After a tough day 2 schedule that included 5 races in a single finals session, Team USA’s Michael Andrew bounced back this morning to show he’s far from done at the 2015 FINA Junior World Championships. That heavy schedule led to some serious fatigue throughout the session for Andrew, but it did lead to something good. Because he competed in the 100 back last night, he’s now able to race in the 50 back. This was one of the reasons he cited for not dropping the 100.
Andrew took advantage of his 50 back spot, exploding to a new best time in prelims. He surged to the wall in a time of 25.14 to grab the top seed headed into semifinals. That was not only a best time, but also a new Junior World Championships Meet Record.
The previous record was held by Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich at 25.44 from 2013. Coincidentally, Andrew’s time from this morning also ties Tarasevich for 27th in the world this year.
Andrew’s best prior to this meet was a 25.51 from sectionals in July. If he can shave off just a hair from his morning swim, he has a shot at Evgeny Rylov’s Junior World Record of 25.09 that was set at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
Awesome Team Swim Indy! Many world records are ahead for this young man! Congrats MA!
Where are all the haters on this kid from the other night? All the conversation about “traditional” training and USRPT reminds me of Columbus trying to convince the King of Portugal – the world is ROUND – not FLAT, and we all know how that turned out.
I think what’s important is that USA Swim Coaches need to take a look at ALL types of training – not just what they learned from their coaches or old coaches on the deck at National meets.
EVERY “BODY” is different. Every swimmer is different. Every kid is motivated in different ways. Some kids are born to swim – others persevere because they love the sport.
Who cares how or what his… Read more »
“The swimmers come first.” The fundamental tenet to a successful coaching philosophy.
His 50 Fly wasn’t too bad either. I think day 2’s experiment will show he is becoming more of a sprinter and will need to focus on specific events.
Seriously, who has the the luxury of being good at every stroke? This kid is so interesting. I don’t know if he is a great athlete, USRPT works, is tall for his age, or what. I wouldn’t be surprised if he flames out or makes a national team.
The only thing I think I can safely say is he is a 50/100 guy in strokes and 200IM. I don’t think we will see any records out of him in 200s or 400IM.
I agree with just about everything you said, but I do sort of think the “tall for his age” argument is quickly losing its validity.
I’m sure the height helps, don’t get me wrong. I’ll put my own coaching under scrutiny to make a point: I coached a kid who is as tall or taller than Michael (with only slightly less muscle), and he was a state champion sprinter, but he was nowhere near Michael’s level in ANY stroke. There’s definitely more to MA than simply height. Besides, at the level and age range that MA competes in, there are plenty of kids who are closer to 6’6″ than 6’0″, but he’s still consistently near the top across events. … Read more »
it seems so crazy that he can come close or even break the wjr in an event that he is rather mediocre in compared to his other strokes right now
Well done!
Regardless if you have read The Science of Winning, throw down 80k a week or use USRPT, that’s a huge mental rebound! Congrats Micahel on a meet record.
Congrats kid, I just don’t understand why this deserves a whole article. It’s already said in a sentence in the live recap article. Michael Andrew is a phenomenal swimmer, but the number of extra stories that just repeat his results or one comment by him is ridiculous.
Swimmer24- Every time a championship record has been broken we have written an article.
shhhhhh don’t interrupt, i’ve got my pitchfork already
Even if it were true, can you blame them? I am one of the people who comes to swimswam 90% of the time to check what MA has done recently. He’s way more popular than the other swimmers at this meet.
wait, i’m confused, I thought he would never recover from the psychological devastation of last night… no, that’s not it, I mean I thought his meet was over because of, um, USRPT, and everyone knows the key to great sprinting is to lay down a big distance training base.. you have to maintain… Did I get that right? I mean, how is it possible for a 16-year-old to swim fast just a day after swimming some hard races. If you’re over 10 it takes a week of sleep, right? Sorry, my head is spinning. Does not compute. Help me out, fellas…. ?
IT WAS A 50 ….. I am 36 and after not swimming for 8 years I can still do 1 fast 50 …. Need an ambulance after , but again IT IS a 50 !!!
Don’t forget to mention that you probably still have national records