1ST ANNUAL SUN DEVIL OPEN
- June 2-4, 2023
- Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, Tempe, Arizona
- Long Course Meters (50m)
- Psych Sheets
- Results on Meet Mobile “2023 Sun Devil Open”
Regan Smith has done it again.
After dipping under the 2:10 barrier for the first time on Friday morning with a 2:09.78 prelims swim at the Sun Devil Open, Smith took another full second off her best time during finals to go 2:08.48. Not only is that time faster than what it took to win gold at the 2020(1) Olympics and what it took to win silver at the 2022 World Championships, but it also makes her the fourth-fastest American of all-time and the 16th-fastest performer of all-time.
With Smith’s time from Friday being faster than the best times of Leah Hayes (2:08.91) and Kate Douglass (2:09.04), she has suddenly become a front runner to qualify for the 2023 U.S. World Championships team in the 200 IM.
Fastest U.S. Performers Of All-Time, Women’s 200 IM:
- Ariana Kukors — 2:06.15 (2009)
- Alex Walsh — 2:07.13 (2022)
- Kathleen Baker — 2:08.32 (2018)
- Regan Smith — 2:08.48 (2023)
- Madisyn Cox — 2:08.51 (2021)
- Melanie Margalis — 2:08.70 (2017)
- Maya DiRado — 2:08.79 (2016)
- Leah Hayes — 2:08.91 (2022)
- Caitlin Leverenz — 2:08.95 (2012)
- Kate Douglass — 2:09.04 (2021)
In prelims, Smith saw the most improvement compared to her pre-Sun Devil Open personal best on breaststroke, as she dropped over a second in arguably her weakest stroke. From prelims to finals, she dropped the most on free, taking 0.54 seconds off her her closing 50 split. In addition, she also dropped three-tenths of a second on back, 19 one-hundredths on fly, and 27 one-hundredths seconds on breast.
Splits Comparison:
| Regan Smith, 2022 U.S. Open | Regan Smith, 2023 Sun Devil Open Prelims | Regan Smith, 2023 Sun Devil Open Finals | |
| Fly | 27.64 | 27.64 | 27.45 |
| Back | 31.61 | 31.59 | 31.29 |
| Breast | 41.22 | 39.94 | 39.67 |
| Free | 29.93 | 30.61 | 30.07 |
| Total | 2:10.40 | 2:09.78 | 2:08.48 |
Ever since the 2022 U.S. Open last December, there has been wide debate over whether Smith should seriously pursue the 200 IM, with the main argument against it being that she already has too many other events on her plate that she’s better at. However, after Friday, it has become evident that the 200 IM is clearly one of her better events that she has a serious chance of medalling in on an international stage.
Smith still has to race the 100 fly, 100 back, and 200 fly later on at the Sun Devil Open.
Race video of Smith’s swim is courtesy of Buttstroke Swimming on Twitter:
VIDEO ⬇️ https://t.co/wFSG6IY7Wq pic.twitter.com/m8UEchVH1O
— Buttstroke Swimming (@ButtstrokeSwim) June 3, 2023
Other Swims
- Hali Flickinger and Jay Litherland won the women’s and men’s 400 free with times of 4:08.69 and 3:52.24, respectively. Litherland’s time was his fastest since the 2017 U.S. Nationals, which was where he set his best time of 3:50.36.
- Chase Kalisz swam a 1:57.51 to win the men’s 200 IM, while Hubert Kos placed second in 1:59.18. Owen McDonald swam a huge personal best of 2:00.72 to place third, dropping nearly two seconds from the 2:02.45 he swam at trials last year. Kalisz’s swim was the second-fastest of the 2022-23 season, behind the 1:56.52 he went at the U.S. Open.
- Ryan Held (22.10), Jonny Kulow (22.39), and Jack Dolan (22.52) all swam a 22.5 or better to go 1-2-3 in the men’s 50 free.
- Simone Manuel won the women’s 50 free with a time of 25.22, while Olivia Smoliga was just 0.01 seconds behind her. In third was 14-year-old Delaney Barbee, who swam a 26.19 to improve from her personal best of 26.33.
2023 Sun Devil Open morning updates for 03 June 2023?
Is Sierra Schmidt still swimming ?
Is she the one that dances to Blackpink!?
yeah
Honestly, if her 200 IM is this good (and her front half this good), I think she’s gonna break the WR in the 100 Back this meet. I get the feeling. She has the early speed right now, and has enough endurance to come back on the field. 27.82, 29.60: 57.42.
She’s doing it today but is doing a fairly tight double of 100 Fly + 100 Back so I find that very unlikely
She went a world lead of 57.83 after hitting a 57 flat 100 fly with only two events between. Exciting!
About 50 mins between
Bob Bowman has some kink of magic when it comes to coaching IM. I was on the deck during the first two sessions of this meet and it was eye opening to see how Bob carefully watched each of his swimmers and after the swim took them aside and very quietly and politely gave each swimmer pointers on their performance. Each swimmer listened very intently to what Bob had to say. Everything one hopes to see in a coach. This was all done in spite of the fact that he was also incharge of the first ever Sun Devil multi day LCM meet! An amazing coaching performance.
I’m confused didn’t maya dirado and Melanie Margalis also go under 2:09?
Dirado did it twice (2015 worlds and rio 2016) and margalis in 2017
All-Time Top U.S. Performers during the post “super” suit era:
Walsh – 2:07.13
Baker – 2:08.32
Margalis – 2:08.70
DiRado – 2:08.79
Hayes – 2:08.91
Leverenz – 2:08.95
https://www.usaswimming.org/times/data-hub/all-time-top-performers
All-Time Top U.S. Performers
Women
LCM
200 IM
Daaaannnnnng!
Hot take: It’s Regan (2:07.96) and Leah (2:08.34).
I would LOL hard if that happened. My new projected qualifiers are Walsh and Regan in the 200IM. I’m rooting for a 1-2 (in whatever order) for Regan and Kaylee in both the 200 back and 200 IM at Worlds (the second one is unlikely but I can dream).
Is this Hali Flickinger’s first swim of the year?
I was wondering if she had quietly retired after finally winning an individual world title at Short-course World Champs. I believe she is recently married, so maybe she and her husband are trying to start a family. Does this mean she’ll be at Trials?
She’s been married for years. She said she wouldn’t be at many meets before trials, and has still been training with the ASU pro group.
Thanks, good to see her back. Wishing her success at trials.