Erika Brown‘s breakout performance at the 2018 SEC Championships turned a lot of heads. Erika swept her individual events in the 50 free (21.39), 100 free (47.17), and her new signature event 100 fly (49.85). Now she’s only the 2nd woman in history to break the 50 second barrier in the 100 fly. Moreover, Brown split 49.11 100 fly on the medley relay, the fastest split in history. Brown’s 49.11 surpasses Kelsi Worrell‘s 2016 mark of 49.25.
Coach Matt Kredich of TN Volunteers )Photo By Craig Bisacre/Tennessee Athletics)
Brown, who swam a 55 point 100 fly last year, credits her University of Tennessee teammates and coach Matt Kredich for her dramatic success this season.
Brown’s star is rising fast. Can she keep it rolling at the 2018 NCAA DI Championships? Can Brown break the American Record, 49.43? I think she wins NCAAs with about the same time as her SEC effort, 49.8, but I see her breaking the AR next year. What do you think?
Follow Erika Brown on Instagram here.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
I’m curious to see if she can convert that amazing SCY progression into long course next summer. And I’m simply curious to see if she can be a very good long course swimmer.
Of course She will…
Erika is an amazing talent, add an amazing coach and supportive teammates…. anything is possible.
If she was Russian or Chinese we would be accusing her of doping.
Probably true
Don’t they deserve to be under suspicion? There were several generations of Russian athletes that strongly believed that everybody around the world has been using doping. And if you don’t do it then you are an idiot and will lose no matter how talented you are. Also there was tough economic environment and the top athletes could either be rich should they win internationally or would be very poor otherwise. So they had basically nothing to lose if they take drugs. Same can be said about coaches in Russia. All these circumstances created the “one isn’t a thief if doesn’t get caught” culture. This culture doesn’t go away in one day. So the probability of violating doping rules by Russian… Read more »
If that’s a reference to that Ohio State swimmer she’s failed a drug test before in China… and Russia literally was exposed to have a state sponsored doping program.
Or rather before college when training in China
Might that have to do with their swimmers failing doping tests on the regular and us having foolproof evidence of state sponsored doping regimens?
You have to give a lot of credit to her coaches. They changed her mindset regarding her role as a teammate, and convinced her that she could be a Top Swimmer.
Erika has catapulted to the top of NCAA swimming with her fast swims. She gets another chance to break the records at NCAAs.
Can she challenge Manuel and Weitzeil in the 50? I think she has a shot if one of them are a little off to get second. She should be first in 100 fly I can see 49 low or 48 high. 100 free will also be fun to see she could also challenge them if she goes 46 mid.
48 high 100 fly? Whoa…. I’d like to see that!
She’s improved so much so it may not be as hard for her to drop even more at NCAAs.
I’d be over-the-moon to see a VOL breakout like that, and just happy for Matt. He’s a good guy.
Should’ve mentioned this in the post…. I’m a Tennessee alum, a big fan of Coach Matt Kredich, and love what he’s done with the program. So, I’m a little biased on the VOL side of things. Still, Brown earns the spotlight for a such a great SEC Championship performance. It’ll be interesting to see how she evolves over the years….
Erika “Downtown Smash Mouth” Brown for the trifecta? 20.9/49.3/46.4 with this gal anything is possible.
While I agree with her sudden rise we don’t know her limits -if she has them- but she won’t be able to complete the trifecta with a 46.4. Simone, Weitzeil, and Comerford have all been faster and are looking good this year. I also think Simone, Weitzeil, and maybe Li will challenge the 20.0 barrier along with Erika. But regardless of what I think, Erika Brown is going to have a stellar NCs and probably blow our minds a little more.
Challenge the 20.0 barrier?!?!?!,!,
A female flat start 19 would be absolutely unreal
That was supposed to say 21.0
Nah, Mel, If anybody reading this doesn’t know the Great Mel Stewart is a Tennessee alum, they need to go study their US Swimming history! 😉
thx….but I am aware of how old I am, and how young a lot of our audience is….