Baylor Nelson “Just Wanted To Add Another Event” …Ends Up Making Worlds In 200 Free

With less than a week until US World Trials began, Baylor Nelson had not qualified for the men’s 200 freestyle yet. Nelson went on to finish 5th in the event, punching his ticket to represent the US at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. 

Nelson drove about three hours on his 20th birthday from College Station to Dallas to swim in prelims of the 200 freestyle at a club meet. Nelson had a personal best time of 1:49.28 but that time was from summer of 2021 which was before the qualifying entry period for this meet as that period began January 1, 2022 and went through the entry deadline. In addition, Nelson did not swim the 200 freestyle as a lead-off swimmer for Texas A&M this past NCAA season, making him unable to have the short course yards (SCY) cut.

“I’ve been training 200 freestyle a lot this year. I felt like I had pretty good potential in it, so I just wanted to add another event. I was only focusing on the IMs so I wanted to add the third event which I thought I could [qualify in]”, Nelson said. 

Coming into the meet, Nelson was the 7th seed in the 400 IM, the ninth seed in the 200 IM, and the 25th seed in the 200 freestyle. Even though he was only the 25th seed, Nelson had goals to move up.

“I knew I could be top 16, my goal was to be top eight. I didn’t know how realistic that would be, but I knew it was a big goal of mine. So I just wanted to go into prelims, give it the best I can and I was lucky enough to be top eight and make the ‘A’ final” 

Nelson surely was fast enough to hit his goal. He swam a 1:46.89 in prelims to be the 7th seed heading into finals. Carson Foster, the second-fastest swimmer of the morning, scratched the event for finals, moving Nelson up to the 6th seed heading into finals. 

In finals, Nelson swam even faster as he touched the wall in a 1:46.51. His 5th place finish earned him a spot on the US men’s 4×200 freestyle relay at Worlds. 

Nelson said “I was really happy with [my race]. My goal was to be 1:47 coming into the meet, so to be 1:46.5 was really good for me and I was happy with that swim.” 

Although the 200 freestyle tied Nelson for his highest finish at US World Trials as he also finished 5th in the 400 IM, the 200 freestyle was not an event he competed in this past year during his freshman year at Texas A&M. He did not swim it individually at midseasons, but he led off the team’s 800 free relay, SECs, or NCAAs. Instead, he focused on the 200 back, 200 IM, and 400 IM. 

“[Adding the 200 free] is definitely something I thought about for sure, depending on how it plays with my other events, we’ll have to see, but something I have been training for like I said, so we’ll see next year,” Nelson said. 

Nelson will swim in Fukuoka, Japan later this month as a member of the US men’s 4×200 freestyle relay.