Missy Franklin Makes Competitive Return in Canet Day 1 Prelims

2018 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR, CANET-EN-ROUSSILLON

• June 9th-10th
• Bassin Europa, Canet-en-Roussillon, France
• LCM
• Meet Central
• Schedule
• Entry List
• Results
• Live Results

Saturday morning in Canet, France, 23-year old American swimmer Missy Franklin swam her first races since the 2016 Olympic Games in the opening session of the Mare Nostrum Series.

Fittingly, her first race back was the event that stands out among a long list of events where she’s had success: the 200 backstroke, where she’s the current World Record holder.

In that event, Frankin swam a 2:13.61, which qualified her 5th in the event through to finals, behind top-seeded Katinka Hosszu, who herself is making her way back from an extended competition break that didn’t see her race for almost 6 months.

200 Back, Top 5 from Prelims

1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 2:11.21
2. Daria K. Ustinova, Russia – 2:11.60
3. Taylor Ruck, Canada – 2:11.86
4. Chloe Golding, Great Britain, 2:12.80
5. Missy Franklin, USA – 2:13.61

Franklin’s 200 back splits:

• 31.77
• 33.37 (1:05.14)
• 34.25
• 34.22 (1:08.47)

In her follow-up, Franklin qualified 9th in the 200 free in 2:00.51, behind top-qualifying Charlotte Bonnet of France (and also a new revelation 17-year old Ajna Kesely of Hungary in 1:58.53). That swim puts Franklin into the B-Final, albeit a capable B-Final with international-caliber swimmers like Daria Ustinova and American junior Brooke Forde.

Franklin’s 200 free splits:

• 28.46
• 30.46 (58.92)
• 31.16
• 30.43 (1:01.59)
• TOTAL TIME: 2:00.51

Contextualizing these swims are a tricky game, because prior to 2016, Franklin was arguably the best female swimmer in the world and with little argument the best in the world at these events. In spite of two shoulder surgeries, Franklin is still physically-built to be a world-class swimmer at 6’2″ tall, and even moving across the country to train at Georgia, she’s still working with a world-class coach Jack Bauerle who has trained more World and Olympic Champions than most. So, it would have been unlikely for Franklin to show up at her first meet back and lay a total egg.

In 2016, her last full season of racing, she was 1:59.99 in the 200 free at the prelims of the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite, a meet timed similarly to this one. She dropped to a 1:57.78 in finals. She was 2:11.46 in prelims of the 200 back at that same meet, and improved to 2:09.45 in finals.

But the circumstances this year are very different, given what Franklin has been through over the last 2 years. Primarily, it’s good to see her back in the water and battling elite international fields. Importantly, they’re qualifying times for this summer’s National Championships (yes, even 5-time Olympic gold medalists and 11-time World Champions have to hit qualifying times) that Franklin didn’t previously have.