2023 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 27 – July 1, 2023
- Indianapolis, IN
- Indiana University Natatorium
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets
- How To Watch
The release of pre-scratch psych sheets for the 2023 Phillips 66 U.S. National Championships on Thursday night saw the return of one American swimming star in Caeleb Dressel, but another is missing from the entry list.
Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel will miss her second World Championships in a row after dealing with overtraining syndrome (OTS) in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The 26-year-old American record holder announced she was moving to Tempe in late August after taking a break from swimming, joining Bob Bowman‘s stacked pro group at Arizona State. Manuel returned to racing casually during ASU’s dual meet against Wisconsin last October, posting times that were right in line with the majority of her dual meet swims during her collegiate career at Stanford.
In January, she returned to high-level racing at the Pro Swim Series stop in Knoxville with a 25.19 50 free and 54.81 100 free. Manuel ended up clocking season-best times of 25.18 and 54.50 in the 50 free and 100 free at the Pro Swim Series stops in Fort Lauderdale (March) and Mission Viejo (May), respectively. She ended up racing at all four stops of the Pro Swim Series.
At her most recent meet, the Sun Devil Open in early June, she went 25.22 in the 50 free and 54.93 in the 100 free.
Manuel’s season bests would have seeded her 13th and 14th in the 50 free (25.18) and 100 free (54.50), respectively, had she entered those events at U.S. Nationals. She holds the American records in both events at 23.97 and 52.04.
Manuel has won a whopping 16 medals at the LCM World Championships, including 11 gold. She also currently holds the world record in the women’s LCM 4×100 medley relay, where she provided a blistering 51.86 anchor split.
U.S. Nationals serves as a selection meet to decide the U.S. rosters for the 2023 World Championships, World Junior Championships, LEN U-23 European Championships, and Pan American Games.
None of the times she’s posted thus far suggests she’s ready. Give her time to see if this is something she wants to continue.
There is a nostalgia for past champions that they will just be able to continously re-emerge to save the day.
Maybe she came back, decided for whatever reason that this isn’t going to work.
Maybe she just woke up one morning and realized she wants to move on with life.
Maybe she owes none of us an explanation to how she wants to live her life (if she is in fact not swimming this meet because she has decided it’s time) or tell us every single move in her life she’s doing.
We want all our elite athletes to go to the well one more time. And then usually we bash them if they do and… Read more »
Best wishes to you Simone! You represented your country, college, and club team with great distinction and class!
Same with Dressel, wish her the best of luck and I think she’ll be ready for next summer.
But both of them need to do long-scale interviewers and explain the last couple years, and concrete future plans. Like every other professional athlete. Sponsors should enforce transparency from their athletes.
This is why no one cares about the sport. Because “professionals” are acting like they are still NCAA swimmers who only need to focus on school and the pool.
An interview explaining what’s been going on is a VERY low expectation for a job, everyone I know including myself would owe our organization MUCH more than an IG interview if we ghosted everyone on our team. Taking a spot… Read more »
This is nonsense. It might be nice to know but they don’t owe you diddly squat. And NO ONE “takes a spot.” They earn a spot by qualifying. End of story. Simone literally put out a DOCUMENTARY to talk about her experiences with OTS, the Olympic Trials, including her mother being interviewed in tears. What more do you want. Simone said that “she knew she would come back to the sport.” Go to youtube and watch it and stop this authoritarian ignorance of *enforcing* a person to “talk.” SMH!
So much disrespect for a truly great swimmer, who essentially carried US women’s sprint freestyle on her back for years. No one is yet to come close (52.0 flat start and 51 relay split). She only started doing double practices a few months ago. Let her say what’s happening if and when she is ready.
Amen! Put US female sprinting on her back to gold medal and numerous podium finishes in INTERNATIONAL big meets. The Best Ever US female sprinter
After OTS, I wonder if her break was long enough (hopefully she has the help from doctors to make sure her body is recovered enough before pushing forward to much). I hope that she can find the motivation and drive to make a push for 2024).
Following the missy Franklin playbook by dragging it out when everyone knows it’s over
Maybe she’s think about racing next years world champs
I don’t understand why/how she chose to train with Bowman after suffering from OTS.
Wouldn’t it make it worse?
I think she’s actually coached by Herbie Behm?
She’s coached by both in a hybrid-format. She is not solely with one or the other through out the weekly cycle.