2017 Santa Clara Arena Pro Swim Series
- June 1-4, 2017
- George F. Haines Internation Aquatic Center, Santa Clara, California
- Long Course (50m)
- Thursday Timed Finals: 5 PM PT, Fri-Sun: Prelims 9 AM PT / Finals 5 PM PT
- Live Streaming
- Psych Sheet
The 2017 Arena Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara, California kicks off on Thursday at the George F. Haines International Aquatic Center.
On the men’s side of the season long points race, Josh Prenot and Chase Kalisz are tied for first with 38 points each. After his impressive performance in Atlanta, Kalisz jumped up from just 18 points to tie Prenot, who didn’t add to his total in early May. Melanie Margalis holds a slim 6 point lead over Katie Ledecky in the women’s competition. Ledecky outscored Margalis by 7 points in Atlanta after scoring the most points at the most recent Pro Swim Series event.
The Current Top 5 in Points are:
Men:
- T1. Josh Prenot, Chase Kalisz: 38 points
- 3. Daiya Seto: 32
- 4. Jacob Pebley: 26
- 5. Nathan Adrian: 18
Women:
- 1. Melanie Margalis: 39
- 2. Katie Ledecky: 33
- 3. Hali Flickinger: 29
- 4. Simone Manuel: 23
- 5. Mary-Sophie Harvey: 22
We have identified the three most compelling races that will take place in Santa Clara.
- Men’s 50 Freestyle
Defending Olympic Champion Anthony Ervin against Olympic Champion Nathan Adrian versus short course American record holder Caeleb Dressel. Oh, and don’t forget about the third overall seed, Vlad Morozov, who was the first swimmer to ever break the 18 second barrier in a short course yard 50 freestyle on a relay. This will be a great race to see where Ervin is headed into World Champs trials following his surprise gold medal in Rio. Additionally, Dressel, who didn’t qualify for 50 freestyle individually in Rio, will likely look to make his mark in the long course pool much like he has done in short course.
- Women’s 100 Freestyle
Simone Manuel highlights the field in the women’s 100 free and is seeded first with her gold medal time from Rio by a little over half a second. Katie Ledecky, who is swimming the 1500 on night one, but won’t swim the 400 or 800, is seeded 3rd in this event just behind Abbey Weitzel. Weitzel and Manuel were the two Olympians for the US last August but Ledecky has been looking strong and may try to qualify for Budapest in the 100 along with her mid-distance and distance schedule. She will compete in the 1500, 100 and 200 freestyle events this week.
- Men’s 200 Breaststroke
As I mentioned above, Josh Prenot is tied for first in points for the year in the Arena Pro Swim Series. But he will be challenged by Olympian Kevin Cordes and NCAA Champion Will Licon in the 200 breast. The trio of swimmers are seeded 1-2-3, as they finished at Olympic Trials. The other points leader, Chase Kalisz, is seeded 6th in the 200 breast but could make a serious push for the gold in Santa Clara. After Atlanta and Kalisz’s 4:09 400 IM, it is clear that he is in great shape and has put a lot of work into his already solid breaststroke. Look out for Kalisz in this event as he looks to become the face of the USA IMs this summer.
This final Pro Swim Series event will serve as a measuring stick for many of the top swimmers in the world, especially the American athletes. World Championship Trials will take place in Indianapolis at the end of this month and following this weekend, many of the top swimmers will not have another big meet opportunity prior to trials. Many of the Rio Olympians will be using this meet as a tune up as they haven’t tapered since August.
The Arena Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara will begin tomorrow with the women’s 1500 freestyle and the men’s 800 meter freestyle event.
Who do you think can clear the 22sec barrier in the 50free for this meet being untapered? It would be exciting to see at least one or two of them go 21 high. I put bets on Adrian.
Dressel will probably go around 22flat but would like to see him go a 21.8 this time of year. No idea on Ervin.
the 50 free will be interesting – one month before trials . Lets see what Caleb has under his belt
Just as a swim fan, the Arena Pro Series is awesome. It pulls a great variety of pros, but also a lot of younger swimmers. Plus the international competition is really quite impressive.
That aside, I’m very excited to see what Kalisz can do this time around. I’m also most looking forward to (as mentioned in the article) the men’s 200 breast especially. To me it comes down to Prenot vs Licon vs Kalisz, Cordes a solid 4th.
Light schedule for Ledecky. 100/200/1500 free, so she’ll still test speed, mid-distance, and distance endurance. With fewer events maybe she’s looking to put up some fast times in the three events.
No doubles. Who knows what Ledecky is up to when just few weeks left before trials.
Maybe she doesn’t feel well now and is taking it easy.
Maybe it’s about time to start intimidate other contenders by setting high season ranking at 200 and 1500.
Maybe she is she planning to be #2 American at 100 free and to swim all three relays in Budapest?
Maybe there are no special plans for this meet and it will be swum in practice mode.
Who knows, but I would like to see her under 1:55.5 at 200 so I will know that she is back in business after college.
The schedule at worlds is much harder than at olympic games for KL.
The 4X100 free relay final is on day 1 after her 400 free final. In Rio it was on day 1 but the 400 free final was on day 2.
She has 2 races of 1500 free before her 200 free final. No 1500 free in Rio.
200 IM??????