Video: Yannick Agnel Smokes 200 Free Final in Austin

Jul 30, 2012; London, United Kingdom; Yannick Agnel (FRA) poses with his gold medal after winning the men's 200m freestyle finals during the London 2012 Olympic Games at Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

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AUSTIN, Texas, January 19. AFTER jumping out to an amazing 51.07 opening split, French star Yannick Agnel, who swims for NBAC in the States now, crushed a strong field with a sizzling 1:45.76 in the men’s 200-meter free at the Arena Grand Prix in Austin.

The Olympic gold medalist finished just half-a-second off his in-season best of 1:45.24 from the Canet International Meet back in June of 2012, which was his goal this evening. The win is Agnel’s second of the meet after a triumph in the 400 free with a 3:49.78.

Agnel’s training partner Matt McLean chased down silver with a time of 1:48.94, two seconds off his preliminary time, and a second off his in-season best of 1:48.02 from the 2012 Austin stop of the Grand Prix here in Texas.

NBAC went 1-2-3 in the finale as Ous Mellouli, fresh off a podium in the 400 IM, took bronze with a 1:50.13 this evening.

Club Wolverine’s Michael Klueh (1:50.80), California’s Tom Shields (1:51.12), The Woodlands’ Michael McBroom (1:51.42), Canada’s Stefan Milosevic (1:51.56) and California’s Jeremy Bagshaw (1:52.51) also vied for the individual title this evening.

In his return meet to his old stomping grounds, Texas-Ex Dax Hill, now swimming with the post-grad program at SwimMAC, took the B final with a time of 1:50.80. That’s a bit outside his top times ever, which are in the 1:48 to 1:49 range, and demonstrates that Hill is rounding into form.

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