2023 U.S. World Trials Previews: Two-Horse Race In Men’s 50 Breast With Fink & Andrew

2023 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• June 27 – July 1, 2023
• Indianapolis, IN
• Indiana University Natatorium
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index

MEN’S 50 Breaststroke — BY THE NUMBERS:

• World Record – Adam Peaty (GBR), 25.95 (2017)
• American Record – Nic Fink, 26.45 (2022)
• U.S. Open Record — Michael Andrew (USA), 26.52 (2022)
• 2022 U.S. International Team Trials Champion- Michael Andrew, 26.52
• World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut- 27.33

Note: Selection to Non-Olympic events (50s of stroke) is the fifth and last priority for team selection. Only the top finisher in each of these events will be added to the team (if there is space). The second spot at Worlds will be given to a swimmer already on the team who qualified in the corresponding 100 event, provided they have an A-cut in the 50.

Michael Andrew left the 2022 U.S. Trials as the fastest American ever in the event and headed to Budapest as the second seed. He left the meet with a bronze medal, behind Nic Fink, who in the process of grabbing the gold, broke Andrew’s national record setting a new benchmark of 26.45.

Michael Andrew (photo: Jack Spitser)

Entering into this year’s trials these two are the prohibitive favorites in the 50 and 100 breast. Last year at trials, they were the only two to swim a sub-1:00 breast, and coming into this year the same applies. The two hold down the top spots in the 50 breast rankings as well. Andrew swam 26.84 at the Fort Lauderdale stop of the Pro Swim Series and Fink posted a 27.13 in Westmont.

Outside of these two, who sit 5th (Andrew) and 17th (Fink) in the world rankings, the top echelon of sprint breaststroke gets very thin. The only other swimmer with a 50 time under the A-cut of 27.33 is last year’s 3rd-place finisher, Kevin Houseman who touched in 27.22. This season has not been too kind to the Northwestern swimmer; he finished 28th at NCAAs in the 100 adding time from his finish at Big Tens. This season his best and only long course 50 is 28.82 split from a 100 breast (1:02.10). Houseman has been selected to swim on the WUGS team heading to China this summer so his preparation for this meet is questionable as he may not focus on making this team.

Brandon Fischer (photo: Jack Spitser)

Tommy Cope is not too far off of the ‘A’ cut time, he holds a season and personal best of 27.48 swum in March in Fort Lauderdale. At the 2022 Trials, he finished 7th (27.89).

Other A finalists from last year include Brandon Fischer (4th, 27.59), Liam Bell (5th, 27.64) Reid Mikuta (6th, 27.72), and Dillon Hillis (8th, 28.50). Of these four, Bell, Mikuta, and Hillis have not swum since NCAAs. Fischer, 34, is having a bit of a resurgence in his career swimming 27.95 in Mission Viejo.

Besides Fischer, other swimmers under 28 in the 50 this season are LSU’s  Mitch Mason (27.72), Cal’s Matt Jensen (27.83), Cody Miller (27.85), and Virginia’s Noah Nichols (27.87).

Max McHugh (photo: Jack Spitser)

Also with a sub-28 time is Minnesota’s three-time NCAA 100 breast champion, Max McHugh, who swam in a mixed-gender heat at a meet in Iowa finishing in a season-best time of 27.85.

McHugh did not swim at last year’s meet so his intentions in the 50 are unknown. Miller on the other hand did not swim the 50 last year so he may or may not enter it. I would not be surprised to see some of the names mentioned above in the final, should Miller opt out again.

Others to look at include Indiana’s Josh Matheny, who placed 10th last year (28.15) but went on later in the summer to swim a 59.44 at Summer Nationals and hit a personal best at NCAA in yards (50.99). Stanford’s Zhier Fan is also a contender, winning gold in the 100 at Junior Pan Pacs (1:00.74) and finishing one place ahead of Matheny in a time of 28.07 last year.

Like the 50 back and the 50 fly, it is tough to judge who will actually enter this event. The stroke rate of the 50 is so vastly different from that of the 200 that many breaststrokers might opt out of it entirely. So don’t expect too many 200 swimmers like Jake Foster or Charlie Swanson to enter this event, especially because it’s a day after the 200 and a day before the 100.

SwimSwam’s Top 8:

Dark Horse: Luke Rodarte – Rodarte, who swims at Cal, swam a 28.08 in Mission Viejo behind only the aforementioned Fink, Jensen, and Fischer. The grad student swam for three years at Cal Lutheran where he won the D III 100 breast title in 2022 (52.71). He swam a 1:01.63 in the 100 last year at Summer Nationals and has already been as fast as a 1:01.75 this year.

See all of our selections for the 2023 U.S. Nationals with the SwimSwam Preview Index here.