Blueseventy Swim of the Week: Kennedy Sprints Like The Wind In Mesa

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Disclaimer: BlueSeventy Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The BlueSeventy Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

While a windy night in Mesa, Arizona produced mostly middling winner times at the 4th stop of the 2016 Arena Pro Swim Series, SwimMAC’s Madison Kennedy sliced through the chop to the finest 50 freestyle swim of her career.

The 28-year-old Kennedy won the women’s 50 free in an outstanding 24.45, overcoming a windy and somewhat chilly environment to hit a new lifetime-best.

Previously, Kennedy had been just 24.71, making her drop in Mesa a hugely significant one for a sprinter.

Despite being one of the oldest contenders for the U.S. Olympic sprint slots on the women’s side, Kennedy is finding her best swimming in her late 20s, blowing out her early career times over the past year.

Back in 2012, Kennedy went a lifetime-best 24.93 at U.S. Olympic Trials at the age of 24. She’s now eclipsed that time five times within the past calendar year, plus twice the year before that.

Three of her four best swims ever have come in the year 2016. Prior to Mesa, she won the Orlando Pro Swim Series stop in 24.71, tying her career-best at the time. And a month earlier, she finished second in Austin with a 24.72.

Kennedy currently ranks #6 worldwide for the season, and #1 among Americans. Though youngsters like Simone Manuel and Abbey Weitzeil have garnered much of the Olympic buzz, it’s the veteran Kennedy who has put herself into the driver’s seat heading into U.S. Trials.

2015-2016 LCM Women 50 Free

CateAUS
CAMPBELL
04/14
23.84
2Pernille
BLOOM
DEN24.0708/13
2Ranomi
KROMOWIDJOJO
NED24.0705/22
4Simone
MANUEL
USA24.0908/13
5Aliaksandra
HERASIMENIA
BLR24.1108/13
6Francesca
HALSALL
GBR24.1308/13
7Sarah
SJOSTROM
SWE24.1701/16
8Bronte
CAMPBELL
AUS24.2404/14
9abbey
WEITZEIL
USA24.2807/02
10Madison
KENNEDY
USA24.3907/02
View Top 26»

With that 24.4, Kennedy also proved she could conceivably contend for an international medal in the event. The bronze medal time at both the 2012 Olympics and 2015 World Championships was just 24.3. Though it appears it will take more than that to medal in Rio, the Olympics are an up and down game: some swimmers will break out from their seed times, and others will underperform their production from a more familiar, domestic setting. After the Mesa meet, if Kennedy can put herself into the former category, she could fill what at times appears to be a huge sprinting gap for Team USA.

About blueseventy

Aptly named to suggest 70% of the earth is covered in water, blueseventy is the world leader in the pool, triathlon and open water wetsuits and swimskins. Since 1993, we design, test, refine and craft products using superior materials and revolutionary details that equate to comfort, freedom from restriction and ultimately a competitive advantage in the water. blueseventy products have instilled confidence in beginners as well as carried world-class athletes to countless Olympic and World victories.

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bobo gigi
8 years ago
bobo gigi
8 years ago

In track the times would not have been accepted.
Clearly too much wind.

In-season meet.
Kennedy destroys her PB from 24.71 to 24.45! 😆
28-year-old Vollmer had a PB of 25.09 before the meet. She broke it in prelims in 25.00 and then crushed it in final in 24.71! 😆

Campbell would have easily broken the world record in these conditions.

Amor Aqua
8 years ago

Good on you Madison!! it is just so inspiring to hear about these awsome achievements swimmers. Athletes that prove age really is just a number. All the best for trials this year!! ????

Stan Crump
8 years ago

Kind of like a wind-aided track event! 🙂

Hswimmer
8 years ago

Good luck to Madison #Rio2016. We need you for U.S. Sprinting 24.2 in Omaha will set you up great for Rio

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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