Kaii Winkler Swims 1:33.28 200-Yard Free To Become #2 All-Time In U.S. 15-16 Age Group

2023 Florida Gold Coast SCY Senior Championships

• March 16 to 19, 2023
• SCY (25 yards)
• Academic Village, Pembroke Pines, Florida
• Full results under “2023 FG SCY Senior Championships on MeetMobile”

On Friday night, 16-year-old Kaii Winkler swam a personal best time in the 200 free at the 2023 Florida Gold Coast Senior Championships, clocking a 1:33.28. He now passes Drew Kibler to become the second-fastest swimmer of all-time in the boys’ 15-16 U.S. age group, and is just 0.21 seconds off of Maximus Williamson‘s national age group record time of 1:33.07.

All-Time Top Performers, Boys’ 200 Free, U.S. 15-16 Age Group

1. Maximus Williamson, Lakeside Aquatic Club — 1:33.07 (2022)
2. Kaii Winkler, Eagle Aquatics — 1:33.28 (2023)
3. Drew Kibler, Carmel Swim Club — 1:33.30 (2017)
4. Daniel Diehl, Cumberland YMCA — 1:33.68 (2022)
5. Jack Walker, SwimMAC Carolina — 1:33.73 (2016)

Coming into this meet, Winkler’s best time was a 1:33.36 from 2022 Winter Juniors, which had him ranked #3 all-time in his age group. He had a very different race strategy on Friday compared to Winter Juniors, as he went out a whopping 0.6 seconds faster but came home 0.52 seconds slower. However, Winkler’s back halves on his previous two best swims are all faster than Williamson’s NAG, while Williamson’s front half is substantially faster than Winkler’s.

Comparative Splits:

Winkler also raced the 100 fly at this meet, clocking a 46.96 personal best to become the #14-ranked swimmer of all time in the U.S. 15-16 age group for the event. He came into Friday with a best time of 48.05, went 47.85 in prelims, and then dropped nearly a second in finals.