2024 PRO SWIM SERIES – WESTMONT
- March 6-9, 2024
- FMC Natatorium – Westmont, Illinois
- LCM (50 meters)
- Start Times
- All Prelims: 9 a.m. (Central Time)
- Thurs.-Sat. Finals: 6 p.m. (Central Time)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- How To Watch
- Live Results
- Results also available via Meet Mobile: “2024 TYR Pro Swim Series – Westmont”
- 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
As it turns out, Caeleb Dressel’s block malfunction in the 50 free A Final in Westmont was just the beginning of the errors that would occur during this race. When the swimmers finished the race and looked up at the scoreboard, as did the rest oof the venue, the scoreboard was black.
Turns out, the timing system had failed to activate. In that case, Per the USA Swimming Rulebook, backup stopwatches (operated by human timers) determine the finish order and times of the event. The results were announced over the loudspeaker, with Jack Alexy placing 3rd (21.90), Santo Condorelli placing 2nd (21.87) and Caeleb Dressel placing 1st (21.84). This was a surprise to many on deck because, at first glance, it had looked like Alexy had won in a close race with Dressel.
When you go back and look at the finish, it looks plausible (to me) that either Dressel or Alexy could have won, with Condorelli touching right after both of them. It seems that the results from the touchpads may have been different than the results garnered from the stopwatches, but alas, we will never know.
The fun didn’t stop there, however. Swimmers in the A Final were offered a time trial for a chance to improve their time. Times swum in this time trial would not count towards the official results of the race but they would count for official times. This ‘re-swim’ was contested at the conclusion of the A and B finals. Notably, Jack Alexy swam a 21.86, .04 faster than his official result. Caeleb Dressel and Santo Condorelli did not participate in the re-swim.
See USA Swimming’s statement on the matter below:
During the final of the Men’s 50m freestyle, the automatic timing system failed to activate. As outlined in the USA Swimming Rulebook, backup stopwatches determine the finish order and times when a timing system fails. The finish order and times from the final are official. However, swimmers in the final were offered the opportunity to swim the event again as a time trial at the end of the session for a chance to improve their times. Certification of the times swum in the time trial is pending review by World Aquatics (AQUA).
See full race video below:
There’s a good reason Winter Junior Nationals is not happening at this pool again after the ventilation issues last December. This facility is a comedy of errors.
Michael Andrew is the number one American in 50 free so far this season.
The decking on the bulkhead is basically a slotted piece of plastic that the blocks are bolted to without any reinforcing structure underneath. The deck surface flexes with larger/stronger swimmers, as can be seen in the video. The decking can also soften and develop cracks over time which increases the amount of flex.
As a meet ref, I’ve found “loose” or “spongy” blocks in my pre-meet inspections at some pools, but when I reported them, I was told there was nothing they could do about it.
A timing system failure during the 50 free is an official’s nightmare. We had it happen at the Speedo Sectionals at Gainesville a few years ago. With all the turbulence it’s almost… Read more »
I’ve never been to this facility, but I’m curious what it would take to start the 50s from the start end. Surely, they have a second set of touchpads, so they can race 2 short course pools at the same time. What would it take to hang the touchpads on the bulkhead, and finish there?
These pads are owned by USAS, and used for PSS and national-level meets.
Actually this is only partially true. The top surface is plastic, however there’s a stainless steel structure directly below the plastic surface. The bolts of the blocks go into the stainless. Myrtha bulkheads (FMC) are one of the best in the world, there’s many types. Originally constructed on deck and lowered into the water by two cranes, this is no way a flimsy item. It’s unfortunate what happened, but an isolated event.
I’ll respectively disagree. I’ve worked at Myrtha pools where it felt like a trampoline when you walked over the deck on a bulkhead.
IMO, there should be specific standards for the rigidity of the blocks. I’ve worked at meets where I thought swimmers like Nathan Adrian were going to rip the blocks out of the deck when they started.
The only worse thing are the Omega backstroke wedges which are a huge pain in the a**..
There’s way too much play in those bulkheads when 8 swimmers leap. Thats huge amount of force. And a good deal of it is being absorbed by the bulkhead and block movement therefore robbing the swimmer of some forward acceleration. It’s ok for age groupers. But upper echelon competition should have a rigid/stable structure to start from. I’ve been surprised to see how many high end pools start from bulkheads.
You have to start from bulkheads in long course at most facilities because the bulkheads remain in the pool at all times. There is no place for them to go so the bulkheads move to the end and the blocks are installed on them. Texas is the only pool I know of that lifts the bulkheads out for long course competition. They lift them into the ceiling.
as much as i agree, the issue with the physics of this is that if something is met with a large amount of force, and it doesnt bend at least a little, it will break. as awesome as it would be to have 0 loss of force in your start, it’s really difficult to solve this issue without having to reengineer the bulkhead that already isnt secured into the ground. i remember at the ISL meet in lewisville tx about 5 years back, the swimmers in the 50 free scm started off the main head platform which is anchored into the ground, but then you had 8 world class swimmers all doing flipturns at the same time, which actually moved… Read more »
I’m sure this is a relatively easy fix for a good engineer. Even a less trained one like me could figure it out. It will take bolts and maybe an extra bracket, but given that there is stainless under the blocks, it most certainly can be secured so that eight humans can dive off a rigid surface. It’s worth the investment of time if we TELL the Myrtha people to get the right people on it. Steve Friederang, inventor of rotating swim benches, custom paddles, Smert Towers, etc. My son is an engineer and agrees too. You just goattawanna!:)
If they knew Caeleb was going to be in lane 8, they would have tightened some bolts more.
What is the exact nature of the block “malfunction”? I don’t see it. It looks like all the blocks flex—way too much. This isn’t a malfunction as much as a design defect. The blocks need to be a lot stiffer. And Dressel exerts more force than a normal human being so it’s more obvious that the block isn’t designed to handle that much force. The wedge rebounds, but it doesn’t fail. The entire block collapses.
You can also see the entire bulkhead flex under the force of all the swimmers. These bulkheads aren’t designed to handle torsion and they clearly should be much stiffer. For elite swimmers, this type of bulkhead is absorbing energy and compromising their start. Combined with… Read more »
The wedge wasn’t stable. It is pretty obvious from the video and discussion. I assume they made some adjustment afterwards, but I didn’t see that during the stream while everyone was milling about awaiting the results. If that same block issue occurred at a bigger event, would they need to reswim? You can hear Dressel complaining that his “block broke” immediately afterwards. Of course this was overshadowed by the timing problem, where they can’t even get the finish order correct.
I didn’t notice the entire bulkhead moving initially, but it absolutely does. (Just look at the space between it and the other bulkhead, it’s wobbling around like crazy.)
A few other blocks definitely moved as well, but they’re harder to see because Dressel’s in lane 8 is blocking them, and Dressel’s clearly moves more than the rest. (In the replays on Coleman’s video, I can most clearly see it also happening to lane 5, too.)
Note to self: bet on whoever has Condorelli’s hand timers in a close race
odd that they don’t use plungers or buttons (that are semi-automatic), with the timer only doing the finish. ALL age group, zones and other elite junior meets use them.
If the timing system failed, the backup buttons would be useless.
I’m sure they have them but if the timing system fails to start completely, the buttons can also fail. If the system fails to start counting time at the starting signal, the pads and buttons are both useless. That’s why watches are still the tertiary timing system when pads and buttons are used.
If the system fails to activate, the timing officials are supposed to manually start the timer, so that pads and buttons are activated to capture the Relative Order of Finish even if the times aren’t correct. This is Meet Timing Operations 101. The timing system operator is supposed to look at the console or computer screen at the start and listen for the beeps that indicate a start was captured. If it doesn’t start, he/she is to wait 5-6 seconds (so that the times aren’t plausibly close to a expected finish times and cause commotion at what appear to be crazy-fast times).
Order of Finish is logged (the only thing that really matters) and times are later compiled from watches.
Watches only with these big and fast guys coming to the wall border on useless. Hopefully they captured order of finish?
@VASteve yeah, have you tried OOF with 8 massive humans within .01 amidst a wall of splashing water and with most touches underwater? Not a chance to get it right.
You are correct Sir!
If the system fails to start, yes, you do a manual start so that you get a common start for when you adjust times, and an order of finish. If the system fails though, you may not be able to start it. I don’t know if this is the Omega team or the facility just has an Omega system, but the Omega team is solid. If it is just a facility’s timing system, you’d be amazed at how little most facilities spend on learning how to run a system and how little time they spend on maintaining it properly. That is why a lot of big meets bring in Omega and Colorado to run timing at their meets. At certain… Read more »
For PSS meets, USAS brings in their own Omega system and operators. Omega SHOULD have a manual start feature in case the start doesn’t activate the timer. If it doesn’t, that’s a major oversight. I can’t imagine that’s the case.
In almost every other meet from the Futures level down (Futures-Sectionals-Zones-LSC-HS State, etc), Colorado (~ 95%) or Daktronics is used. Admin refs SHOULD be trained to watch for the start and immediately look at the console or computer interface to see if it was captured. If not, there’s a soft key on the console or a button on the computer screen that is clicked after 5-6 seconds and the meet ref is radioed immediately. Also, the pads and buttons… Read more »
I have a full understanding of how meets work at all levels. Also have experienced different reasons for why a system didn’t start. I might misunderstand you, but you seem to imply a failure on the part of the timing console operator and also possibly the admin (assuming the admin wasn’t preoccupied with something and was actively watching this particular race). All I’m suggesting is that it’s possible that they did what they could and there was a system failure, not just a failure at the start. And while we all make mistakes on occasion, my experience with the Omega team USA Swimming contracts with is that they are very good and don’t make mistakes often.
If it completely failed, right. But I have worked many meets where the pads failed but the buttons still worked. I was not there so unaware that was the situation. Thanks.
In the race video, the time in the lower corner of the frame never starts running, reads 0.0 for the whole swim, so it sure seems like the timing system failed to start.
Also, I think this LCM 50 was swum “backwards” — from the bulkhead blocks to the usual start end, where the pads are. I wonder if the turn-end blocks don’t get as much attention and maintenance as the start end blocks.
They did use plungers , 2 per lane