French native Alexa Reyna demolished the French Age Record for 17-year-old girls in the 1500m freestyle in a time trial yesterday afternoon in Indianapolis. Reyna raced alongside US Olympian Katie Grimes to stop the clock at 16:02.61. Her swim was almost 16 seconds faster than the previous record from 2016, held by Margaux Bernard. The swim is about a four second drop from her previous best time of 16:06.55.
The time trial took place following the conclusion of the preliminary session on Friday of the FINA World Cup stop in Indianapolis. It was specifically set up as a “World Junior Record attempt”, giving both swimmers the opportunity to break Merve Tuncel’s SCM World Junior record time of 15:45.29, and Reyna the opportunity to break Laure Manaudou’s French record time of 15:42.39.
Grimes did break the World Junior record in the time trial, touching the wall at 15:42.05. The race was Grimes’ first time contesting the event in short course meters.
Reyna, who recently turned 17, owns the SCM 16-year-old record in both the 1500 (16:06.55) and the 800 (8:26.43). Reyna swam the 800m freestyle this morning, posting the fastest time out of the morning heats at 8:29. 84. Her 800 split in the 1500 was actually slightly faster than her race today, as she flipped at 8:29.16 yesterday. The 17-year-old record for the 800 is 8:24.99, held by Ophelia-Cyrielle Etienne.
Reyna is a dual-national of France, but resides and trains year-round in the United States with Badger Swim Club out of White Plains, New York. She is ranked #14 on SwimSwam’s “Way Too Early Recruit Rankings” for the class of 2024 and recently announced her commitment to Arizona State University.
Great effort and times.
Congratulations.