2024 PRO SWIM SERIES – KNOXVILLE
- January 10-13, 2024
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- LCM (50 meters)
- Start Times
- All Prelims: 9am (EST)
- Thurs-Sat Finals: 6pm (EST)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
The first stop of the 2024 Pro Swim Series has concluded, and many fast swims were posted across the board. USA Swimming and Swimming Canada had the chance to catch up with several of the high performers in Knoxville, and you can see what each of the athletes said below.
While the Knoxville Pro Swim is over, there are two more stops on the docket in the coming months:
- Pro Swim Series – Westmont, March 6-9
- Pro Swim Series – San Antonio, April 10-13
Among the athletes who spoke to the media was Summer McIntosh, who claimed three individual wins in Knoxville. She won the 200 butterfly in 2:05.73 on the second night of the competition, before winning the 200 free (1:55.41) and 200 IM (2:07.16) on the final two days. McIntosh emphasized how she got better as the meet went on, and discussed her focus of the final 50 in the 200 IM.
Taylor Ruck also spoke with Swimming Canada, discussing how she felt her meet in Knoxville went. Ruck will be in attendance at the Doha World Championships next month, and mentioned she was not too pleased with her times at this meet. Ruck recently made the move to train with the ASU pro group, in hopes of making her third Olympics Games.
Among the other stars who spoke with their governing bodies: Kate Douglass, Katie Ledecky, Katharine Berkoff, Carson Foster, Maggie MacNeil, Michael Andrew, Tess Cieplucha, Delia Lloyd, and Ashley McMillan.
Katie Ledecky, discussing her overall meet takeaways:
“I think I learned some good things, and I’m excited to get back into training and apply those things and try to get better from here.”
Summer McIntosh discusses her 200 IM battle with Alex Walsh:
“I knew going in that it would come down to the last 50. I think 200 IM is such a fun event because it is kind of a sprint and you’re trying to work transitions in between each stroke and be able to turn over as fast as possible, something that takes a lot to master. I’m just figuring it out and always trying to have a strong finish on that freestyle is something that I’m always focusing on.”
“Overall I’m pretty happy with it. I feel like I got better as the meet went on. Going into this meet I didn’t really have specific expectations on times. I’m always just trying to polish up details and dives and things like that and trying to figure out how I want to swim and execute each race.”
Taylor Ruck talks about her performances:
“I’m not particularly pleased with my performances, but also I understand it’s the time of the year and I just got off a whole bunch of change,” Ruck said. “I’m just happy to be where I’m and just trying to rest in the gratitude of being where I’m at, having stillness and trying to get some work in before worlds.”
“I’m just trying to learn from this meet and then put that into the next few weeks of training before going there [Doha].”
For additional context, Ruck placed 11th in the 50 free (25.62), 13th in the 100 free (55.40), 15th in the 200 free (2:01.33), and 7th in the 100 back (1:01.04) in Knoxville.
Katharine Berkoff, on her 100 backstroke win:
“I’m just trying to have a really strong second half and make sure I was cleaning up the details. I had a good start and turn, so I was pretty happy with it.”
Berkoff swam the same time (59.06) in both prelims and finals, splitting the races nearly identical. In the prelims, she split 28.97/30.09. In the final, she split 28.98/30.08.
Kate Douglass after her 200 breaststroke American record:
“Honestly, I would say an American Record was probably the goal for a little bit later in the season, but I definitely felt like I had the best time in me, especially after the (Toyota) U.S. Open. I felt like I was more prepared for this meet.”
Kate Douglass chats about her meet overall:
“I think this shows that I put in a good few weeks of training after U.S. Open and, you know, if I buckle down and get to work, then the results are kind of what I want them to be.”
Carson Foster talks about his 200 IM race strategy:
“My strategy was to let it flow and get a rhythm. Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the rhythm I would have liked on the first 75. From there, it was kind of just like I panicked a little bit, to be totally honest. So, I’m not super happy with the execution, but getting my hand on the wall first felt good and I was happy about that.”
Michael Andrew’s thoughts about his 50 free finish:
“I feel like it was really in the last 15 meters that I hit my stride. We’ve been working on a lot of new things. I think it’s hard to come to a (TYR) Pro Series like this and not overthink, but it’s good. It’s good training and racing. I’m happy with the time, but I want to be a lot faster. I’m happy, and it’s on to the next one.”
Summer McIntosh on her 1:55.41 200 free win:
“200 free is definitely one of my favorite events. It’s always fun to race and I think it’s one of the most strategic events out there. I’m kind of learning how to figure out the best way to swim it and execute.”
“Right now I’m just focused on the next few meets. After this meet I’m going to be doing a really good training block, so I’m just kind of focusing on where I am in training and kind of figuring out what events to prep for the Games.”
Tess Cieplucha gains confidence from her fastest 400 IM since 2022:
“This morning (4:42.85) was a great swim and coming off a hard last few months of training it was good to put down a fast time in January.”
“Winning, repeating good swims and getting good times under my belt will give me some confidence going into Trials in May.”
Maggie MacNeil discusses her meet as a whole:
“It’s the first time I’ve raced this early in January, so I’ll take it.”
“I did a lot of good work this fall leading up to Pan Ams obviously, which was reflected in my performance. I’ve kind of been in and out of the water a bit the last couple of months with American Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m definitely excited for the next few months to just focus on training and get ready for Trials.”
Delia Lloyd on her 7th place 200 backstroke performance:
“I think it’s good experience for Trials and bigger meets to be racing girls at that speed, but I wasn’t super happy with that race.”
“It’s good to get racing experience but I think there’s still a bunch of things I need to work on. So it’s good to kind of highlight those things in that race and then I’ll work on them in training. Just my approach through the walls, keeping my speed and my tempo up on the third 50 and carrying that in to the last wall is super important for me to work on.”
Ashley McMillan discusses the HPC-Ontario training group:
“This year I’ve been having a lot more fun and just enjoying the process.”
“This group is super special, everybody works so hard, we all have a common goal and we have so much fun together. I have really great things to say and (Head Coach) Ryan (Mallette) and (Assistant Coach) Rob (Novak) have been awesome.”
she can get on the podium
It’s one of my favorite events too, Summer.
I’m going to make a bold prediction here and declare that Arnie and Mollie will both touch the wall simultaneously for gold and a brand spanking new world record at the upcoming Olympics, and you’ll get a commendable silver.
Do Arnie and Mollie merge into a single person when they touch simultaneously? If not, then it’s a commendable bronze.
200 free will also always be my favorite events.
It’s one of the most competitive events where sprinters, mid-d, and sometimes d swimmers compete.
Kinda crazy to think about her versatility. She could possibly win the 200/400 free; 200 fly, and 200/400 IM, could very well be on all of Canada’s relays, and could very well even add another race (200 back, or maybe the 100 free or 100 fly). Probably won’t swim all that, but the fact that it’s even a realistic possibility is crazy
She’s not winning the 200 free and probably not the 400 free.
She is a true generational talent.
What swimmer successfully defended two worlds titles at the age of 16?
Answer: no one but Summer
What swimmer (male or female) broke 400 free and 400 IM World Records?
Answer: no one but Summer
I agree she is a generational talent but taking a specific stat and then saying that determines who’s the best doesn’t really work. Could easily do this for other swimmers.
Who has won all 3 backstroke events at one worlds? No one but Kaylee.
Who has broken all 3 LCM world records in a single stroke in one year? No one but Kaylee
“taking a specific stat and then saying that determines who’s the best doesn’t really work.”
I didn’t say that qualifier to determine who’s best.
I wrote those stats to support my argument she’s a generational talent. Nothing more.
You’re reading too much
“Who has broken all 3 LCM world records in a single stroke in one year? No one but Kaylee”
Incorrect.
Ian Thorpe, Katie Ledecky, Shane Gould did it already.
Sorry, when did Katie Ledecky or Ian Thorpe break the 50 free world record to break every LCM record in a single stroke in the same year? I didn’t say “3”, I said “all 3” meaning ALL. Correct about Shane Gould though, she did break all freestyle records in the same year, although the 50 did not exist at the time.
Ok let’s rephrase: who else has broken the 50, 100 and 200 world record in one stroke in the same year? No one but Kaylee.
My point is you’re twisting stats to try to make Summer seem better. She doesn’t need you to do that. Her results already speak for themselves.
“My point is you’re twisting stats to try to make Summer seem better”
Nope.
It’s all the data. Not twisting stats.
Summer McIntosh accomplished all of those at the age of 16.
Therefore she’s a generational talent.
Similar to how Shane Gould accomplished everything at the age of 15 or Katie Ledecky at the age of 16.
A true generational talent means they accomplished the highest peak in competitive swimming at a young age.
That’s why Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps are also true generational talent.
It seems you are very disappointed that someone else talks positively about Summer McIntosh.
I don’t think how young they are matters.
Qin is older (mid 20s) and having his first world level success, but he is absolutely a generational talent.
Her versatility is incredible but there are a few female swimmers at the moment that have great event coverage. Kaylee McKeown is the WR holder in the 50-100-200 back and her PBs would have won the 200-400IM at the most recent Olympics. Then on top of those 5 she is also top 30 in the world in another 3 events.
I NEVER SAID OR IMPLIED that Summer McIntosh is the best swimmer in the world
Please read again my original comment.
Kaylee McKeown is definitely the best female swimmer of 2023.
No one is even disputing that.
To paraphrase Homer Simpson: If I was reading SwimSwam articles and it was mid-January and they hadn’t started the top 100 yet, I’d be like, yo goober, where’s the top 100?
Last year they started on January 13.
It’s a bit late this year.
or they’re not making them at all
They’re definitely doing it. It creates so much traction for them. Would be crazy not to.
Oh they’re making it.
It’s Olympics year and it will create huge traffic.
With a question mark over Oleksiak, Ruck still so far from her best and apparently targetting 50/100 anyway and Sanchez gone it looks like Canada’s 4×200 will have trouble getting on the podium.
Agreed, and there’s been a few times over the past 5-6 years where it seemed like the starts were going to align and they could challenge for silver even, but alas. There’s some young talent though, so maybe 2028!
Julie Brosseau, Ella Jansen and Sienna Angove are definitely in that conversation of up and coming youngsters.
Given current state of Can W swimming this is how I would rank women’s relays in terms of medal chances: medley , 4×2 free , 4 x1 free. And I’d say it would be a good result just to get in the medals in one of those races. It’s hard to be very optimistic at this point about a return to form of Penny O & Taylor Ruck. But at least Ruck is swimming. Except for the very short attempt last spring Penny hasn’t swum any sort of competitive race in over 18 months. She seems to thrive on getting ready for the Olympics so perhaps she will put together something . I’ll be very happy to get a positive… Read more »
Aussie girls have the 200 free and relay
Summer “kind of figuring out which events to prep for” suggests she definitely isn’t swimming all 5 right? Seems like she will drop the 200 free individual?
Logic says that the 200 free would be the one event that Summer would drop if she was to swim only 4 due to the Olympic scheduling. Perhaps Summer and her coach won’t make a definitive decision until after the Canadian Trials in May and are still weighing all of their options.
There’s nothing that Brent/Summer’s team have done so far in her career that would indicate that they wouldn’t make the slightly conservative/sensible choice so I agree with you.
She will not swim the 2free. They will also not swim the 4×200
Is this your prediction or do you actually know something?
It’s an interesting point. If they NEED McIntosh to get out of heats and have no chance at a medal, will they even bother? I assume they would swim the heat without her and hope. Surely won’t waster Summer’s time with a heat swim.
The heats in the women’s relays aren’t overly stacked so they should be able to get through.
she wasn’t needed at the wc in the heats this year & canada easily qualified for the finals.. & btw neither penny ( wasn’t there) nor Ruck were in the heats either.
They didn’t need Summer to get out of the 2023 WC 4x2fr heats. Penny wasn’t there at all & Taylor did not swim heats nor final. In comparison to most other countries Canada has enough talent to easily get into the final. Without Taylor and/or Ruck back on form however it seems unlikely they have enough firepower to get into the medals. That being said, there are at least 2 or 3 juniors that seem to have some great potential so if one or more of them have a great 2024 then a medal may not be entirely out of the picture. Unlike the 4×1 free where without both Taylor and Penny, there no immediate sprint talent to fill that… Read more »
I disagree about the 4x200m.
“200IM is kind of a sprint” is such a distance swimmer thing to say
No, it actually is a sprint. This is due to the fact that you are changing strokes and using different muscles in different ways, it feels more like 4 50s all out and not a continuous 200. As a swimmer whose best events are 200 IM and 200 breast (and also swims 200 back and 200 free), the IM definitely feels more like a sprint than the others. This is actually a concept that Dressel explained in his Dressel Dissect of the 200 IM American record from 2018 SECs. As he said, in a 200 free your body gets tired and your freestyle gets tired, in a 200 IM your body gets tired, but each stroke feels fresh. And Dressel… Read more »
I would agree that 200IM is less endurance based than 200 strokes, and that changing strokes allows you to be more fresh for each stroke because of the different muscle groups required, but calling it “all out” or a sprint is still quite a stretch. If 200IM truly was like a sprint of 4x50s, wouldn’t we see someone like Flo Manadou crush the 200IM? We almost saw that in Michael Andrew, but I would argue it’s because he was good in the 100 of each stroke, not the 50 (although he is good in each 50)
And Dressel’s swim is not a fair comparison imo, it was in SCY so each stroke doesn’t tire you out nearly as much as… Read more »