Abbey Weitzeil Goes 21.12, Smashes 50 Free American Record

by Robert Gibbs 15

March 05th, 2016 National, News

See race video here.

After missing the American Record by .01 earlier in the evening, 19 year-old Abbey Weitzeil of the Canyons Aquatic Club got it on her second try.

Weitzeil didn’t clip it by just a little bit either, she lowered the record by 0.15, from 21.27 to 21.12.  The previous record was set by Lara Jackson during the height of the supersuit era, making Weitzeil’s swim tonight even more remarkable.

That’s also the U.S. Open record, meaning that Weitzeil is now the fastest woman ever in the 50 yard freestyle.  Weitzeil was swimming while representing her club team, so Jackson’s 21.27 still stands as the NCAA record.  Weitzeil graduated high school last year, and has committed to Cal, but elected to defer her enrollment and NCAA competition until after this summer’s Olympic Trials and Olympic Games.

Current top 10 of All-Time:

  • Abbey Weitzeil, 2016 – 21.12
  • Lara Jackson, 2009 – 21.27
  • Abbey Weitzeil, 2016 – 21.28
  • Simone Manuel, 2015 – 21.32
  • Farida Osman, 2016 – 21.32
  • Lara Jackson, 2008 – 21.33
  • Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, 2011 – 21.34
  • Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, 2012 – 21.35
  • Lara Jackson, 2009 – 21.36
  • Lara Jackson, 2008 – 21.37

Weitzeil is swimming tonight at the American Short Course Championships, which is not a formally-recognized championship meet, attracts plenty of top-level talent while also serving as a last chance meet for NCAA men.

Coming into today, Weitzeil’s best time in this event was a 21.49 she swam at the 2014 Speedo Junior Winter Championships, meaning that she knocked .37 off of her best time in the 50 free in one day.  Weitzeil is used to breaking records, having set a number of high school and age group records in the sprint freestyle.  She also held the American Record in the 100 yard freestyle at one point, before Simone Manuel took it last year at the NCAA championships.

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Coacherik
8 years ago

Great album

Steve-O Nolan
Reply to  Coacherik
8 years ago

Highly underrated comment. A+, didn’t realize it myself. (And I am ashamed.)

Bill C
8 years ago

I swim with Abbey everyday and can assure you she did not shave or rest even one day for the meet. There is no debate here as it is a matter of fact.

bobo gigi
8 years ago

Monster swim by Abbey Weitzeil. And congrats for that.
Also happy to see that suited record made by a swimmer much helped by her suit finally broken.

And that meet is also just another proof that SCY and LCM are definitely not the same sport.
That was interesting to see her swim both at the same meet.
Abbey Weitzeil fully rested for this meet destroyed the SCY 50 free American record.
And also swam best times of 24.72 and 53.77 in long course. Best times, ok, but only good times at the world level. Not in the same category as her SCY swim. At first glance that’s what we could think. But it’s probably not as… Read more »

LPB
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

From what I hear she was not shaved or tapered. Which explains why she is getting faster throughout the meet with some rest.

ListenToMe
Reply to  bobo gigi
8 years ago

Seriously people, she’s not fully rested.

iLikePsych
8 years ago

This is unbelievable, and yet because it’s Weitzeil it is believable. After she took the 100 free from Manuel AR last year (by a huge margin), everyone in the comments seemed to think that it belonged to Manuel and she would take back (which she did). But I was thinking why not the opposite? I hope she keeps it up so that she and Manuel at least get two years of back and forth in college, and maybe we’ll see a woman at 20-point flat start.

Also – amazing to see both male and female supersuit sprint records get smashed so close together. What are the odds?

Reply to  iLikePsych
8 years ago

I think the girls 50 free was one of the ‘lucky ones’ in a matter of records.Most of the times, the field was pretty weak on the women side.How was the last time girls NCAA had a top5 sprinter(in the World)?. On the men’s side, the level is pretty amazing: Cielo,Morozov,Adrian…all top dogs in their game(when at their best).

Swim
8 years ago

Will she go to Cal next year? Also Katie to Stanford?

SWIMNERD
Reply to  Swim
8 years ago

Not unless Weitzel has a death wish!
Look at the growing list of swimmers ruined by Kal’s coaches. Franklin. Pelton. Bootsma. Runge. McLachlan. Garcia. Vredaveld. Mau. Li. Kong. Breed. I know I am forgetting lots more.

Katie’s smart. She knows who benefited from Coach Meehan. Manuel. Neal. Eastin. DiRado. Lee. Hu. Howe. Haase. Need we say more? GoStanford!

pvdh
Reply to  SWIMNERD
8 years ago

Lets’ just say, Meehan hasn’t had anyone like Katie…ever. And we know what happened last time a female USA superstar, and best swimmer in the world, decided to head off to college. Katie has broken WR after WR and is 15-0 in international competition. She doesnt need Stanford or anyone other than what she has now.

Pete
8 years ago

Weitzel and Kennedy for 50 free Rio…(sorry Manuel)

LPB
Reply to  Pete
8 years ago

Agree.

pooholla
Reply to  Pete
8 years ago

interesting. i thought that, too…

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