Freshman Jake Magahey Breaks Down Historic 4:06.7 500 Duel & 200 Free SEC Title

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Reported by Jared Anderson.

Florida junior Kieran Smith was already the American and NCAA record-holder with his 4:06.32 from last year’s SEC meet. The fastest swimmer in history in the event, Smith hit the gas early, going out 1.3 seconds faster to the 200-mark than he was in his American record swim a year ago. Meanwhile, Georgia freshman Jake Magahey went out in about the same pace Smith did a year ago. And the distance-oriented Magahey followed the Smith gameplan, dropping his splits into the 24-highs, and even outpaced Smith with closing splits of 24.8, 24.4 and 24.3. Magahey wrapped the race in 4:06.71 – putting him as the #2 swimmer of all-time behind only Smith.

Top Performances All-Time, Men’s 500-yard free

  1. Kieran Smith (2020) / Kieran Smith (2021) – 4:06.32
  2. Jake Magahey (2021) – 4:06.71
  3. Zane Grothe (2017) – 4:07.25
  4. Townley Haas (2019) – 4:08.19

The next night, with Smith swimming the 400 IM, it opened the floodgates for the freshman Magahey to take the SEC title in the 200 free, swimming another come-from-behind race to touch out the competition at 1:32.2. Magahey walks us through his freshman season and what made it such a success.

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Marklewis
3 years ago

His 500 free went beyond his expectations. He stayed with his plan for the race and it paid off with a huge PB.

Calbear fan
3 years ago

I believe you meant “duel” in the article header.

Reid
Reply to  Calbear fan
3 years ago

Yet another chapter in swimming’s fraught relationship with dual/duel

Dual Banjos Dueling
Reply to  Reid
3 years ago

Many seem to struggle with this concept. Two teams can have a dual meet, which is a duel between two teams. We could call that a “Dual Duel”. But several teams having a swimming duel would not be a Dual Meet. Thus, “dual” has dual meanings, while “Duel” only has one. Duel with that concept for a hundred meters. (Which could be short course…)

Horninco
3 years ago

Fantastic swims for the freshman

CanSwim13
3 years ago

Class act!

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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