Rooney, Morozov & Khalafalla To Swim-Off 100 Free In Santa Clara

2017 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES – SANTA CLARA

After a three-way tie for 8th, Maxime RooneyVladimir Morozov and Ali Khalafalla will have a 100 free swim-off at the Arena Pro Swim in Santa Clara. They all went 50.43.

Unlike most meets, the top-9 swimmers qualify for the A-final here, so the top two in the swim-off will advance to the A-final tonight and whoever takes 3rd will be relegated to the B.

In terms of how they split the race this morning, Morozov had the most front-end speed out in 23.89, but was obviously slowest coming home. Rooney was the quickest coming back at 26.15, and considering he did that coming off the 100 fly, he may have a little more in the tank after a bit of rest.

In terms of lifetime bests, Morozov’s 47.62 is well ahead of Rooney (48.87) and Khalafalla (49.68), though the 47.6 was done four years ago.

This swim-off is very similar to one we saw at the U.S. Olympic Trials last year, where Cameron CraigCarter Griffin and Austin Katz all tied for 15th in the 100 back prelims and had to swim-off to see which two would advance to the semis. Griffin and Katz ultimately moved on, but interestingly a swim-off for 2nd alternate between Luke Kaliszak and Bob Glover saw both of them go much faster than Craig, Griffin or Katz in their swim-off, showing the importance of swimming fast in the morning.

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Parka59
7 years ago

I heard Rooney asked if they could do the swim off backstroke.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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