19

Podium:

  1. Nicolas Albiero 1:57.86
  2. Chase Kalisz 1:58.16
  3. Zach Harting 1:59.38

Nicolas Albiero followed up on his recent NCAA title in the 200 yard butterfly with a win in the LCM version at PSS Mission Viejo. His 1:57.86 was a season best and was a 1.2-second improvement from his prelims time. Albiero was out in 55.7 at the 100, with Zheng Quah close on his shoulder in 55.9. Albiero took off on his third 50 to put clean water between him and Quah and led by half a body at the 150 wall.

Chase Kalisz had the strongest back half, splitting his race 56.6-1:01.5, nearly catching Albiero but falling .30 short at the end with 1:58.16.

Zach Harting passed Quah, closing with 1:02.2 to Quah’s 1:03.5 over the final 100 meters. Harting posted a 1:59.38 for third place.

Women’s 50 Meter Freestyle – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 24.17 Sarah Sjostrom (2016)
  • Trials Wave II: 25.65
  • Trials Wave I: 25.99

Podium:

  1. Abbey Weitzeil 24 California Aquatics 24.57
  2. *Kasia Wasick 29 Team Rebel Aquatics 24.73
  3. *Beryl Gastaldello 26 Aggie Swim Club- 25.18

Abbey Weitzeil improved on her prelims time of 24.80 to win with 24.57. She was aiming for a 24.5 at this meet, and with a 24.57, she now ranks 9th in the world for the season.

Kasia Wasick went .12 faster than in prelims, touching second with 24.73. Beryl Gastaldello rounded out the podium with 25.18. Her season best is 24.87 from December.

2020-2021 LCM Women 50 Free

EmmaAUS
McKeon
08/01
23.81
2Cate
Campbell
AUS23.9406/17
3Ranomi
Kromowidjojo
NED23.9705/18
4Pernille
Blume
DEN24.0605/17
5Sarah
Sjostrom
SWE24.0708/01
6Kasia
Wasick
POL24.1705/18
6Claire
Curzan
USA24.1705/14
8Abbey
Weitzeil
USA24.1907/31
9Maria
Kameneva
RUS24.2004/09
9Liu
Xiang
CHN24.2009/28
View Top 41»

Men’s 50 Meter Freestyle – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 21.51 Caeleb Dressel (2019)
  • Trials Wave II: 22.71
  • Trials Wave I: 23.19

Podium:

  1. *Bruno Fratus 31 Coral Springs Swim 21.80
  2. Caeleb Dressel 24 Gator Swim Club 21.83
  3. Michael Andrew 21 Race Pace Club 22.13

Brazil’s Bruno Fratus edged Caeleb Dressel by three hundredths, 21.80 to 21.83, to win the men’s 50 free. Fratus was .07 off his prelims time from last night, but both swims help him make the case for representing Brazil in the event in Tokyo. Fratus explained in the post-race interview that the Brazilian Federation only recently made the decision to use Mission Viejo as his selection meet. He quickly tapered and shaved and got the job done. As long as two Brazilian swimmers do not go faster than his 21.73 from last night, Fratus is likely to earn the spot.

Coming to the wall in third place behind Fratus and Dressel was Michael Andrew with 22.13. Nathan Adrian touched 4th in 22.29.

2020-2021 LCM Men 50 Free

2Vlad
Morozov
RUS21.4104/09
3Ben
Proud
GBR21.4204/17
4Michael
Andrew
USA21.4806/20
5Florent
Manaudou
FRA21.5307/31
View Top 26»

Women’s 100 Meter Backstroke – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 58.18 Regan Smith (2020)
  • Trials Wave II: 1:01.49
  • Trials Wave I: 1:02.69
  1. Olivia Smoliga 26 Athens Bulldog Swim Club 59.09
  2. Kathleen Baker 24 Team Elite-NC/NY 59.50
  3. Rhyan White 21 Univ Alabama Swimming 59.66

Olivia Smoliga came from behind to overtake Kathleen Baker down the stretch to win the 100 back in 59.04. Baker led Smoliga 28.7 to 29.0 at the 50 wall but Smoliga came home .76 faster to get the victory. Baker was just off her 59.45 time from prelims, touching second in 59.50.

Smoliga moves up to #4 in the world for the season, passing Regan Smith.

Rhyan White cracked the 1:00 barrier for the first time, finishing third in 59.66.

2020-2021 LCM Women 100 Back

2Regan
Smith
USA57.6407/29
3Kylie
Masse
CAN57.7006/19
4Kathleen
Dawson
GBR58.0805/23
5Olivia
Smoliga
USA58.3105/15
6Rhyan
White
USA58.4307/27
7Emily
Seebohm
AUS58.4507/27
8Katharine
Berkoff
USA58.6206/14
9Kira
Toussaint
NED58.6504/11
10Claire
Curzan
USA58.8205/15
View Top 26»

Men’s 100 Meter Backstroke – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 52.40 David Plummer (2016)
  • Trials Wave II: 55.51
  • Trials Wave I: 56.59

Podium:

  1. Ryan Murphy 25 California Aquatics 53.11
  2. *Hugo Gonzalez 22 Una CAL-PC 53.76
  3. Daniel Carr 22 Unattached-PC 53.83

Ryan Murphy blasted off to a strong start from lane 3, flipping in 25.6 to lead the field by half a body length over Daniel Carr and Hugo Gonzalez. Gonzalez had the fastest second half but Murphy hung on for the win, stopping the clock in 53.11.

That moves Murphy up to #6 in the world for the current season.

Murphy clipped the lane line just before coming to the wall, but he laughed off suggestions that it impacted his swim. Murphy said they’re just trying to gain information and prepare for Omaha and insisted he was satisfied with his performance.

2020-2021 LCM Men 100 Back

EvgenyRUS
Rylov
07/27
51.98
2Kliment
Kolesnikov
RUS52.0007/27
3Ryan
Murphy
USA52.1907/27
4Thomas
Ceccon
ITA52.3007/27
5Xu
Jiayu
CHN52.3503/07
6Hunter
Armstrong
USA52.4806/14
7Mitch
Larkin
AUS52.7512/13
8Shaine
Casas
USA52.7606/14
9Yohann Ndoye
Brouard
FRA52.7707/30
9Apostolos
Christou
GRE52.7705/19
View Top 43»

Women’s 200 Meter Breaststroke – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 2:20.77 Annie Lazor (2019)
  • Trials Wave II: 2:30.49
  • Trials Wave I: 2:33.29

Podium:

  1. Lilly King 24 Indiana Swim Club 2:22.38
  2. Annie Lazor 26 Mission Viejo Nadadores 2:22.73
  3. Emily Escobedo 25 Condors Swim Club 2:23.58

Lilly King attacked the 200 like it was a 100, getting out in front of the field by 1.2 at the 50 wall with a first 50 of 31.7. She built her lead to 1.5 seconds at the 100, turning at 1:07.97. Annie Lazor began to close the gap over the second half of the race, outsplitting King on the 3rd 50 by .4 and on the 4th 50 by .7. King held on, though, and got the win, 2:22.38 to 2:22.73.

King explained she had been working on race strategy, musing, “Why would I swim like a 200 breaststroker when I’m a 100 breaststroker?” Her plan is to go out and see how long she can hold on. With a body and a half lead on the field at the halfway mark, she had enough cushion to power through to victory.

Lazor came up .35 short and finished second with 2:22.73. Both she and King have been a touch faster this season.

Emily Escobedo finished third with 2:23.58.

2020-2021 LCM Women 200 Breast

2Lilly
King
USA2:19.9207/30
3Evgeniia
Chikunova
RUS2:20.5707/29
4Annie
Lazor
USA2:20.8407/30
5Molly
Renshaw
GBR2:20.8904/15
View Top 26»

Men’s 200 Meter Breaststroke – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 2:08.95 Andrew Wilson (2018)
  • Trials Wave II: 2:15.28
  • Trials Wave I: 2:17.89

Podium:

  1. Nic Fink 27 Athens Bulldog Swim Club 2:09.73
  2. Lyubomir Epitropov 21 Unattached-SE 2:10.85
  3. Andrew Wilson 27 Athens Bulldog Swim Club 2:11.00

Taking a page out of Lilly King’s book, Michael Andrew blasted off to a quick start in the final. Out in 29.0, he was 1:02.07 at the 100 and led the field by nearly a full body length. He remained in first place at the 150 but fell off pace over the final 50 meters and faded to fourth at the finish.

Nic Fink, meanwhile, picked up his second breaststroke win of the meet with a smooth 2:09.73 in the 200 breast final. Down by nearly a second at the halfway mark, Fink remained undaunted and stuck to his strategy. After the race he expressed confidence in the strength of his fourth 50, and it was evident in watching him swim. As Fink closed on Andrew, he increased his rate over the final 25 meters without ever rushing or spinning. Fink came home with an evenly-split 33.39-33.41 second half to win with 2:09.73. It was his top swim of the season and moved him ahead of Andrew Wilson for 16th in the world.

Lyubomir Epitropov and Wilson also passed up Andrew over the final 50 meters, finishing second and third with 2:10.85 and 2:11.00, respectively. Michael’s 4th-place 2:11.32 was, nevertheless, a best time by 1.3 seconds.

2020-2021 LCM Men 200 Breast

2Shoma
Sato
JPN2:06.4004/07
3Arno
Kamminga
NED2:06.8512/04
4Anton
Chupkov
RUS2:06.9905/20
5Ippei
Watanabe
JPN2:07.0812/06
6Matti
Mattsson
FIN2:07.1307/19
7Nic
Fink
USA2:07.5506/17
8Ryuya
Mura
JPN2:07.5804/07
9Erik
Persson
SWE2:07.6605/20
10Kirill
Prigoda
RUS2:07.8510/03
11James
Wilby
GBR2:07.9107/28
12Andrew
Wilson
USA2:08.3206/17
13Dmitriy
Balandin
KAZ2:08.4204/07
14Will
Licon
USA2:08.5006/17
15Matthew
Wilson
AUS2:08.5206/15
16Caspar
Corbeau
NED2:08.5712/04
View Top 26»

Women’s 400 Meter Freestyle – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 3:57.94 Katie Ledecky (2018)
  • Trials Wave II: 4:13.28
  • Trials Wave I: 4:16.89

Podium:

  1. Katie Ledecky 24 Nation’s Capital 3:59.25
  2. Leah Smith 25 Unattached-AZ 4:06.37
  3. Hali Flickinger 26 Sun Devil Swimming 4:08.05

Katie Ledecky broke the 4:00 barrier for the 20th time in her career with a 3:59.25 to beat runner-up Leah Smith by over 7 seconds. Ledecky split 1:58-2:01.2 in the final versus 1:59.9-2:01.4 last night, getting most of her improvement over the first 200 meters. Already #1 in the world for the season after last night’s prelims, she increased her lead to nearly 4 seconds over Wang Jianjiahe.

Ledecky said her 4:01 felt really easy last night and thought she could be under 4:00 this morning. She also said she was excited to have Emma Nordin on her heels over the first half of the race and hoped Nordin would hang with her to the end. Nordin had clung to Ledecky from the outset, flipping together with the leader at 57.6 for the first 100. Nordin fell back on the second 100 but was still far ahead of the rest of the field at the 200 with her 1:59.17.

Behind Ledecky over the second half, Leah Smith in lane 3 and Hali Flickinger in lane 1 were holding 31-mids, while Nordin faded to 31-highs/32-lows. Smith split 2:01.6-2:04.7 for a second place 4:06.37. Flickinger, who had scratched the 200 fly final to focus on this race, had her third-best lifetime swim in 4:08.05 for third place.

2020-2021 LCM Women 400 Free

AriarneAUS
Titmus
07/26
3:56.69
2Katie
Ledecky
USA3:57.3607/26
3Li
Bingjie
CHN4:01.0807/26
4Erika
Fairweather
NZL4:02.2807/25
5Summer
McIntosh
CAN4:02.4207/26
View Top 26»

Men’s 400 Meter Freestyle – Final

  • Pro Swim Record: 3:43.55 Sun Yang (2016)
  • Trials Wave II: 3:54.21
  • Trials Wave I: 3:37.29

Podium:

  1. Zach Yeadon 21 Unattached-PC 3:51.57
  2. Patrick Callan 21 Una CW-MI 3:51.81
  3. Jordan Wilimovsky 26 KSwim-CA 3:51.95

Chris Wieser set the early pace in the men’s 400 free, leading at the 100, 200, and 300 with 55.3, 1:53.7, and 2:52.8. He was a good body and a half ahead of the wave of swimmers jockeying for position behind him: Jordan Wilimovsky (2:54.4), Zach Yeadon (2:54.4), Will Gallant (2:54.5), and Patrick Callan (2:54.7).

Yeadon, Callan, and Wilimovsky all split 29s on their penultimate 50, while Wieser went a 30-high. Yeadon moved into first place on the final turn, Wieser held on a second, and Wilimovsky was .04 ahead of Callan. Yeadon and Callan came home in 27.9s to finish first and second with 3:51.57 and 3:51.81. Wilimovsky’s 28-low gave him a third-place finish (3:51.95), knocking Wieser (3:53.24) off the podium.

 

 

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Billy
3 years ago

Where the Russians at for the 1 back top times.

Swimfan
3 years ago

Claire Curzan 56.2 and Torri Huske 56.69 the 2 fast Americans in the last 16 months, Curzan now 2nd fastest American ever behind vollmer Olympic gold performance from london

BILLY
3 years ago

Is my eyesight getting worse or are Caleb Dressel’s tattoos fading or in the process of getting removed? They looked a lot different today watching the meet on TV. I’m just curious and mean no harm….

JimCorbeau
Reply to  BILLY
3 years ago

Sunscreen

BILLY
Reply to  JimCorbeau
3 years ago

That makes sense.

Pvdh
Reply to  BILLY
3 years ago

He’s super tan, plus the sunlight makes them look really faded out

I don’t think he’s getting them removed. He already did that once so he could change up what he had on his sleeve. Maybe a recoloring is in order post Tokyo

BILLY
Reply to  Pvdh
3 years ago

Thant makes sense too!

BILLY
Reply to  BILLY
3 years ago

That. Typo above.

Swimmka
3 years ago

I think the chance for gold medals in the men’s field is getting vey low. It is not only Dressel but everybody else in heavy training. Still Milak just causally dropped a 50.4 time in 100 fly, Morozov a decent 21.4 in 50free, Kolesnikov is a stable 52 mid 100 back…Who will then win gold for US ?( I am talking about the men side of course )

Ghost
Reply to  Swimmka
3 years ago

Hard (and unfair) to compare in season to olympic trials meets!!!!

Brownish
Reply to  Ghost
3 years ago

Milak’ swims wasn’t at trials (we don’t have). It’s “only” Hungarian Championships.

Philip Johnson
Reply to  Swimmka
3 years ago

Every Olympic cycle since Phelps I feel there’s a discussion about the downfall of American men’s swimming.

Pvdh
Reply to  Swimmka
3 years ago

…why are you comparing the US to countries just coming off their trials meet. If you think the US swimmers aren’t gonna drop some rocking times, you’re gonna have a bad time come June.

whever
Reply to  Swimmka
3 years ago

Dressel was the sole individual gold medalist from US men’s team in 2019 World Champs. I won’t be too surprised if this happens again in Tokyo. Although you can’t say they have no chance of winning backstrokes & IMs & possibly 200 free, the challenge will be very huge.

On the contrary, US women’s team has gold medal contenders in almost every event:
50/100 free – Manuel
200-1500 free – Ledecky
back – Smith
breast – King (200 is a little hard tho)
fly – Curzan, Flickinger
im – *insert the name you like*
Their relays also face far less challenges than the men’s. Especially in the mixed medley relay, they could win by a large margin.

Last edited 3 years ago by whever
whever
Reply to  whever
3 years ago

In fact, there were only four US men winning individual medals (of any color) in Gwangju:
Dressel with gold.
Murphy and Litherland with silver.
Kalisz with bronze.

Brownish
Reply to  Swimmka
3 years ago

Dressel.

KnowsItAll
3 years ago

Meanwhile in Birmingham Ryan Held blasts a 21.62 and 1:49.1. Wowza.

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  KnowsItAll
3 years ago

21.6 is going to be a problem for anyone other than Dressel.

1.49.1 should bode well for the 2nd 50 of his 100.

He may go 48 or better tomorrow.

swimfast
3 years ago

I’m so proud of Ledecky. She really has seemed to have gone through some rough patches the last couple years from simply life being thrown at her, and today she dropped another 3:59-low. She just keeps going times that almost no one else has gone.. and now that we’ve kinda seen that she’s not immortal this past Olympic cycle, I’m very pleased to see her back on top at just the right time.

Last edited 3 years ago by swimfast
Yozhik
3 years ago

Judging by Ledecky’s after race reaction the breaking 3:59 was most likely a plan/expectation. But if to remember that the last time she was faster than today almost 3 years ago (at 2018 PanPac games, to be exact) then today’s race indicates a great improvement in her overall form.

Swimfan
3 years ago

Meanwhile claire curzan goes 57.37 in prelims 100 fly in North Carolina.

Now with the times so for over the the weekend the women medlay relay aggregate time 3:55.19 with flat starts ( with the 100 fly final tonight for curzan and 100 free tomorrow still for weitzel who could top huske time this weekend)

59.03 smoliga
1:05.32 king
57.37 curzan
53.43 huske

Last edited 3 years ago by Swimfan

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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