Links, Storylines, and Preview for 2014 Austin Grand Prix

The 2014 edition of the Austin Grand Prix, the first long course Grand Prix of the 2013-2014 series, will begin on Friday, January 17th at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center on the University of Texas Campus and run through Sunday.

The meet is the beginning of the buildup to this summer’s major events for USA Swimming’e elite. 2014 is a really unique sort of year for Americans (though these Grand Prix meets are now far from U.S. only events). While the major ‘operation gold’ meet this year is the Pan Pac Championships, a relative lightweight in the Olympic quadrennial, this summer’s national championships are really an even more significant meet than Pan Pacs, as they are also the selector for the 2015 World Championships.

At any rate, the Austin Grand Prix themselves are a selector competition (among many others) for the 2014 Jr. Pan Pac Championships and the 2014 Youth Olympic Games teams, so pay special attention to any standout junior times that surpass the top marks from last winter’s U.S. Open or Junior National Championships.

Below, we’ll give you all of the information you need to follow the meet, plus some story lines to watch.

Links

Online live stream/event page.
Psych Sheet (in case you were still confused, they’ve removed Lochte).
Universal Sports TV coverage.
Live Results (Not yet available; bookmark this page and we’ll update it when we have a link).
Prelims timeline (in Central U.S. time, GMT -6 hours)

Standings After 1st Meet

Remember that the winners of the series this year, at the end of 6 meets, gets a 1-year lease on a new BMW; scoring is 5 points for a win, 3 points for a second-place finish, and 1 point for a third-place finish.

Men’s Standings

1. Conor Dwyer – 16
2. Cesar Cielo – 13
3. Adam Brown – 11
4. BJ Johnson – 10
5. Yannick Agnel – 9

Women’s Standings

1. Megan Romano – 20
t-2. Kiera Janzen – 13 (amateur)
t-3. Kierra Smith – 13 (amateur)
4. Caitlin Leverenz – 11
5. (four swimmers tied with 8)

Storylines to Watch

1. Cal Men at the Meet – In addition to their usual parade of postgrads (Ervin, Coughlin, Adrian) the Cal men will have a few of their more elite undergrads at the meet swimming light schedules. Specifically, Jeremy Bagshaw, Josh Prenot, Ryan Murphy, and Jacob Pebley will be accompanied by their coach Dave Durden. Bagshaw is an elite Canadian; the other three are on the U.S. National Team, which means that their travel costs are supported by USA Swimming.

We caught up with Durden, who shared his thoughts on why he’s taking this group to the Austin Grand Prix in the middle of the NCAA season:

I don’t necessarily view a delineated season (SC season or LC season).  We spent 15 days in Colorado Springs training in a LC environment and working with USA swimming on LC race strategy.  For those four athletes, we felt it important to race in a LC meet in January before revisiting that format in April.  We have plenty of SCY meets (ASU, AZ, USC, CSUB, Stan, Pac-12’s, NCAA’s) in the spring to feel comfortable in that format.  In working towards helping these athletes with their international level of swimming, we look to provide opportunities and situations in which we feel they can improve, and the Grand Prix meet that is in Austin fits within that schedule.  We don’t think you need to wait to 12 months out of the Olympics to start thinking about performance in the LC format.

Durden also pointed out that they did something similar in 2012.

2. Conor Dwyer, Getting Versatile – NBAC’s Conor Dwyer has had most of his international success in the 200 free. That’s where his spot on the Olympic Team and his gold medal was earned (the 800 free relay). That’s where his three World Championships have been earned (800 free relay in 2011, 2012 and 2013). That’s where all of his World Championship individual medals have come (silver in 2013, bronze in 2012).

But lurking in Dwyer somewhere is a phenomenal IM, and the Austin Grand Prix seems to be an attempt at pulling that out. Dwyer is entered in the 200 fly, the 200 back, the 200 breast, the 200 IM, and the 400 IM in this meet, but not the 200 free (though he’s scheduled to swim the 100 free). If he wants to take a spot at Pan Pacs and Worlds 2015 in the 400 IM, he’ll have most of his best competition at this meet with him: Tyler Clary, Michael Weiss, and Josh Prenot (though Chase Kalisz isn’t at this meet).

Thanks to one of our readers, TheTroubleWithX for noticing this one.

3. Simone Manuel and the Sprint Freestyler – The 50 and 100 freestyles at this race will be outstanding, and have several stories-within-stories. Olympic champion Allison Schmitt will be racing for the first time since her disappointing 2013 World Championship Trials.

Also on the list will be Houston high school senior, and Stanford commit, Simone Manuel. So far in her young career, she’s shown virtually no fear of the big stage. She swam big times at the World Championship Trials, got even faster (and finaled in the 50) at the World Championships, and then was huge on the anchor of the tie-breaking mixed 200 medley relay at the Duel in the Pool in December. She’ll have a loaded field to race at this meet, including Olympic finalist Arianna Vanderpool-WallaceMegan RomanoNatalie CoughlinKarlee Bispo, and Canadian Victoria Poon (who, by the way, had a very good 2013 herself).

If Manuel performs well at this meet, it will be another very big step on her journey. ‘Well’ in January is always a relative term, but these Grand Prixs are another step on her journey to a regular part of the national, and international, swimming lexicon.

4. Yannick in the 1500 Freestyle – Yannick Agnel knew that he would be pushed when he moved to NBAC to train with the legendary coach Bob Bowman. We’ll see just how much he’s been pushed when he races the 1500 free on the final day of the Austin Grand Prix. Agnel is the 6th seed among those seeded with their 1500 free times, and will race the likes of Ous MellouliMichael McBroom, and Michael Klueh in the final, fast heat at this meet. That should be a good benchmark for the still-young Frenchman who has bounced back-and-forth between freestyle distances since breaking out at the 2009 and 2010 European Junior Championships (he won the 200 and 400 at both of those meets).

5. Lotte’s American Debut – Denmark’s Lotte Friis has done quite a bit of competing since joining Bob Bowman’s training group. She swam at the Danish SC Championships, the European SC Championships, and the Duel in the Pool. But what we haven’t seen from her is any competition on American soil, or in long course, and long course is what NBAC does best. Friis is entered in the 200, 400, and 800 meter freestyles in Austin, which means we’ll see her and American Katie Ledecky duke-it-out like they did at Worlds. Remember, as Ledecky roared under World Records, Friis was under the old marks as well. The combination of the two was rather breathtaking competition. Ledecky will have a much busier schedule, though, with 8 total event entries.

In This Story

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CGTodd
10 years ago

Any possibility of showing the 100/200 backstroke race from Austin Grand Prix on video?
Thanks

O
10 years ago

Don Schollander Tokyo 64 won gold in 100 & 400 (200 did not exist before 68).
That guy Spitz also had a pretty good range in free.
As dark horse, I submit Michael Gross. If memory serves he once had WR from 100 to 800 in fly and free LCM & SCM. (100 & 200 Fly, 200 & 400 Free LCM, 800 free SCM)

john26
10 years ago

As of today, the significance of Thorpe’s achievements surpasses that of Sun Yang, who is easily on a higher level than Park Taehwan. By significance, I’m not referring to his trophy case, but the relative worth of his personal best times. Sun has surpassed Park in every distance except the 100free, even though Park’s best 100free comes from a championship meet where he was at his very best. While Sun’s 48.1 relay split demonstrates that soon Sun will probably be able to surpass that mark.

Ian Thorpe’s best times come from over 10 years ago, when coaching and swimming biomechanics were not at their current levels.Because of this, his 100free bronze medal is fairly significant– if translated to today, would… Read more »

aswimfan
Reply to  john26
10 years ago

And don’t forget that Thorpe split 47.20 at 2002 Pan Pacific.

47.20! with that kind of start, turn and underwater!

He also split 47.9 at 2002 Commonwealth.

aswimfan
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

“….and it wouldn’t surprise me if Agnel was in 3:40 shape in London.”

I Doubt it.
He dropped training for 400 right after 2011 Worlds, which I actually thought was very smart and which I supported. I think there was a discussion about this either in collegeswimming or speedendurance.

It was very clearly that his preparation for London was focused on 100-200 only, which paid HUUUUUGGEEEE for him as we saw in London.

Remember, when Thorpe started to focus more and more on 100, his 400 suffered.

Although I do think Agnel has the talent to go sub 3:40, but if he trains for that, I think his 100 will suffer, and we know he loves swimming in… Read more »

Mo
Reply to  john26
10 years ago

I agree with your comment 100%. I’ve often thought that Thorpe’s bronze in the 2004 Olympics for the 100 free was overlooked for some reason.

bobo gigi
10 years ago

Aswimfan is the biggest Thorpe’s advocate in the world. 🙂

aswimfan
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

I followed his swimming since he swam in 1997 Australian Championships (Pan Pacs trials) when he was 14 )

BaldingEagle
10 years ago

Thorpe:
WR in the 200, 400 and 800 free (where he beat Hackett in the race).
World Class in the 100 free (chased down the US anchor in the 400 FR in Sydney).
World Class 200 IM and 100 back.

Joel Lin
Reply to  BaldingEagle
10 years ago

I would say Thorpe is closest to in terms of his performance to going 100 to 1500 as a medal threat. Sun and Park have wonderful range but neither have life bests in the 100 that would have finaled a major meet. But in fairness he was never an Olympic or Worlds medalist or finalist in either the 100 or the 1500. Of course, maybe that is because he did not swim them in his prime at biggest events, and that does not impart he did not have the ability.

Fancy Sippy Woodhead for a moment. She broke the world record in a preliminary heat of a meet in the 50. In those same prelim heats, the world record was… Read more »

aswimfan
Reply to  Joel Lin
10 years ago

” But in fairness he was never an Olympic or Worlds medalist or finalist in either the 100 or the 1500.”

who did you mean?
Thorpe?

Thorpe was fourth in 100 in 2001 Wordls (in addition to breaking WRs in 200-400-800 at that meet, which I consider the greatest freestyle performance by a male swimmer ever)
He won bronze in 100 in 2003 worlds
He won bronze in 100 in 2004 Olympics (in addition to 200-400 golds, making him the first and only male swimmer ever to win medals in 100-200-400 in a single olympics)
He won golds in 100 free at both 2002 pan pacs and 2002 Commonwealth games.

Joel Lin
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

I was wrong, thank you for the correct history lesson on Thorpe! Today’s grade for me is C-. This debate is fun though!

aswimfan
Reply to  Joel Lin
10 years ago

Sippy was great, but there were also other female freestylers who did not just live in woodhead’s world.

Even had there been no boycott, it would have been difficult for Sippy to win moe than one individual freestyle gold, and even then, the 200 would not have been a lock.

In Moscow, Barbara Krause (who had been dominating the sprint) broke 100 free WR in 54.79, and she also won 200 in Olympics record of 1:58.33, very close to Sippy’s 1:58.23 (and sippy never broke the 200 WR again after 1979).

And had Wickham swam, we know about her legendary 400 and 800 WR.

Josh
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

Sippy beat Barbara Krause head to head in 1978 at West Berlin Worlds, and was world ranked #1 leading into the Moscow Olympics in the 100,200,400, and 800. I am pretty sure she would have left with several gold medals.

aswimfan
Reply to  Josh
10 years ago

Here’s Sippy’s times leading to Moscow:

100 free 56.57
200 free 1:59.44
400 free 4:08.17 which is slower than Kim Linehan’s 4:07.77
800 free 8:30.35 which slower than Kim Linehan’s 8:27.86

and that’s not counting the times swum by the east germans and the aussies. Can you give more details how Sippy was #1 in 100-200-400-800 leading to Moscow?

and here’s the winners in Moscow:
100 free 54.79 (Krause)
200 free 1:58.33 (Krause)
400 free 4:08.76 (Diers)
800 free 8:28.90 (Michelle Ford)

Clearly, Krause owned the 100. In 200, the last time swam Woodhead swam 1:58 was in 1979, while Krause was clearly hitting her peak in Moscow, and therefore even if Woodhead… Read more »

Jay
10 years ago

I think Lotte was only under the WR mark in the 1500.

bobo gigi
10 years ago

Yannick in the 1500 free? 😯
Must we draw the conclusion that Mr Bowman trains him more for the 400 free than the 100 free? If yes, I would be very happy. Always my 200/400 olympic double against Sun Yang in mind. 🙂

Very interesting things to watch.
Katie Ledecky vs her best rival since Barcelona Lotte Friis.
Adrian vs Feigen vs Ervin and the others on the men’s sprint.
Grevers vs Thoman vs Murphy on backstroke.
Allison Schmitt’s comeback.
Simone Manuel vs AVW vs Natalie Coughlin vs Megan Romano on the women’s sprint.
Laura Sogar vs Micah Lawrence in the 200 breast.
Tom Shields vs Eugene Godsoe in the 100 fly.… Read more »

mcgillrocks
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

Bowman wants to push him out of his comfort zone and see what he can do. IMO it would be a waste of talent for Agnel to only do the 200 free, he needs to branch out.

Joel Lin
Reply to  mcgillrocks
10 years ago

Agnel is the rarest of rare. He has medalist potential from 100 meters to 1,500 meters. Quite unlike anyone before him…remember Neethling went from a 1500 guy in 2000 who hit the weights and altered his program completely to go down to the 100 meters years later. Agnel at this moment has range from 100 to the metric mile. Anyone ever done that? Sippy Woodhead way back had the 50 world record briefly at the same time she was best in world in 800. On the men’s side? Can’t place a name or memory of the same.

bobo gigi
Reply to  Joel Lin
10 years ago

Potential, yes. But you can’t win the 100 free against pure sprinters if you train all year 24/7 for the long distances. He would be much more tired than Adrian, Magnussen or Morozov after swimming a 400 free, a 200 free and the relays. Absolutely no chance to shine in these conditions. Agnel isn’t a natural sprinter. His best distance is the 200 free. I think he must focus more on the 400 free than on the 100 free for his second option. Just my opinion.

Josh
Reply to  Joel Lin
10 years ago

I think Park Tae-Hwan would probably come closest to Agnel among the men in freestyle versatility: 48.7, 1:44.8, 3:41.5, 14:47.3.

It is becoming more and more apparent that Bowman is pushing Agnel back towards the 400 by having him do events that are 2-3x that length. The 400 will look like a cakewalk after all the 800s and 1500s he’ll have under his belt.

Rafael
Reply to  Josh
10 years ago

Yang has the following.. I think he got more vesatility..

48.97
1:44:47
3:40:14
7:38:54
14:31:01

Eagleswim
Reply to  Joel Lin
10 years ago

That Thorpe guy was pretty good

aswimfan
Reply to  Joel Lin
10 years ago

Ian Thorpe won and break WRs in 200-400-800 and finished very very close 4th in 100 in 2001 Worlds.

Thorpe is also the ONLY male swimmer to have won medals in 100-200-400 free in a single olympics.

Now, can Agnel do the same?

On the women’s side it’s obviously Shane Gould who held all 100-200-400-800-1,500 WRs AT THE SAME TIME, and the only women to win medals in all freestyle events 100-200-400-800 in a single olympics.

Is agnel that rare?
I don’t think he has ever raced 3 freestyle events in a single major championships.

mcgillrocks
10 years ago

Is there a link to the Minnesota results? I would like a refresher about what happened before the next meet.

bobo gigi
Reply to  mcgillrocks
10 years ago
mcgillrocks
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

Thanks.

bobo gigi
Reply to  mcgillrocks
10 years ago

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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