The 8 Most Interesting Long Course U.S. Open Records

The hype of US Open records usually surrounds short-course events considering that Americans are the only swimmers to compete in short-course yards, a US Open record is the equivalent to a world record in the short-course yards pool.

This past weekend at the Arena Pro Swim Series Charlotte, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary broke a long-course US Open record in the 200m IM with her winning time of 2:08.66. Incredibly, that was the fastest time ever done on American soil.

The Americans usually don’t host major international competitions for swimming, which goes to show that most of the American records were not set on American soil.

With that being said, it leaves some very interesting times in the US Open record books. Below, we’ve looked at some of the most surprising US Open records in the books, and what they mean historically to the sport of swimming.

Women’s US Open records (LCM)

Men’s US Open records (LCM) 

To see our entire records page complete with world, national, US open, and age-group, click here

100 FREE – JASON LEZAK – 47.58 – 2008 OLYMPIC TRIALS

Jason Lezak was the king of American sprinting for some time. He’ll always be best remembered his heroic 46.06 anchor leg on the 4x100m freestyle relay in Beijing, however individually he was a threat to be reckoned with as well.

Prior to taking bronze in the 100m freestyle in Beijing individually, Lezak swam at the 2008 Olympic trials in order to qualify for the team.

In the prelim heats, Jason Lezak finished third behind both Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale. Those two both went under his US Open and American record of 48.17 from 2004 becoming the first two Americans under the 48-second barrier.

Phelps didn’t swim the semi-finals, and Lezak took advantage of that. He absolutely demolished Weber-Gale’s new American record in the event with a 47.58.

He finished second in finals with a 48.05, however his US Open and American record still stood. His American record has since been broken, but his semi-finals performance still remains the fastest ever time on American soil.

2008 U.S Olympic Trials results. 

1500 FREE – PETER VANDERKAAY – 14:45.54 – 2008 OLYMPIC TRIALS

Peter Vanderkaay, known as the absolute definition of a grinder for all the hard work he put in at Michigan, has won all of his Olympic and World Championship medals (9 of them in all) swimming the 200 and 400 freestyles. Towards the end of his career, however, his 1500 showed huge improvements, as sort of the tail end of an era of male distance swimming in the United States that is only now starting to revive with the likes of Connor Jaeger.

Vanderkaay will go down as one of the most crucial components to the American 4×200 freestyle relay in the history of the sport.

Prior to making the team in 2008, Vanderkaay already had multiple golds from international competitions for swimming on the relays, despite not making any individual international medals at this point in his career.

At the 2008 Olympic Trials, though, he won the 1500 free over Larsen Jensen to claim gold with a new US Open record of 14:45.54, and was just off Jensen’s American record of 14:45.29. Vanderkaay’s swim still stands as the second-fastest ever by an American.

When he moved on to those 2008 Olympic Games, Vanderkaay earned himself a bronze in the 200m freestyle, but failed to even qualify for the 1500 final with an 11th place finish in the heats. That led many to forget his 1500 from a month earlier that stands as one of the best distance swims in American men’s history.

50 BREAST – BRENDAN MCHUGH – 27.10 – 2014 U.S NATIONALS

Since the Brendan Hansen breaststroke era there hasn’t been one American breaststroker who has truly taken up the reins and taken control of the events on the American scene.

In 2009 Eric Shanteau and Mark Gangloff stepped up. They were the go-to-guys in 2010 as well. They fell off the scene  in 2011, and Hansen came back in 2012 to regain his position in the 100.

Kevin Cordes has been solid in 2013 and 2014 in long course and spectacular in short course, but he hasn’t owned the events internationally the way Hansen did. A lot of people would believe that Cordes, Shanteau, Gangloff, or Hansen might hold the U.S Open record in the 50m breaststroke, but it was actually broken last summer by Brendan McHugh.

Last summer, at the 2014 U.S. National Championships, McHugh swam a 27.10 in the prelims of the 50m breaststroke to break the U.S Open record – and before that, the holders was another surprising name, Kevin Steel.

He ended up winning the event in a time of 27.24 to earn a spot on this year’s World Championships team.

50 FLY – BRYAN LUNDQUIST  22.91 – USA SWIMMING SECTIONALS 2009

Butterfly in the states has been the Michael Phelps story since 2001. There have been some fantastic flyers in the states as well. Ian Crocker is arguably one of the best 100 flyers in the history of the sport with his textile 50.40 from the 2005 World Championships in Montreal.

There’s Tom Malchow who was just finishing up his dominance in the 200 fly when Phelps hurtled onto the scene. In most recent years, there’s been Tom Shields who was so dominant in short-course yards and finally last summer transferred his success to long-course meters by winning the 100 and 200 flys at U.S. Nationals.

With the amount of American, World, an US Open records held between these guys, it’s hard to imagine that one of them doesn’t hold the 50m fly record. Although it isn’t a priority by any means on the American program, it’s still quite shocking.

The record is held by Bryan Lundquist at 22.91. Lundquist swam this at the 2009 USA Swimming Sectionals in Tennessee. Lundquist has sort of a history of swimming on records that fly under-the-radar (pun absolutely intended) – in 2008, he was a part of the American relay that broke the World Record in the 400 free relay.

50 FLY – DARA TORRES – 25.50 – 2009 U.S NATIONALS

Dara Torres has had one of those careers that is just unimaginable to some. It spanned a total of five Olympic Games between 1984 and 2008, across which time she was incredibly dominant in the sprint freestyles.

What is not as well remembered, especially by the younger generation that remembers her as “that really fast mom,” is that Torres was also a fantastic flyer. She even earned an individual Olympic medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she placed third behind Inge De Bruijn and Martina Moravcova in the event with a time of 58.20.

After the 2000 Olympics Torres retired, but she came back in 2008 to claim silver in the 50m freestyle by just 0.01 seconds at the Beijing Olympics.

She continued swimming and qualified for her first World Championships team since 1996. In fact, Torres only swam at two World Championships (1986 and 2009), earning just one medal: a silver in the 1986 4×100 freestyle relay.

In order to qualify for the team, Torres won the 50m free at the 2009 US Nationals and rocked a 25.50 in the 50 fly to set a new US Open record.

200 FLY – MARY T. MEAGHER – 2:05.96 – 1981 U.S NATIONALS

Yes, you read that right, this record was set at the 1981 US Nationals – an era that is almost unfathomable to imagine. The 2:05.96 that Mary T. Meagher swam at the 1981 US Nationals was a legendary mark that stood as the world record until May of 2000.

Meagher’s time still stands as the US Open record and is the oldest in the books by 21 years. The second-oldest record is the short-course 100m backstroke record of 49.97 set by Natalie Coughlin at the 2002 NCAA Championships.

The closest long-course records to Meagher’s were all set in 2008, 27-years after she swam her 2:05.96.

Meagher also owned the 100m fly world record which she set in 1980. That record lasted for a long time as well, until 1999 when Jenny Thompson to finally downed her mark.

Meagher is undoubedtly one of the best butterfly swimmers in history based on the longevity of her records. She won both butterfly events at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and if it weren’t for the 1980 boycott, likely would have won both events there as well.

50/100 FREE – CATE CAMPBELL – 24.13/53.30 – 2008 SANTA CLARA GP

After 2008 and even 2009, the Grand Prix meets, now called the Arena Pro Swim Series, have lost their luster in the sense that you’ll hardly ever see anything close to a world record, US Open record, or national record anymore (Katinka Hosszu’s recent swim not-withstanding). In fact, among certain circles of swimming, there’s almost a shun placed upon swimming an all-time great swim outside of “a meet that matters,” as determined by the collective groupthink.

In their glory years, the Santa Clara stop on what was then the Grand Prix circuit proved to be one of the fastest. Several swimmers have set world records there including Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz.

One of the last records to be broken at a Grand Prix meet proved to be the US Open records in the 50 and 100 freestyles. In 2008, just barely past her 16th birthday, Australian teen Cate Campbell dropped some very fast times. In the 50 she was a 24.13, in the 100 a 53.30.

Following that meet Campbell had all sorts of injuries and illness that caused her to recede from the focus of the swimming world, but has since come back to become the world’s best female sprinter. These records stand as a reminder of the dominance that was shown more on a regular basis at meets around the world. With the sport clearly evolving, it’s more of a rarity to see performances like these outside a national championships or international meets in today’s sport.

 

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TGregory
8 years ago

I just watched a video of Mary T’s 1981 200 fly at Brown Deer. I saw the race in person, but I doubted M. Palota’s statement above that Meagher didn’t wear goggles, but M. Palota was right! Everybody was wearing goggles by 1981,but Mary T. must not have wanted to worry about losing them when she dove in. She was out in 29.31. The announcers didn’t give her 100 split. She was 1:33.69 at the 150, and literally flew home that last 50, though never losing rhythm. I figure she must have been 1:01 plus at the 100. She said she purposely went out a little slower, to have plenty left for the end. The 2:05.96 was only .41 faster… Read more »

frankyrinpoche
8 years ago

Regarding the 50 fly and breast records, does anyone of you guys know what the records before were? Basically I am just asking because both those records were made in 2009 (supersuit era). I don’t want to diminish the performance or anything. I am just curious…

Tilldt
Reply to  frankyrinpoche
8 years ago

McHughs 50br was not 2009. It was last summer

floppy
8 years ago

Some of the most interesting U.S. Open records are in short course.

Natalie Coughlin, 49.97 100 back. One of the only records to survive the suit era. Won NCAAs by THREE SECONDS.

Erik Vendt, 8:36 1,000 free. I believe nobody has yet to get within 5 seconds of it.

Katie Hoff, 9:10 1,000 free. Her record has withstood Ledecky, still! Beforehand, the distance records were all Janet Evans: 4:34, 9:24, 15:37. She (and Zeigler) dropped them to 4:30, 9:10, and 15:24.

Austin Staab, 44.18 fly. An enigma of swimming who never even tried for the Olympics. Took NO breaths the last lap. Crocker, Phelps, Shields… nope, the record is still Staab.

Simon Burnett, 1:31.20 free. Also withstood the suit era.… Read more »

PK
Reply to  floppy
8 years ago

I’ll repeat my favorite stat about the Coughlin swim: no one else in that final would have *qualified* for the 2015 Women’s NCAA meet.

Mohsin
8 years ago

For some reason I’ve only just realised that Lezak’s 47.58 made him (at the time) the 2nd or 3rd fastest ever in the 100 freestyle, some achievement for a 32 year old! And to think he managed to drop 1.52 seconds off of this time for *that* relay split.

luigi
Reply to  Mohsin
8 years ago

Magical suit record … not impressed.

PK
8 years ago

That PVK mile record was one of the more shocking results of my lifetime. Not because I was surprised that PVK swam so well-he was clearly one of the best 200-400 freestylers in the US at that point. I just remember how great Vendt looked in the 200 and 400 earlier in the meet and how he always seemed to get better the longer he went, and then he just did not have it in the mile. The Olympics and Olympics trials especially just remain unfathomably difficult endeavors because you have to be exactly right on the exact day.

floppy
Reply to  PK
8 years ago

Vendt was really good in prelims – sub-14:50 if I recall.

PK
Reply to  floppy
8 years ago

14:50.24 in prelims. 15:07 at finals.

Pvk
8 years ago

Jason Lezak…the ultimate American hero

Swimmer A
8 years ago

I think you could definitely put Ledecky’s US Open record (and American and World Record) in the 800 free last June on this list. I know we’re all numb to seeing her throw down crazy swims every time she races, but breaking a world record at a local Texas meet in June is about the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard of… we’re just kind of used to it by now.

Also that 8:11.00 still stands as the WR. She broke the WR in the 1500 there as well in 15:34.23, but then beat that by 6 seconds only two months later at Pan Pacs.

weirdo
8 years ago

By far the one that stands out over all the others is Mary T’s 200 fly record. It withstood the suit era and one can’t imagine what she would have gone in a tech suit these ladies are currently wearing instead of her practice suit.

Lane Four
Reply to  weirdo
8 years ago

It boggles the mind to consider what T. and Janet Evans could have done with today’s technology. And to a degree, Mark Spitz.

M Palota
Reply to  weirdo
8 years ago

Could not agree more. She went 2:05 without goggles, without a dome cap and in an old-school Lycra paper suit!

A truly “Beamon-esque” record. If I’m not mistaken, she’d have finaled in the men’s 200 ‘fly that year.

I really do believe that the 200 ‘fly Mary T did in Deer Park is the greatest swim of all time and is one of the greatest achievements in any sport ever done.

Danjohnrob
Reply to  M Palota
8 years ago

I know you meant Brown Deer, WI, where US LC Nationals were held in 1981; I went to high school in the town neighboring Deer Park, which is in NY! 😉

M Palota
Reply to  Danjohnrob
8 years ago

Thanks for the correction!

Lane Four
Reply to  M Palota
8 years ago

Her 100 fly record (at the time was) the one that got more attention than the 200. To take the record from a 59.4 to a 57.9 was a jaw dropping moment in swimming history. Even T. was shocked with that swim. The 200 you knew was coming since she took about a 1/2 second off her world record. But that 100 race was the one which had the entire swimming world buzzing for a long long time.

About Mitch Bowmile

Mitch Bowmile

Mitch worked for 5-years with SwimSwam news as a web producer focusing on both Canadian and international content. He coached for Toronto Swim Club for four seasons as a senior coach focusing on the development of young swimmers. Mitch is an NCCP level 2 certified coach in Canada and an ASCA Level …

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