2023 PRO SWIM SERIES – KNOXVILLE
- January 11-14, 2023
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- LCM (50 meters)
- Prelims/Finals
- Prelims: 9:00 AM (EST)
- Finals: 6:00 PM (EST), Day 1 4:00 PM
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Psych Sheets
- Ways to Watch
- Storylines to Follow
- Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Heat Sheet
Simone Manuel had a successful return to the pool on Friday morning at the Pro Swim Series stop in Knoxville, qualifying for the final of the women’s 50 freestyle in what was her first long course swim since the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Manuel put up a time of 25.48 to advance fourth into the women’s 50 free final, trailing Abbey Weitzeil (24.70), Erika Brown (25.05) and Olivia Smoliga (25.46), all of whom won a bronze medal alongside Manuel in the women’s 400 free relay at the Tokyo Games in the summer of 2021.
Manuel, who also contested the 50 free individually at the Olympics and finished 11th, went quiet after the Games and didn’t race at all for more than a year. This past August, she made headlines by announcing her move to join the burgeoning pro group at Arizona State University under head coach Bob Bowman and sprint coach Herbie Behm.
Since that move, her lone races on record came from an October dual meet between the Sun Devils and Wisconsin in short course yards, where Manuel swam times of 22.18 in the 50 free and 48.40 in the 100 free.
In Knoxville, the 26-year-old sat out of two events in which she was entered to race on Thursday (50 back, 100 fly), but took to the blocks and had a solid swim in the 50 free to comfortably make the final.
Although her time of 25.48 is considerably slower than any of her other PSS swims over the last few years (ranging from 24.56 to 25.06 since the beginning of 2020), the field as a whole wasn’t particularly fast and she simply did what was required to make the final.
After tonight’s final, Manuel’s only other entry at the meet will come on Saturday in the 100 free, where she’s the ninth seed.
I’d like Simone to contribute to American 4×200 winning relay. With her 1:56 she was very close to do so. With the competition in sprint becoming tougher and tougher with each year maybe that is the place for the talented swimmer who will be 27 in august to proceed.
So happy to see her racing again!
Not sure why this was called a success. Feels like she has to be sub 25 in final to be a success.
ASU pro team isn’t doing much of note
You sound like you’d be fun at parties.
The goal in prelims is to make the final, so she was successful.
There’s always one