Mesa Grand Prix: Ledecky-Franklin Duel, Big 50 Frees on Night 2

A beautiful night two at the Mesa Grand Prix featured great swims by Olympians Katie Ledecky, Missy Franklin, Natalie Coughlin, and Nathan Adrian, who all turned in times near the top of the world rankings.

Women’s events

Katinka Hosszu led things off with a win in the women’s 400 IM.  The field was even after the opening 100, but Hosszu pushed the pace through the backstroke, building a 3.5-second lead over that was too much for Stina Gardell or Caitlin Leverenz to close.  Her time of 4:40.01 was easily her best of the season, and good for 7th in the world this year.  Gardell was challenged by Leverenz on the third leg, but ultimately out-closed the Cal breaststroke specialist to finish 2nd in 4:42.26 (Leverenz was 3rd in 4:42.64).

The women’s 200 free brought the show down we all hoped to see between Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin. The two teenage stars had the race of the night, putting up the 2nd and 3rd best times in the world this year (Sarah Sjostrum of Sweden is first).  Franklin took the lead early, and it looked like she would pull away from Ledecky on the third 50.  But Ledecky dug deep, out-splitting Franklin 29.36 to 30.19 over the final length to touch first in 1:56.93.  Franklin was just 0.03 back in 1:56.96.  The ageless Erika Erndl touched 3rd in 2:00.12.

Franklin bounced back quickly from that swim to win the 200 handily, finishing in 2:09.35.  That’s well off her world-leading 2:07.31 that she dropped at the Austin Grand Prix earlier this year, but still a very good time at this point in the season, especially for the second swim of a back-to-back.  Short course American record holder and NCAA champion Elizabeth Pelton was 2nd in 2:12.37, good for top 25 in the world and third fastest amongst Americans this year (Franklin and Kylie Stewart hold the top two spots). After a great swim this morning where she cut multiple seconds off her seed time, 17-year-old Clara Smiddy dropped another eight tenths to finish 3rd in 2:13.33.

To close out the evening session, we saw another great effort from Natalie Coughlin.  After swimming a season-best 100 free yesterday morning that was good for top ten in the world, she was destined for a great swim in the 50.  When all was said and done, Coughlin broke 25 seconds for the first final time since 2008.  Her final time was 24.90, tops among Americans, and tied for 5th-best in the world this year.  After taking a break this summer, Coughlin appears to have put the other strokes on the back burner, focusing almost exclusively on the sprint freestyles, which includes training extensively with Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin.  Jessica Hardy, who finaled for the U.S. in this event last summer in London, was 2nd in 25.38.  Christine Magnuson touched just behind in 3rd (25.47).

 

Men’s events

Tyler Clary opened up the men’s events with a convincing win in the 400 IM, touching in 4:24.90 for his first victory of the meet.  Clary  is known for having one of the best opening 200’s in the world, and tonight was no different; he built a lead of nearly seven seconds in the first half of the race, and held off a great back-half from breaststroke specialist Scott Weltz (who touched 2nd in 4:26.37) to seal the win.  Should Weltz continue to pursue this event, he has the potential to be a darkhorse this summer at World Championship Trials.  Apart from his world-class breaststroke ability, Weltz is a strong flyer and reasonably good freestyle.  If he can limit the damage over the backstroke leg, look out.  A pair of high-schoolers, Samuel Smiddy of AK Sharks and Curtis Ogren of PASA, claimed the next two spots in 4:26.86 and 4:27.75, respectively.

Ricky Berens of Longhorn Aquatic Club used an explosive final turn and supurb closing speed to charge home for the win in the 200 freestyle.  Berens was 4th at the 150 mark, but came back in 26.87 to pass Darian Townsend, Anders Nielsen, and Conor Dwyer to touch 1st in 1:48.93.  After briefly flirting with retirement following the London Olympics last summer, Berens looks more than ready to step up and fill the void left by the retirement of Michael Phelps and Peter Vanderkaay.  In addition to recently breaking the short course American Record in this event, Berens is also the top American swimmer this year by over a second.  Though Ryan Lochte still has to be considered a medal threat taper time, look for the former Longhorn to make his own run at the podium this summer in Barcelona.

Townsend was in control for most of the race (he was leading at the 100 and 150 mark), but ultimately faded over the final 50 meters to finish 2nd in 1:49.61.  Nielsen (1:49.67), Michael Klueh (1:49.77), and Dwyer (1:49.85) came up just short, and may have been able to clip Townsend had the race been five meters longer.  Ryan Lochte (1:51.26), Tom Shields (1:51.50), and Tom Kremer (1:51.73) rounded out the top 8.  Notably, Matt McLean ran away with the consol heat, touching almost two seconds ahead of the heat to win in 1:50.00.

In the 200 backstroke, Matt Grevers, the Olympic champion in the 100 backstroke, attacked the race early (out in 57.12) and built a full second lead over the first half of the race.  But Tyler Clary, fresh off his victory in the 400 IM, used a brilliant second 100 (he was the only swimmer under 1:00 coming home) to close on the newlywed Grevers to pull away from the heat for the win.  Ryan Murphy of Bolles, who actually had the fastest final 50 of the heat, also flew past Grevers to finish in 2nd (1:59.28).

Nathan Adrian dominated the men’s 50 freestyle, touching 1st in 21.72.  That time is just shy of his season-best of 21.70 from the Austin Grand Prix last month that has him ranked #2 in the world.  2000 Sydney gold medalist and 2012 London finalist Anthony Ervin was a distant 2nd in 22.31.  Joey Hale was 3rd in 22.85.

 

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cynthia curran
10 years ago

Race of the night and probably of the meet is the women’s 200 free. Katie vs Missy. I have predicted a 1.55 for Miss Ledecky next summer so her win isn’t a surprise. And it’s just the beginning for her. Missy is always happy and bubbly but after this defeat I think she was very angry. Question about Katie. She will swim the 400 free, the 800 free and the 4X200 free relay in Barcelona but will she swim one more individual race there? And if yes, would it be more the 200 free or more the 1500 free?
Very good race for Natalie Coughlin in the 50 free. However, behind her it’s always the desert. I believe it’s… Read more »

liquidassets
10 years ago

8:20.6 with no competition, already ahead of last year at this point= on track for WR at Worlds. Wonder if she will take a shot at Ziegler’s WR in the mile.

Philip Johnson
Reply to  liquidassets
10 years ago

I think she’s set in swimming the 200, where I think she has a good chance of making the team. If she doesn’t get an individual spot however, she may do it.

john26
Reply to  liquidassets
10 years ago

I would personally rather see her take a crack at Ziegler’s WR. That is the old record on the books, and a rather tough one as no one has been within 7 seconds in textile.

CraigH
Reply to  john26
10 years ago

If she’s going to do it, she should do it now, because Ledecky’s future is in the 200 not the mile. She’s a remarkable powerful swimmer (especially compared to the other distance swimmers, as we saw in London), and she’s only going to keep on growing into her stroke.

PsychoDad
10 years ago

Ledecky’s technique is superior on many levels.

aswimfan
Reply to  PsychoDad
10 years ago

I love Missy, but I actually agree on this one.

PsychoDad
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

When was I not right when it comes to technique? 🙂

Anyhow, Missy’s pull is too long – she pushes water way to much back. That is why Ledecky was able to beat her in last 50m by increasing stroke count. Ledecky keeps her stroke in front of her and pulls only to about waist.Missy pushes all the way as far as her arm reaches and cannot increase stroke count as easy as Ledecky can.

liquidassets
10 years ago

Thanks; here is the link for the women’s 2Free for anyone who wants to see it. Franklin looked strong, but Ledecky relaxed/controlled and still accelerating at the touch, so could probably have gone even a bit faster. I am curious to see if she can break 8:20 tonight in the 800 if she’s not too tired by now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K41sKtJ1L_A

aswimfan
Reply to  liquidassets
10 years ago

Wow.. I didn’t notice it before, but Ledecky knows Missy’s PB in the 200! (at the of the interview she mentioned Missy’s PB is 2 seconds faster)

It is such a breath of fresh air when swimmers are candid like her, she doesn’t pretend that she doesnt care about times yadda yadda yadda like so many other top swimmers normally do..

Philip Johnson
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

No, she said it was an in season swim and it was a two second PB. But she knows what’s going on and I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew.

Jay
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

haha she said “mid season” not “Missy’s”

liquidassets
10 years ago

Hi, does anyone know where I could find video of the Day 2 Finals? I missed the first couple of events and really want to see the Franklin/Ledecky duel in the 2Free. I don’t see it on the YouTube page with the Day 1 videos, nor on the US Swimming “Take it Live Tv” video page. Thanks.

Philip Johnson
Reply to  liquidassets
10 years ago

It’s on YouTube, you just have to filter it by upload date and you should find it.

WHOKNOWS
10 years ago

There will be upsets this summer – with new swimmers pushing the hero’s of yesteryear out of some of their signature events. Training this year is erradict on all fronts… (which is normal for post Olympic year) There will be some rude awakenings.

swimmer
10 years ago

well im sure lochte will want to redeem his london performance look for lochte to be in the 1.44 again. Hopefully he is putting in the training good cause i know he wasnt for awhile cause of his reality show

swimmer
10 years ago

I would wait to watch the american trials before making assumptions about whether or not an american will be on the podium

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Morgan Priestley

A Stanford University and Birmingham, Michigan native, Morgan Priestley started writing for SwimSwam in February 2013 on a whim, and is loving that his tendency to follow and over-analyze swim results can finally be put to good use. Morgan swam competitively for 15+ years, primarily excelling in the mid-distance freestyles. While …

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