2020 PRO SWIM SERIES – DES MOINES
- March 4-7, 2020
- Des Moines, Iowa
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Info
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
World Championships medalist Michael Andrew had a big swim on Saturday night at the 2020 Pro Swim Series in Des Moines. Andrew raced to a 1:56.83 in the 200 IM, finishing over a second ahead of the field. That dropped over half a second from his former best. NCAA Champion Andrew Seliskar took 2nd in 1:58.01, taking a couple of tenths off his lifetime best from 2018.
Andrew’s former best was a 1:57.49 from the Richmond Pro Swim Series last April. His front half got even faster, but his back half splits were slightly slower. Andrew turned in 1:26.69 at the 150-mark, closing with a 30.14 free split. For comparison, Ryan Lochte split a 1:26.51 at the 150 in his World Record swim at 2011 Worlds. Lochte finished 7th in tonight’s final with a 2:01.60, a little off his prelims time of 2:00.95. In that 2011 swim, Michael Phelps was out in 1:26.80 at the 150.
Splits Comparison:
| FLY | BACK | BREAST | FREE | TOTAL | |
| Michael Andrew – 2020 Des Moines PSS | 24.07 | 29.15 | 33.47 | 30.14 | 1:56.83 |
| Michael Andrew – 2019 Richmond PSS | 24.50 | 29.70 | 33.29 | 30.00 | 1:57.49 |
Andrew was out significantly faster than World Champion Daiya Seto split in Gwangju last summer. He was 8 tenths faster than Seto at the 150, but the closing split is where many of the top swimmers at Worlds split faster. The closing splits of the World Championship finalists in 2019 were:
- Seto – 28.65
- Desplanches – 28.86
- Kalisz – 28.06
- Heints – 27.94
- Scott – 27.56
- Wang – 28.17
- Larkin – 28.21
- Devine – 28.27
At a minimum, Andrew’s closing split is over a second behind any of those swimmers’ splits from Worlds. He did come home a bit faster with his old lifetime best, with a 30.00 on the final 50. At 20 years old, Andrew is now the 6th fastest American in history. He’s the 6th fastest swimmer ever worldwide among swimmers 20 and under behind Kosuke Hagino, Phelps, Abrahm DeVine, Qin Haiyang, and Seto. World Record holder Lochte was a 1:57.79 at Andrew’s age.
ALL-TIME TOP U.S. PERFORMERS – MEN’S 200 IM
| 1 | Ryan Lochte | 1:54.00 |
| 2 | Michael Phelps | 1:54.16 |
| 3 | Eric Shanteau | 1:55.36 |
| 4 | Chase Kalisz | 1:55.40 |
| 5 | Abrahm DeVine | 1:56.79 |
| 6 | Michael Andrew | 1:56.83 |
| 7 | Josh Prenot | 1:57.17 |
| 8 | Tyler Clary | 1:57.25 |
| 9 | Conor Dwyer | 1:57.41 |
| 10 | Alex Vanderkaay | 1:57.58 |
Love the chart showing how real swimmers close a 200IM
He should probably start training 2100 yards a day instead of 2000 yards
He can go out as fast as he wants as long as in the end it’s enough to beat every other competitor. It’s about who gets on the wall first (which he is doing wright now), not about who can swim the last 50 under 30,29 or 28. If in the summer the guy swims 1.55 low who cares about splits? It’s about finishing first or second at trials, and the best possible in the Olympics.
I think the question people have is, if he’s going to split 30 for the 50 free, where is going to find significant time in the other three legs?
Compared to Lochte’s world record his splits yesterday were:
Fly: -0.82
Back: +0.67
Breast: +0.39
It’s difficult to see how he can viably go out significantly under 24 when the greatest butterflyer in history could never do that.
So to drop a further second whilst maintaining the same free leg he’d have to either put up a 32 mid breastroke split or go 33 flat and match Lochte’s backstroke split, which Lochte did at the meet where he set the textile world record for the… Read more »
I know he’s got insane easy-speed, but 24.0 is probably a tad aggressive in a 200m race – if he takes 5% effort out of it and goes 24.5 then he might be helping his back-end a bit.
MA’s challenge obviously is going to be that freestyle split. Unless he gets to the 150 in an absurd time, like 1:25.00, then 30.0 isn’t going to cut it. He doesn’t need to be Phelps finishing in 27.low/mid, but he needs to at least be 28.high if he wants to seriously contend in this event.
People have ID’d his breath timing as potentially the reason for his underwhelming closing speed in 100fr and 200IM. If true, he either has to fix it,… Read more »
Agreed. Lochte was a 51.5 100 fly and went out 24.8 to 25.0 in his 200 IM to go 1:54s. MA is around that 100 fly time but goes out waaay faster. I know there’s more than one way to race, but I don’t think anyone should go out that fast in the 200 IM unless theyre pushing 50.0 in the fly
MA had a great swim and he has room for improvement. I believe in an interview he said he wanted to split 32 on the breastroke leg of the 200 IM and he can get down to 28 on the free leg.
If he ever does that, it might be game over for everyone else. 24.0-29.0-32.5-28.5=1:54.00
Oh yeah…he’s the most gifted US swimmer and has the potential to break that WR.
Can’t wait to see that happen.
I want to see him split 28 on the breast and 32 on the free for the most piano hit world record in history.
It doesn’t matter how it happens, so long as the final touch involves being ahead of the next person. Too many fail to understand that basic concept.
I guess there is no surfing in Iowa
Carson Foster is gonna make it on that list too.