Zane Grothe Crushes his 2nd American, U.S. Open Record This Week

2017 U.S. WINTER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Zane Grothe has destroyed another American, U.S. Open, and Championship Record at the 2017 U.S. Winter National Championships.  in the men’s 1650 yard freestyle. Grothe swam 14:18.25 on Saturday in the fastest heat of the timed final. That won the race by more than 25 seconds, and cut over 4 seconds from the old fastest-ever swim that was done by Clark Smith at last year’s NCAA Championship meet in 14:22.41.

Smith also held the 500 free record that Grothe broke by more than a second earlier in the meet.

From the start, it was clear that Grothe was going after the record. He already was more than a full second ahead of record pace by the 150 yard turn, and he continued to build from there. While he gave back some time on the record over the last 250 yards after an early aggressive effort, by then he was already 6 seconds ahead of record pace and had room to give.

Comparative Splits, by 100:

Old Record New Record
Clark Smith Zane Grothe
2017 NCAA Championships 2017 Winter Nationals
49.78 48.93
52.30 51.80
52.88 52.05
52.82 52.34
53.01 52.29
53.07 52.45
52.70 52.66
52.86 52.69
52.92 52.53
52.71 52.73
52.63 52.39
52.71 52.55
53.00 52.14
52.54 52.20
51.65 52.34
51.08 51.88
23.75 24.28

Grothe’s swim also broke the previous Meet Record held by Connor Jaeger in 14:23.52 at the 2014 Winter Nationals.

Grothe’s previous best time was a 14:29.05 that he swam at an LSC championship in February. Before that, his best time came when he was just 19 – a 14:37 done at the 2012 NCAA Championships after his sophomore season.

That swim from Grothe bumps Sebastian Rouault out of the list of the top 10 performers (and performances) of all time – those two lists are identical.

TOP 10 PERFORMERS
Place Swimmer Time
1 Zane Grothe 14:18.25
2 Clark Smith 14:22.41
3 Felix Auboeck 14:22.88
4 Akaram Mahmoud 14:22.99
5 Jordan Wilimovsky 14:23.45
6 Connor Jaeger 14:23.52
7 Martin Grodzski 14:24.08
8 Chad La Tourette 14:24.35
9 Chris Thompson 14:26.62
10 Larsen Jensen 14:26.70

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Los Bigotes
6 years ago

What a great picture! And is that Marwan in the background?!?! Good to see those boys together. Marwan has also come a long way thanks to his roommate Joe Lane!

swimfish87
6 years ago

video video!

Fike Swim
6 years ago

Yeah Zane, awesome race!

gregor
6 years ago

The world scm record is 14.08 so he is ten seconds off that in yards!

SVIRD
Reply to  gregor
6 years ago

14.08 for the 1500 SCM. What’s your point? That’s a completely different race than 1650 scy.

Caleb
Reply to  SVIRD
6 years ago

i’d say it’s about as close as you can get without being the same race!

amazing
6 years ago

omg!!!!!

SVIRD
6 years ago

ALL ABOARD THE ZANE TRAIN

SVIRD
Reply to  SVIRD
6 years ago

HE’S IN-ZANE

samuel huntington
6 years ago

would like to see Grothe have a big swim in LC now

Carlo
Reply to  samuel huntington
6 years ago

I agree. Would like to see him get a big swim in LC now. Even if he doesn’t get another Olympic chance, a massive time drop or even a world record in either the 400, 800 or 1500 free will be specacular.

Uberfan
Reply to  Carlo
6 years ago

Okay Grothe has had an amazing year and is an amazing swimmer. But he is nowhere near world record level in the 1500 or 800.

Person
Reply to  Carlo
6 years ago

The 800 record is insane, and he hasn’t really shown that level of 1500, but with his progression at this meet he may have the slightest chance at the 400. Still a long way to go, but possible.

N P
Reply to  Person
6 years ago

Although I think it really remains to be seen if Grothe has what it takes to get any of these records – which he might well have, especially given his recent progression – I think it is fair to say that the 400 would be his best chance.

I would argue that the 400 record is probably the weakest (thought by no means super weak as records go) out of all the freestyle records at this point. Thorpe went 3:40.08 back in ’02, and then Biedermann clipped it by 0.01 in the rubber suit. Sun Yang was 3:40.14 in London. My point is that I think this record would’ve gone down several years ago, except that this race is almost… Read more »

Dman
Reply to  Person
6 years ago

That men’s 800 Free record 7:32.12 is by far the toughest of all world records, men or women. It’s quite possible it won’t be toppled for another 40 or 50 years. It’s two 3:46 flat 400’s back to back – good luck with that. Esp. without the 2009 suit boost plus other “help” that Zhang might have had.

Carlo
6 years ago

Zane grothe and Katie ledecky should get in the water and battle it out. Give her a 25 yard headstart.
I think he can go 4:06 in the 500 yard free.He now has two of Clark smith,s records. Now only the 1000 yard free is left. What was his 1000 split?

dcswim
Reply to  Carlo
6 years ago

8:40.47
Wicked fast. He could definitely get the 1000 record if he wanted

Joe Swimmer
Reply to  Carlo
6 years ago

Grothe is 45 sec faster than Ledecky in the 1650. To make it competitive, Katie would need a 75 yd head start.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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