Watch Kate Douglass Tie Simone Manuel’s 22.04 50 Free NAG at Winter Junior Champs-East (Race Video)

2016 U.S. Winter Junior Championships – East

Barely 15 years old, Kate Douglass has already risen to the top of the charts for 15-16 girls in the 50 free. Swimming in the final at the U.S. Winter Junior Championships-East in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday night, Douglass blasted a 22.04 to tie Simone Manuel‘s 2013 national age group record in the event. As reported by Karl Ortegon earlier tonight (you can read the article here):

It’s been a night full of national records, as Westchester Aquatic Club’s Kate Douglass tied the 50 free 15-16 NAG shortly after Drew Kibler smashed the 500 free 15-16 NAG. Douglass tonight won the national title in Columbus with a 22.04, taking almost two tenths off of her previous best of 22.21. She finished a solid four tenths ahead of 2nd place Isabel Ivey of Gator Swim Club.

Douglass made waves in early November, breaking Dara Torres‘ 13-14 NAG record that had stood since 1982. She broke that mark with a 22.32 at the NY Section 1 Championships, right before she turned 15. She went on to improve her best time at the NY State Championships, though she had aged up and couldn’t lower her 13-14 record. Douglass popped a 22.43 this morning, and then really dropped the hammer tonight with an incredible 22.04. With almost two full years left in the age group, she could take the 15-16 record sailing past the 22-second barrier.

Event 9 Women 50 Yard Freestyle

  1. Kate Douglass 15 Westchester Aquatic Club 22.04
  2. Isabel Ivey 16 Gator Swim Club 22.44
  3. Grace Countie 17 Marlins of Raleigh 22.54
  4. Talia Bates 15 Gator Swim Club 22.64
  5. Morgan Tankersley 17 Greater Tampa 22.70
  6. Miranda Donley 17 Ohio State Swim 22.80
  7. Kaitlyn Schorr 17 Southwest Stars 22.81
  8. — Alexandra Walsh 15 Nashville Aquatic Club DQ

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bobo gigi
7 years ago

Impressive.
Kate Douglass scratched the 200 IM final to focus on the 50. Smart decision. Fresh = a monster swim. She just turned 15 and already ties Simone’s 15/16 NAG record. Crazy.
Amazing natural talent. I agree with Caleb. It looks effortless. She has a great feeling with the water. That kind of things isn’t something that you can teach.
I have begun to watch her when she was a breaststroker and in the last 2 years she has become a sprint champion. Looks like she has not still given up breaststroke. We’ll see if swims the 200 breast this week but don’t forget she’s already in 2.10. Jessica Hardy was a 50 free/100 free/50 breast/100 breast… Read more »

completelyconquered
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

It’s a good thing nobody told Michael Phelps to just specialize in butterfly.

Attila the Hunt
Reply to  completelyconquered
7 years ago

Or Hosszu, or Lochte, or Coughlin, or Caulkins, or Egerszegi, or Trickett, or Hagino, or MIssy, or Oleksiak, or Coutts, or Sjostrom, or Klochkova, or Jedrecjak, or De Bruijn, etc etc.

Bobo, Kate Douglass has just turned 15(!), let her explore whichever events she enjoys the most and deliver best results. This is the the beginning of the next four years of Olympics cycle, and the best time for young swimmers to experiment and swim as many events.
Naturally they will narrow down their focus on their best events leading to world and/or Olympics trials.

After all, this is just a regional winter junior, not the Olympics.

Do you know how many events Phelps, Thorpe, Coughlin etc swam… Read more »

hswimmer
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

Why would she give up breaststroke??? She can be good at both lol.

Attila the Hunt
Reply to  bobo gigi
7 years ago

Being “Fresh” does not always translate to monster swims.

Here’s a quiz for you:

Who was the freshest between Cate Campbell, Penny Oleksiak, Simone Manuel, and Sarah Sjostrom when they were on the starting block of the 100 free final in Rio.

And who had the worst results of those group?

sergey v
7 years ago

Amazing talent.

Judging by how she swims, I think she can make the transition to LCM quite well, unlike Hoffer for example.

SwimGeek
Reply to  sergey v
7 years ago

I agree. Her stroke is long and easy. Not a super high tempo for a 50 free. She doesn’t rely on underwater kicking much at all. She’s going to be a force in long course swimming.

Curious Jorge
7 years ago

1 breath?

Hswimmer
7 years ago

The announcer doesn’t even acknowledge that she tied the record or say anything so the crowd knows. Who hires these people? I’d honestly love to announce and have all the stats beside me so I know to tell everyone history has been made.

Caleb
7 years ago

You never know, but I think this girl is going to be destroying world records… she looks like a little age-grouper next to the rest of the field, she has no underwaters and yet she destroys an impressive field and ties the AG record of an Olympic gold medalist. I don’t see how she can possibly move that much water but she’s just plain fast, like Anthony Ervin. When she grows into her adult body she is going to be unstoppable.

Swimgeek
Reply to  Caleb
1 year ago

You are correct, sir!

SwimGeek
7 years ago

Between Douglass’s 22.04 and Hoffer’s 18.71 — lots of incredible 18-under sprinting tonight!

coacherik
Reply to  SwimGeek
7 years ago

Can’t decide which one is more impressive.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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