2017 arena Pro Swim Series Indianapolis Day 1 Prelims: Nathan Adrian Returns

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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The first morning of prelims action at the arena Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis featured competition in four events per gender: the 100 free, 200 breast, 100 fly and 400 free. Among the highlights from the session, Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian returned to competition for the first time since the Olympics in Rio and qualified first in the men’s 100 free.

Read below for a full recap of the action.

Women’s 100 free

China’s Zhu Menghui finished atop the field in the first event of the meet, touching in a time of 54.31 to earn lane four for the final. Finishing second was Louisville’s Mallory Comerford, who posted a lifetime best time of 54.40, and just behind were two Olympic gold medalists, Canada’s Penny Oleksiak and Italy’s Federica Pellegrini.

Oleksiak finished in 54.50, and Pellegrini posted a time of 54.65. Another Canadian, Sandrine Mainville, finished fifth in 54.70, and 15-year-old Briton Freya Anderson was the final swimmer to break 55, touching in 54.98.

Cardinal’s Kelsi Worrell finished seventh in 55.49, and Canada’s Kayla Sanchez, also 15, earned the last spot in the A-final with her 55.58.

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Men’s 100 free

Cal’s Nathan Adrian competed for the first time since the Olympic Games, and he cruised into the finish for the top seed in his signature event. Adrian touched in 49.32 to easily top the prelims field, more than three tenths ahead of Indiana’s Ali Khalafalla, who qualified second in 49.68.

Tying for the third seed were Cardinal’s Joao de Lucca and Brazil’s Bruno Fratus, both of whom touched in 49.75. Great Britain’s Duncan Scott, an Olympic finalist in the 100 free, qualified fifth in 49.77.

Italy’s Luca Dotto finished sixth in 49.81, and another Italian, 2005 and 2007 World Champion Filippo Magnini, tied with Cal’s Jacob Pebley for seventh as both posted times of 49.85.

Notably, Brazil’s Marcelo Cherighini (49.92) and Trojan’s Vladimir Morozov (49.96) just missed out on the A-final.

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Women’s 200 breast

Breeja Larson posted the top seed in the 200 breast with her time of 2:27.09. Representing New York Athletic Club, Larson came in just ahead of a trio of British swimmers: Chloe Tutton (2:27.26), Mary-Sophie Harvey (2:28.44) and Short Course World Champion Molly Renshaw (2:28.47).

St. Petersburg’s Melanie Margalis finished fifth in 2:28.51, and Club Wolverine’s Miranda Tucker finished sixth in 2:28.87. Beside Margalis in lane one will be another U.S. Olympian, Tennessee’s Molly Hannis (2:29.38), and Iceland’s Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir finished eighth in 2:29.46.

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Men’s 200 breast

Athens Bulldog’s Nic Fink posted the only time under 2:12 in the prelims of the men’s 200 breast as he touched in 2:12.59. He will be bracketed in the final by the two men who represented the U.S. in the 100 breast at the Olympic Games as Kevin Cordes qualified second in 2:12.59 and Badger’s Cody Miller third in 2:13.49.

Italy’s Luca Pizzini touched out American record-holder Josh Prenot in the final heat, finishing in 2:13.72 for the fourth seed, while Prenot goes into the final in fifth after the former Cal swimmer posted a time of 2:13.82.

Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch (2:14.87) and Andrew Willis (2:16.47) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, and Miguel De Lara Ojeda was eighth in 2:16.84.

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Women’s 100 fly

Cardinal’s Kelsi Worrell blasted a 58.34 in heat 10 of the 100 fly, and with top seed and Olympic silver medalist Penny Oleksiak not competing in the race, no one came close to topping that time in the final heat, securing lane four for Worrell.

More than a second behind was Trojan’s Kendyl Stewart, who qualified second in 59.41, and third went to Germany’s Aliena Schmidtke in 59.67.

Nation’s Capital’s Cassidy Bayer qualified fourth in 59.92, one one-hundredth ahead of a fifth-place tie between China’s Lin Xintong and Great Britain’s Rebecca Smith, both of whom touched in 59.93. Athens Bulldog’s Hali Flickinger finished seventh in 1:00.38, and Canada’s Katerine Savard took eighth in 1:00.38.

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Men’s 100 fly

China’s Li Zhuhao blasted a quick time of 51.95 to lead prelims of the men’s 100 fly by almost two seconds. Still, it should be more of a race in the final as he will be surrounded by much together competition who cruised through the heats into the championship final.

Japan’s Daiya Seto qualified second in 53.71, followed by Race Pace’s Michael Andrew in 54.09. City of Plano’s Seth Stubblefield finished fourth in 54.50, and SwimMAC’s Tim Phillips was fifth in 54.54.

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Andrew Abruzzo picked up the sixth seed with his time of 54.64, and the last two men into the final were Camo Natacion’s Owen Daly (54.74) and Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (54.82).

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Women’s 400 free

Athens Bulldog’s Hali Flickinger got into her first A-final of the evening when she topped prelims of the 400 free with her time of 4:10.61. Training partner Melanie Margalis, representing St. Petersburg, finished just behind at 4:11.06, and British Olympic silver medalist Jazmin Carlin qualified third in 4:12.27.

Argentina’s Delfine Pignatiello (4:13.14), Vien Nguyen (4:13.37) and Japan’s Aya Takano (4:13.59) finished fourth through sixth, respectively, and North Carolina Aquatic Club’s Ashley Twichell (4:16.88) and Carmel’s Emma Nordin (4:18.32) also got into the final.

Interestingly, Great Britain’s Hannah Miley finished ninth for the second time in the session, touching in 4:18.48 to just miss out on a spot in the final. Earlier, she had finished in the exact same position with a 2:30.17 in the 200 breast.

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Men’s 400 free

Five British swimmers made the eight-man final, but the top seed is 17-year-old Andrew Abruzzo from Plymouth Whitemarsh Swim Club. After qualifying for the final of the 100 fly less than an hour earlier, Abruzzo posted a time of 3:51.01 to claim lane four for the evening’s last championship final.

Surrounding him in the middle lanes will be Britons Stephen Milne (3:51.79), Max Litchfield and World Championships silver medalist James Guy (3:52.81). Badger’s Zane Grothe qualified fifth in 3:53.01, and he turned out to be the only other American to make the top eight.

Great Britain’s Timothy Shuttleworth (3:35.13) qualified sixth, followed by his countryman Nicholas Grainger (3:53.94) and Japan’s Fumiya Hidaka (3:56.62).

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Full results

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