2024 PSS San Antonio Day 4 Prelims Scratches: Michael Andrew Goes Full Focus on 50 Free

2024 TYR PRO SWIM SERIES – SAN ANTONIO

Day 4 Saturday Prelims Heat Sheet

The concluding prelims session of the San Antonio stop of the 2024 Pro Swim Series is lined up for the heats of the women’s and men’s 100 back, 200 breast, 200 IM, 50 free, as well as 800 free heats later in the afternoon (start time 3:30pm Central Time).

Olympian Michael Andrew has scratched both the men’s 100 back, where he was seeded 10th, and men’s 200 IM, seeded 12th. Instead, he will go full focus on his signature event, the 50 free. Yesterday, Andrew placed 26th in the 100 fly following a 1st- to 4th-place the day prior in the prelims/finals of the 100 breast. He is currently seeded second in the event behind top seed Gator’s Caeleb Dressel, who won the 100 fly yesterday.

Although initially signed up for the women’s 200 IM, freestyle ace Katie Ledecky has decided not to swim her 11th seed in that event. She will go for her known signature event, the 800 free, where she’s the top seed. Previously, Ledecky easily won the 400 free, but then took a valiant second place in the 200 free yesterday. Fellow Olympian Catie DeLoof also scratched her 9th seed for the women’s 100 back to focus on her identical position in the 50 free. In the 100 free, DeLoof maintained her 7th-place position in both prelims and finals.

Meanwhile, Texas’ Anna Elendt will not contest her 6th seed in the women’s 200 breast. This is following a 2nd- to 5th-place drop in prelims/finals of the 100 breast. Leah Smith has also completely scratched out of Saturday’s prelims heats. Previously, Smith placed 22nd in the 200 free with a five-second gain from her 7th seed.

The cloudiness of unknown no-shows following scratches makes one question if other multi-event swimmers will contest all their prelims events into finals, or if they will even swim in finals. Currently, Leon Marchand is set to swim his top seeds in the men’s 200 breast and 200 IM. So far, Marchand has won the 200 fly and 400 IM, both on separate days.

Likewise, the versatile Kate Douglass is expected to swim her unique 200 breast/50 free double this morning. Douglass previously swam the 100 free/breast double, where she placed 2nd and 6th respectively in each event’s finals. Yesterday, however, Douglass added 3.62s in the 100 fly to place 14th in prelims and scratch out of finals.

DAY 4 SATURDAY PRELIMS SCRATCH REPORT

  • Women’s 800 Free: #2 Leah Smith, #7 Kate Hurst, #8 Erica Sullivan, #13 Hannah Bellard
  • Men’s 800 Free: #6 Daniel Matheson, #17 Cooper Lucas, #18 Zach Kohm, #19 Gabe Machado, #20 Joaquin Vargas
  • Women’s 100 Back: #9 Catie DeLoof
  • Men’s 100 Back: #9 Kai Van Westering, #10 Michael Andrew, #12 Nate Stoffle, #16 Jack Wilkening, #18 Rex Maurer, #19 Lamar Taylor, #21 Aiden Hayes
  • Women’s 200 Breast: #6 Anna Elendt, #20 Kaitlyn Nguyen
  • Men’s 200 Breast: #5 Josh Matheny, #7 Cody Miller, #13 Jorge Murillo, #26 Grayson Nye
  • Women’s 200 IM: #11 Katie Ledecky, #21 Stephanie Balduccini, #25 Zoe Vogelmann, #27 Nina Kucheran
  • Men’s 200 IM: #12 Michael Andrew, #14 Gal Cohen Groumi, #18 Rex Maurer, #22 Rick Mihm
  • Women’s 50 Free: #11 Grace Cooper, #21 Stephanie Balduccini
  • Men’s 50 Free: #4 Bjorn Seelinger, #5 David Curtiss, #9 Chris Guiliano, #14 Blake Pieroni, #15 Alberto Mestre, #18 Lamar Taylor, #26 Mikkel Lee

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Susan
8 months ago

I feel bad for MA..in the Unfiltered podcast he mentioned that he couldn’t do the training that he could do a few years ago and that he has a very balanced life..( a very good thing) but he is also a pro, he is paid to swim, and swim fast…so what I see from his dad’s postings are really sad..he has tried to tweak his start for 6 months..it’s the same, and he posts MA swimming 25s..why?..I really thought after 2021 he would train with a team..I can’t understand why he doesn’t see that when he is in a tight race in a hundred, he spins. ..that is pure swimming alone..can he muster a decent 100 breast at trials? I… Read more »

han qihao
8 months ago

I feel that Andrew will swim any project, but the final results have always been below the standard, we Chinese netizens ridicule him as the little prince of the preliminary competition😂

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  han qihao
8 months ago

Shane Casas has taken that throne.

Hank
8 months ago

MA needs to move the needle in the 50FR if it is truly his signature event. The 100BR is more so at the moment. It would have been informative to see a 2IM here since he has been working on his freestyle technique for it, but it is equally important he make some type of progression in the 50free so he can choose some direction forward towards trials where he is not his own worst enemy. It feels to me as if his event selection is always in conflict with his training.

Last edited 8 months ago by Hank
Stewart Fenwick
8 months ago

Play your strength, hide your weakness.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Stewart Fenwick
8 months ago

The M 50 BR and M 50 FL are not contested at the Summer Olympics.

Stewart Fenwick
Reply to  Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
8 months ago

Exactly

Hmm
8 months ago

Aw, was looking forward to another 30.69

Last edited 8 months ago by Hmm
Sun Yangs Hammer
8 months ago

He realized he not built for this

RealCrocker5040
Reply to  Sun Yangs Hammer
8 months ago

He’s built for tossing his talent into the trash can

snailSpace
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

Do you actually have a consistent opinion on Andrew?

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  snailSpace
8 months ago

Do you dispute the results?

RealCrocker5040
Reply to  snailSpace
8 months ago

We just joking

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

LOL!

HeGetsItDoneAgain
8 months ago

Good move for Andrew. Don’t want to be dying on the last 25 of that 50.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  HeGetsItDoneAgain
8 months ago

…… Michael Andrew fades to fourth.

RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

Andrew has a good shot at making the team in 2IM but he needs more practice racing it 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Last edited 8 months ago by RealCrocker5040
Shibly
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

Ohh no…not again

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

Beware of charlatans peddling Michael Andrew snake oil.

mcswammerstein
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

not anymore and he doesnt need to practice racing it, he needs to practice actually training for it for once in his life

Steve Nolan
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

His shot at making the team in the 2 IM is barely better than his shot in the 4 IM.

Stewart Fenwick
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

That ship has sailed 2 years ago.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Stewart Fenwick
8 months ago

Try 3 years ago.

2021 USA Swimming Olympic Team Trials

Foster and Kalisz represented USA Swimming in the M 200 IM at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.

Last edited 8 months ago by Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
This Guy
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

He Can’t Breathe On Freestyle! That is why he can’t finish a 200 IM or a 100 free. That’s the issue. The single issue that prevents him from holding his form, it breaks as soon as he breathes. It’s beyond horrible and something that a good coach should have fixed 10 years ago

Last edited 8 months ago by This Guy
simCLR
Reply to  This Guy
8 months ago

Is the 53.95 100 fly also because he can’t breathe in freestyle?

Hmm
Reply to  RealCrocker5040
8 months ago

30.69

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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