2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
- Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21, 2026
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
- Defending Champions: Virginia (5x)
- Championship Central
- Preview Index
- Psych Sheet
- Live Stream
- Live Results
The women’s 1,650 Free was a wild race to kick off NCAA’s as in the final heat, Olympian Claire Weinstein was out like a shot in lane 8. Flipping in 9:23 at the 1000, Weinstein had opened up a 7-second gap over defending champion Jillian Cox. However, Cox flipped the script on the last 500, eating up the lead and passing Weinstein to ultimately touch for the win by 4 seconds. In her post-race interview, Cox said she could be Weinstein and knew that her (Cox’s) back half would be there when it mattered.

There is a lot to unpack here. Great video! This should be mandatory for young coaches.
Is she saying she did shut it down when she had the lead, to preserve herself for the 500? Or just that it was an option?
From what I got from that it seemed like her mile isn’t as good as last season but her 500 is doing well so as long as she has a decent swim in the mile it sets her up for a really good 500.
I think she was saying she was prepared to do that… but obviously she wasn’t even ahead until the last what, 200? so not much chance to shut it down.
^^^ this was my interpretation as well
this was a great interview. you can tell jillians a gamer lol. particularly interesting her comments abt focusing on lcm results over scy this year