2021 SPEEDO SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS – IRVINE
- August 3-7
- William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, Irvine, CA
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Website (USA Swimming)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Stream (USA Swimming)
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
Teagan O’Dell of Irvine Novaquatics started off the first finals session of the Summer Championships in Irvine with a bang, blasting a 55.82 100 meter freestyle to rank herself as the 5th all-time fastest 13-14-year-old in the event.
Three out of the four swimmers ranked ahead of her are now Olympic medalists while Erika Pelaez posted a 55.51 in March to become one of the youngest U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II qualifiers.
All-Time Top 5 100 LCM Free Times in 13-14 Age Group in the U.S.
- 54.03 – Missy Franklin (2009)
- 55.00 – Lia Neal (2009)
- 55.51 – Taylor Ruck (2015)
- 55.51 – Erika Pelaez (2021)
- 55.82 – Teagan O’Dell (2021)
She took out the race in 27.27 and came back on the last 50 meters in 28.55.
O’Dell dropped a total of .83 from her lifetime best time going into this meet from the Mission Viejo Summer Junior Olympics about a week ago.
Her previous best time going into this meet was a 56.65 from a relay lead-off start.
This morning during prelims, O’Dell tied Simone Manuel for #14 all-time in the 13-14 age group with a time of 56.34.
She has made rapid time drops in this event over the past few months:
- Nov. 2019: 58.33 at Kevin Perry Invite (then a career-best)
- May 2021: 57.45 & 57.20 at CA Grand Challenge
- June 2021: 57.19 & 56.99 & 56.72 at Fran Crippen SMOC
- July 2021: 56.65 at MVN Summer Junior Olympics
- August 2021: 56.34 at West Summer Championships
- August 2021: 55.82 at West Summer Championships
In the time span of three months, O’Dell has dropped from a 57.45 in May to a 55.82 in early August.
Finals’ session replay here
https://livestream.com/usaswimming/events/9777409/videos/224412382
Teagan O’Dell’s race is at 51 minutes in the video.
She’s good in sprint freestyle, in IM races, on backstroke. Impressive versatility. Too early to tell if her future will lean more towards sprint freestyle or IM. But I’ve read in an interview that she looked up to Katinka Hosszu. So it’s clear that she wants to be the best she can in all strokes.
Teagan has speed in all strokes and both at the 100 and 200 events. She can even put up some solid 400/500 free times. Definitely a threat at all levels! Heard she has had to lay off breaststroke recently because she grew and was having knee issues.
Hopefully USA swimming quickly posts all the finals of these summer championships on its youtube channel.
I think both Missy and Lia’s times of 2009 were made in magical suits. It was at US junior nationals.