Zane Grothe Improves on Worlds 1500 Performance by 25 Seconds at U.S. Nationals

2019 PHILLIPS 66 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 31 – August 4, 2019
• Prelims 9:00 AM (Pacific)/Finals 5:00 PM (Pacific)
• Avery Aquatics Center
• Stanford, CA
• Meet Site
• Psych Sheet
• Omega Results

Despite taking second Wednesday night at the 2019 Phillips 66 National Championships, United States 2019 FINA World Championships Team member Zane Grothe improved him on performance in Gwangju by over 25 seconds.

Grothe went 14:56.10 in Palo Alto, going stroke-for-stroke with Indiana’s Michael Brinegar through the first 1000 meters of the race before starting to pull away. Florida’s Bobby Finke, coming off a wrist injury, won the national title in 14:51.15; Brinegar finished third in 15:00.82.

At Worlds, Grothe missed out on the 1500 final, finishing 26th overall in prelims in 15:21.43. His best time on the season was 15:13.29, from the Pro Swim Series stop in Des Moines in March, and his lifetime best is 14:48.40, from the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships last summer. He was 15:00.85 at Nationals last summer to qualify for Pan Pacs and Worlds.

He took out his Worlds and Nationals swims similarly: he was 4:58.33 at the 500 in South Korea, and 4:57.00 Wednesday night. Is was the second two-thirds of the race that made the difference, however. Grothe was 10:08.82 at the 1000-mark last week, then 9:57.53 this week; he closed in 5:12.61 last week versus 4:58.57 at Nationals.

The 27-year-old Auburn alum Grothe posted on Instagram after Worlds that he was “embarrassed by his poor performances” but would “figure this out.” In addition to the 1500, he finished eighth in the 400 free final in 3:45.78 and 11th overall at 7:50.14 in the 800 free in Gwangju.

He is the American record holder in the short course 500 and 1650 free (4:07.25 and 14:18.25, respectively), with both record-breaking swims coming at the 2018 U.S. Winter National Championships.