Swimming in the final of the women’s 100 fly at the Minnesota Grand Prix, Beata Nelson of Southwest Aquatic Team went 51.08 to break the 15-16 Girls 100 fly National Age Group record for the second time in two weeks.
Last Saturday at the Wisconsin High School State Championship, Nelson went 51.70 to break the National Age Group record of 51.78 set by Katie McLaughlin of Mission Viejo at the 2014 California CIF-Southern Section high school championships. That record still stands as the national independent school record, however.
In Minneapolis, Nelson was top seed in finals with 52.13. To her right was McLaughlin. Nelson was out like a rocket, turning all alone at the 50 in 23.69. Equally impressive was her closing speed. McLaughlin, who as a 200 butterflier tends to have a better second half, put in a great effort but couldn’t catch her. In the end Nelson won by about a body length.
A comparison of the three most recent NAGs in the 15-16 100 fly shows:
McLaughlin – May 2014 – 24.49/27.29 = 51.78
Nelson – November 15, 2014 – 24.08/27.62 = 51.70
Nelson – November 20, 2014 – 23.69/27.39 = 51.08
Nelson’s 51.08 is now the fastest time ever swum by an 18-and-under American girl of any age; it just slipped under the girls 17-18 NAG mark of 51.18 set by Natalie Coughlin in 2001.
It’s incredibly rare to see a 16 year old faster than the fastest 18 year old in any event.
Beata also went 51.67 at GPMPLS for first place, which bettered the WI state high school girls record she set a week ago (53.15). Amazing high school times at the aged UW-Madison pool, so it was great to see her take advantage of the superior UMinn facilities.
How about you all just let it be what it is, a great performance! We will see what she can do when the time comes.
Great job by USA swimming for posting very quickly the race videos on youtube. Thanks to them. 🙂
Women’s 100 fly A-Final
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HHUwRylCpw
Insane time! 😯
Amazing performance!
Send her to Doha in 2 weeks for the SCM world championships!
She’s a phenom in short course with amazing underwaters.
Nope. Not tapered. Back doing 8k twice a day since HS season ended.
She is not doing 8k twice a day. There is no way. I’ve practiced with her before she isn’t some crazy person. She swims just like the other kids. She is just amazing at what she does. Very well built for a 16yr old girl.
That converts to 58.09 LCM! Hopefully she can stay fit and well through 2015 and have a shot at Rio 😉 100 fly is pretty open now Kendall Stewart is consistent, but we will see how much faster Beata gets! Was she tapered still??
That kind of conversions from SCY to LCM doesn’t work. It’s crazy stupid.
And we have the greatest example with Miss Nelson.
While Beata is a monster in the little pool, she has shown nothing great in the big pool so far in her career.
She swims 51 low in the 100 yards fly and was in 1.00 high in the 100 meters fly last summer.
But hopefully it will change soon.
I wish she becomes a great long course swimmer in the next years too.
Agree with you completely. It will be fun to watch Beata when she’s able to transition into metered swimming. She’s got beautiful underwater kicking and that’s where she shines. It’s also why her long course times do not compare (yet).
Bobo:
Beata really hasn’t put a lot of emphasis on long course swimming; opportunities for long-course training are somewhat limited in the Madison, WI, area, and she readily concedes she’s a much better short-course swimmer than long-course swimmer. Katie Drabot, the other great Wisconsin high schooler, is a better long-course swimmer and has done a lot more of it than Beata. She just hasn’t had much experience at long course, although she’s moving in that direction with her participation in long-course meets this past summer.
The apt comparison might be to someone like Tom Shields, who was a dominant HS swimmer (notably the fly) and had a great college career (short course), and was pretty much viewed as one of… Read more »
Yeah, that sounds like a more complete analysis. By the way, this announcer, who is known for his overly-Americanized phonetic pronunciations, is calling her BEAT-ah. That can’t be right, can it? I’ve never heard that. We have a Beata in our family and we pronounce her name Bay-OTta. I’ve also heard Bee-OTta.
Also wondering about Simone Manuel, they always pronounce it like “MAN-ual” like the book, but everyone else I’ve known with that name is pronounced mahn-WELL. I know it’s not a big deal, I’m probably interested because I had 15 years of hearing my name completely butchered at swim meets, although I have to admit that some of the attempts at it were totally hilarious.
Im good family friends with her whole family and BEAT-ah is indeed how you pronounce it.
Still? You mean from 5 days ago?
Can anyone explain to me how the 2 day taper window works?
Wow!–Do we have a a new “Madame Butterfly??!!”
In short course and until 100 yars or meters yes.
But for long course it’s another story.
Unproven is different from incapable.
True, but I have to support Bobo here. English is not his native language, so the choice of word might not have been the best. I do that all the time.
Does anyone know Nelson’s PB in 100 LCM fly?
If it is 58 low or under we might have a new American butterfly. If not, well, then we’ll have to see.
As a comparison, the original madam butterfly, the incomparable ms. Meagher swam at that time an out of the world 57.93 at the age of 16.
Jessicah Schipper swam 58.22 to finish fourth at 2004 Athens.
Sarah Sjoestrom swam 56.05 and won world championships at the age of 15, in rubber suit of course, but… Read more »