Michael Andrew Scratches and Un-Scratches 200 IM for Juniors Tonight
This morning at Speedo Junior Winter Championships-West, after lowering his own 15-16 National Age Group record in the 200 IM, wonderkid Michael Andrew scratched the event for this evening. However, he changed his mind soon after and reverted the scratch.
“I scratched the 2IM but while warming down realized I can go a lot faster tonight, so we decided to un-scratch just in time,” Andrew said on his Instagram.
Here is the post about the record, reported by Tony Carroll:
During the prelim session of the 2015 Speedo Winter Junior Championships in Austin, Texas, Michael Andrew from Indie Swimming added his name the the 15-16 short course yards National Age Group Records list with an incredible time in the 200 IM. Prior to today, Andrew’s only 15-16 SCY NAG record was in the 100 butterfly.
This morning, Andrew blasted through his 200 IM prelim swim, earning the top seed in the event with a record time of 1:43.94. That is the first 15-16 swim in history under 1:44.Andrew Seliskar set the previous record in 2013 at 1:44.03.
The 20o IM record has quickly dropped in recent years. In 2012, Gunnar Bentz had the record at 1:45.17. The record has dropped more than a second in the last three years alone. Take a look at the comparative splits below:
| BENTZ – 2012 | 22.70 FLY | 26.81 BACK | 30.53 BREAST | 25.13 FREE | 1:45.17 |
| Seliskar – 2013 | 23.01 Fly | 26.20 Back | 29.25 Breast | 25.57 Free | 1:44.03 |
| Andrew – 2015 | 21.84 Fly | 25.89 Back | 30.24 Breast | 25.97 Free | 1:43.94 |
Way to undersell it, meet announcer guy. (Not that I’d want him to jump up and down, but that’s some Joe Buck level monotone.)
The USRPT cap seems a bit much, too. Seems like it’s a step away from just writing sets out on it.
Wow what an awesome swimmer. Really impressive stuff. He will only improve, especially as his underwater dolphin kick gets better. Hard to tell on the video but I wonder about his freestyle – are his arms coming around the side rather than over the top?