Women’s 400 Free, as reported by Braden Keith. Full coverage presented by FINIS:
Chloe Sutton has said many times in the past at mid-season meets that her goal is to negative split these middle-distance races. She did it in prelims, and though there was no public declaration of her intent this time, she very nearly did it in the final as she took a good win in 4:09.35. Her splits ran 2:04.5-2:04.8, very nearly hitting it even in each direction.
With women’s middle distance swimming taking a big leap forward in the last two years, it’s now more the norm than the exception to see swimmers going under 4:10 unrested in this event; impressive considering that as recently as 2007, only three American women, period, were under that barrier.
Canadian Barbara Jardin in 4:10.27. She held with Sutton very well in this race, until the final 80 meters or so where Sutton inched away just enough to create a visible margin at the finish. 16-year old Quinn Carrozza from the host-team Longhorn Aquatics, finished 3rd in 4:11.16, followed by Missy Franklin in 4:12.56.
Kate Ziegler, one of the aforementioned three to go under 4:10 in this race in 2007, couldn’t do it here as she finished 6th in 4:14.46.
