The women’s non Olympic distance freestyle event took place this morning. The top eight will return tomorrow night to swim for medals.
Lotte Friis from Denmark out of heat 1 is our top qualifier. She shaved over twelve seconds to stop the clock at 15:49.18.
Katie Ledecky‘s swim last night in the 400 freestyle was just awesome. She really is a fearless competitor when she hits the water. Out of heat 3, she is fractionally behind Friis, swimming 15:49.26.
Both Friis and Ledecky split consistent 31-highs from start to finish. If anything Ledecky was more tame than we normally see her race in her swim this morning. A full day and a halves worth of rest and no doubt Kate Ziegler’s world record (15:42.54) is history.
Kristel Kobrich Schimpl (CHI) is 3rd, also dipping below the 16:00 barrier. She dropped nearly 24 seconds to finish at 15:54.30.
In her third individual event and fourth race of the meet, Mireia Belmonte Garcia (ESP) dropped 11 seconds to finish 16:00.31, 4th overall. Tonight she will race in the final of the 200IM.
American Chloe Sutton earned herself a second swim finishing 7th, 16:04.72 – about three seconds better than Indianapolis. Glad to she her get a finals swim after failing yesterday in the 400 freestyle.
One disappointing swim had to be Jazmin Carlin (GBR). She’s been swimming well leading up to Barcelona, being the only other woman than Ledecky to swim sub 16:00 at the time. She failed to qualify for finals tomorrow, adding almost 20 seconds to finish 9th, 16:06.46.
Top 8: Friis, DEN; Ledecky, USA; Kobrich Schimpl, CHI; Belmonte Garcia, ESP; Boglarka Kapas, HUN; Boyle, NZL; Sutton, USA; Xu, CHN
Why would anyone have any doubt as to Katie being on the 800 FR in the finals – she finished 2nd at trials, and her first 200 of her 400 was about as fast as any US swimmer (other than Franklin); plus the way she has dropped from the trials, she probably has a 1:55+ in her. So far both Franklin and Ledecky have shown they are well tapered and dropping from trials – something we’ve yet to see from others.
If there are any changes from the top 4 at trials, I would think it would be either/both Pelton and/or Romano replacing the #3 or #4 finishers at trials. Though Vreeland probably stays and the others plus Romano race… Read more »
Good coach.
Hey, I think Bruce Gemmel’s son is pretty fast too?!?!
Bruce is an outstanding man. Glad to see him getting a little recognition. He is a great coach.
Very smart coach and has made great improvements with Ledecky this year as apparent at this meet!
I thought Ledecky’s coach was Yuri Suguiyama?
He’s at Cal now.
“We have an off day and a relay before then.” should settle the 4×200 question as much as you ever really can until line-ups are due.
Well, let’s be honest, if she were to be left off of the relay it would be the biggest coaching error in history.
Yes, ledecky in 200m relay finals! Can’t wait to see what time she can come up with. Ledecky will deliver when it matters the most.