5 Things We Learned About Team USA this Weekend in Charlotte and Atlanta

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Editorial Coverage provided by

By David Rieder

It’s safe to say that the 2015 FINA World Championships will not be remembered as USA Swimming’s finest hour. The traditionally-dominant Americans won just eight gold medals in 40 pool events after winning 14 at the previous global showcase in Barcelona in 2013. It was their lowest total since winning just four at the 1994 World Championships in Rome.

And things could have been even worse if not for Katie Ledecky, who accounted for five of those eight golds as she swept the 200, 400, 800 and 1500 free and swam the decisive anchor leg on the gold-medal winning 800 free relay. Also winning gold were Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM and their men’s 400 medley and mixed 400 free relays.

But the other U.S. relays in Kazan were disasters. The men’s 800 free relay, undefeated internationally since 2004, fell to Great Britain, and the women’s 400 medley failed to make the podium for the first time since 2009. The biggest shocker came on the meet’s opening day when the men’s 400 free relay squad failed to advance to the final.

While familiar names like Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin were not at their best, the most drastic drop-off came from Elizabeth Beisel, who did not make the final in either the 400 IM or 200 back, both events in which she won Olympic hardware back in 2012.

But now, as the landscape for next month’s Olympic Trials is becoming clearer, the U.S. looks to be set up a lot better in some of last year’s weak events as evidenced by performances at the Arena Pro Swim in Charlotte and the Atlanta Classic. Check out my five biggest takeaways from the weekend.

1. Lilly King’s long course arrival. Just eight weeks after taking down American records on her way to NCAA titles in both the 100 and 200 breast, the Indiana Hoosier sophomore-to-be ventured into the Olympic-sized pool and promptly cut seven tenths of a second from her personal best in the 100 breast.

King’s 1:05.73 vaulted her to second in the world rankings and is the second-fastest time recorded by an American since two-time World Champion Rebecca Soni retired in 2012. And there’s no reason to suspect that the teenager’s improvement will stop‒her 1:06.69 that King swam to finish second at last summer’s Nationals was a best time, as was her 1:06.43 at Winter Nationals in December.

Indeed, King, who finished a close third in the 200 breast in Charlotte in 2:25.13, might be the long-term answer for a U.S. sprint breaststroke group that has struggled in recent years. Jessica Hardy split a 1:06.32 on the ill-fated medley relay last summer in Kazan, but King and others including Katie Meili (1:05.64 at Pan Ams last summer) have set a much higher standard for this year.

2. Dana Vollmer with another successful weekend. Here’s someone else that could be a boost to the American women’s medley relay this summer. The Olympic gold medalist on the comeback trail has progressed rapidly in her signature 100 fly‒from a fourth-place 58.94 at Nationals in August to a 57.95 in December to a blistering 56.94 in Mesa last month. Yes, that’s second dropped in four months, twice.

Vollmer had another solid 100 fly this weekend in Charlotte with a 57.23, and she looks like the only potential threat to Sarah Sjostrom in that event in Rio. But the big revelation for Vollmer came two days later when she blasted a 53.59 in the prelims of the 100 free, faster than any American swam all of last year.

The women’s 400 free relay was another group that struggled last year in Kazan‒Missy Franklin, Margo Geer, Lia Neal and Simone Manuel finished a distant third behind the Netherlands and Australia‒but has shown encouraging signs this season. The Australians will still be the overwhelming favorites with their three sub-53 100 freestylers, but the Americans have a real shot at silver, especially with Vollmer and short course American record-holder Abbey Weitzeil entering the equation.

3. Men’s free relays a work-in-progress. The weekend yielded rather little assurance that the U.S. men will have the relays figured out in time for Rio. The freestyle stars of the NCAA Championships, Caeleb Dressel and Townley Haas, returned to the site of their collegiate exploits in Atlanta and did not impress. Dressel finished sixth in the 100 free in 50.26, and Haas was tenth in the 200 with a top time of 1:52.06.

Dressel and Haas should both get back to form by the time Olympic Trials role around‒remember that they finished up their college season just seven weeks ago‒but this weekend was a chance for some veterans to show their mettle. That doesn’t mean Anthony Ervin (49.30) or Jimmy Feigen (49.56) posting some quick 100s in Charlotte but rather the guys the U.S. will count on to anchor their squads.

Anchor here does not mean going last. But the U.S. is counting on Nathan Adrian stepping up to lead the 400 free relay and Conor Dwyer the 800. Adrian struggled in the 100 free last year‒he won the silver medal in the 50 free at Worlds but slipped to seventh in the 100‒but has looked strong as of late. Adrian swam a 48.00 last month in Mesa, which ranks fourth in the world, and he backed that up with a solid 48.29 in Atlanta.

As for Dwyer, he put up a 1:46.68 in the 200 free in Charlotte for a comfortable win. The time is virtually the same as the 1:46.64 that he swam to a ninth-place finish last summer in Kazan. Dwyer is out to prove that he is more the swimmer who took second behind Yannick Agnel at the 2013 Worlds than the swimmer he was last summer, and consistently being in the 1:46-range in-season is a step in that direction.

4. Elizabeth Beisel is back. This one doesn’t take an expert to figure out. Beisel’s injury-derailed 2015 campaign has given way to a stellar start to 2016. Florida coach Gregg Troy said earlier this month that Beisel is in great shape physically, and she proved that in Atlanta this weekend. She clocked a 4:33.55 in the 400 IM, good for fourth in the world and just 0.03 off Beisel’s in-season best time, a 4:33.52 from the Santa Clara Grand Prix in 2014.

Beisel also posted an impressive come-from-behind victory in the 200 back in Atlanta, coming in at 2:12.10, but the 400 IM will be her best shot at a third career Olympic medal this summer. She swam times in the 4:31-range four consecutive years, winning a World title in 2011 and an Olympic silver in 2012 in which she came in at 4:31.27, which has her ranked ninth on the all-time list and the second-fastest American behind Katie Hoff (4:31.12).

Beisel currently has a ten year streak of being on the top U.S. national team, the longest active streak for any female and behind only Ryan Lochte (12 years) overall. She qualified for the Pan Pacs team at the ripe old age of 13 in 2006 and has been a staple ever since. And after the first real slump of her career last year, expect to see Beisel adding another year to that streak at the Olympic Trials in Omaha‒and possibly adding to her long résumé come Rio.

5. Katie Ledecky still making the extraordinary routine. Every meet it’s something for Ledecky, or at least it seems like. It was four years ago this weekend when the then-15-year-old Ledecky showed up to the Charlotte UltraSwim and proceeded to push eventual Olympic silver medalist Allison Schmitt all the way in the finish in the 400 free and clocking a 4:05.79 to finish second. Ledecky has not finished second a whole lot in the years since.

This weekend in Atlanta, Ledecky actually finished third in one race‒the 400 IM, where she came in just behind IM specialists Beisel and Maya DiRado and quietly informed the world that maybe she’s not just swimming that event at Olympic Trials as a first day warm-up. And then there was the 200 free, where Ledecky swam a 1:54.85 in prelims and 1:54.82 in finals.

Sure, she’s been faster this year‒Ledecky was a 1:54.43 at the Arena Pro Swim in Austin in January‒but both of those times actually surpassed the 1:55.16 that won Ledecky a World title last year. Let me repeat that. She is beating the time she swam to win the World title twice in a day at a meet in May. (I feel confident saying she did not taper for the Atlanta Classic.) That’s fairly unprecedented. Then again, nothing Katie Ledecky does in the pool has precedent.

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

Name*

Email*

2 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Dharmvir Dhull

7 years ago

Nice stroke g

Amy Wilkerson Dickinson

7 years ago

Jon Dickinson