At US Nationals, Who Will Emerge In The Men’s 1500?

Photo Courtesy: Matt Rubel of Rubel Photography

The men’s 1500 free is one of the most wide open races on the schedule next week at the Phillips 66 US National Championships in Indianapolis. Both Connor Jaeger and Jordan Wilimovsky, the United States’ two Olympic qualifiers in the event last summer, won’t be competing in Indy, leaving the door wide open for rookies to have a shot at the qualifying for the Worlds team.

Jaeger, who just recently proposed to his girlfriend, retired back in October, while Wilimovsky is skipping the event to focus on the his open water events this summer. Wilimovsky has already qualified for World in the 10k, an event where he is the defending world champion. So with those two would-be favorites out of the race, who can we expect to see emerge and qualify for a chance to swim the event in Budapest?

The top seed in the event is rising Stanford sophomore True Sweetser, who has been a member of the US National Team courtesy of his 15:04.52 from the 2016 US Open. While he had a rough Olympic Trials last summer that saw him finish outside of the top 8 in the mile, he was able to represent the United States at Short Course Worlds in December and make the championship final in the 1500, where he finished sixth. He is also a part of Stanford’s distance trio of himself, Liam Egan, and Grant Shoults, a great training group that has to give him some confidence heading into this meet.

Photo Courtesy: Chuckarelei/Pac-12

With the national and international experience that is under his belt, Sweetser seems poised to make the jump to be part of the next generation of American distance swimmers. But right there with him should be PJ Ransford (University of Michigan) and Chris Wieser (Davis Aquatics), both NCAA All-Americans in this event and the highest placing returners from last summer’s Olympic Trials. They will be into the meet seeded 3rd and 4th respectively.

The last name to keep an eye on will be Saint Petersburg Robert Finke, who is going into the meet as the second seed in 15:05.29. While the 17-year old is one of the youngest in the field, he did make the championship final in the 1500 last summer. Finke most recently dropped an incredible 14:37.71 back in February that put him just 3 seconds off of PJ Ransford’s 17-18 NAG record, hinting that he may be getting ready for a huge long course drop.

You can view the full psych sheet for the Phillips 66 US National Championships here.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use