Speedster Cullen Jones Absent From Nationals Psych Sheets

2018 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Olympian Cullen Jones has a knack for staying under the radar during the racing season only to pull out eye-popping performances when it counts. At the 2016 Olympic Trials, Jones crushed a time of 50m free final time of 21.75 to fall just .23 shy of qualifying for Rio. At last year’s U.S. Nationals, the 34-year-old pulled out a splash n’ dash time of 21.89 to just narrowly miss another international squad, finishing behind winner Caeleb Dressel and runner-up Nathan Adrian.

We initially picked Jones to be in the mix for a top 8 finish in Irvine next week, but the Wolfpack Elite swimmer is absent from the entries. He has raced this year, producing a 22.78 in mid-April at the TYR Pro Swim in Mesa, a mark which ranks him in the top 15 Americans for 2018. His lifetime best rests at the 21.40 thrown down way back in 2009.

Although not robustly active racing in the pool, Jones has been making appearances at swim clinics and providing drowning prevention support.

We have reached out to Jones for comment on his near future plans.

In This Story

5
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

5 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Kristiina
5 years ago

He is retired? Swimswam please take more intervievs, invegetations

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Kristiina
5 years ago

nearly retired …..

Caeleb Dressel Will Win 9 Gold Medals in Tokyo
5 years ago

I think he could still be in the 21 range, but he’s just not beating Dressel and Andrew.

Jump
5 years ago

I think he’s done. Great career. I will always remember him for the 4×100 free relay in Beijing.

Skoorbnagol
Reply to  Jump
5 years ago

He’ll give 2020 ago he’s same age as Lochte, be 36 in toyko. Think a lot depends who he train with and what marginal gains he can make.
100 career over.
He could go 21 mid.
Ervin and jones old boys.
Sneaky Adrian
Michael Andrew (likely hope)
Dressel
Will be very anticipated 50free by 2020.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

Read More »