Ashley Twichell Moves to 6th on All-Time Rankings in 1000 Free

Ashley Twichell of the TAC Titans in North Carolina moved into 6th place all-time on the list of fastest performers in the women’s 1000 yard free at the Big Southern Classic Invite this weekend.

Swimming on Friday, Twichell touched in 9:24.44, which makes her the 6th-fastest performer, and (unofficially) the 11th-fastest performance in the history of the event.

Top 10 best performers (by best time):

1. Katie Hoff, 2007 – 9:10.77
2. Katie Ledecky, 2014 – 9:11.31
3. Kate Ziegler, 2007 – 9:18.25
4. Brittany MacLean, 2014 – 9:23.78
5. Lorre Friis, 2014 – 9:23.85
6. Ashley Twichell, 2015 – 9:24.44
7. Janet Evans, 1989 – 9:25.49
8. Cierra Runge, 2013 – 9:25.79
9. Gillian Ryan, 2012 – 9:26.50
10. Chloe Sutton, 2008 – 9:26.58

Twichell’s previous best time was a 9:32.52 done in 2011, shortly after she finished her NCAA career at Duke.

Twichell also swam lifetime bests in the 200 yard free (1:47.71) and the 500 yard free (4:37.57).

Short course yards isn’t something that Twichell races frequently as a post-grad – she hasn’t swum a yards race since 2013 while focusing primarily on open water swimming. Her 1000, however, was a masterful performance of consistency. The splits by 100 yards are below:

1. 53.81
2. 56.19
3. 56.54
4. 56.68
5. 56.85
6. 57.14
7. 56.95
8. 56.86
9. 56.85
10. 56.57

By 500, that works out to 4:40.07/4:44.37.

While Twichell has been focused in open water (she placed in the top 10 at the World Championships in both the 5k and 10k last summer), Haley Anderson has already locked up the only open water spot for American women in Rio. That leaves swimmers like Twichell (on the U.S. National Team in open water), Emily Brunemann, Eva Fabian, Becca Mann, and Tristin Baxter to turn to the pool to book their tickets.

The American women already have the deepest distance freestyle group we’ve seen in a generation, led primarily by World Record holder Katie Ledecky, and that field should get even more crowded this summer. Becca Mann was the 2nd-fastest American in the pool 800 last year with an 8:24.13. Twichell’s lifetime best is an 8:34.06, done in May of this year, but again that’s not an event she’s really raced seriously since 2013.

Full finals results on the weekend for Twichell:

• 200 free – 1:47.71
• 500 free – 4:37.57
• 1000 free – 9:24.44