American Women’s Freestyle Relays Will Could Off Potential in Fort Lauderdale
Last year, the U.S. women brought a talented contingent of sprint freestylers to the Singapore World Championships, aiming for the country’s first 400 freestyle relay win over Australia in eight years plus an upset in the 800 free relay. Widespread illness derailed the American hopes at that competition, but the team still completed the first year of the quad in unusually strong position for those events.
This long course season, the contingent aims to continue that progress and earn at least one free relay win at the Pan Pacific Championships in August. Most of the big players will be in action this week at the Fort Lauderdale Open, the first time in 2026 domestic meet has brought such talent together with collegiate swimmers now turning their attention to the 50-meter pool.
While Torri Huske is not making the trip from Stanford to Florida, every other top 100 freestyler is set to contest the event Thursday morning, including four who have been sub-53 in the past two seasons. Gretchen Walsh showed newfound finishing ability in the 100 free as she improved her best time to 52.78. Simone Manuel clocked her fastest time in six years on the way to a third-place finish at U.S. Nationals.
Teenager Rylee Erisman did not qualify for Worlds, but she blasted an amazing time of 52.79 at the World Junior Championships to become the sixth-best American ever. Kate Douglass, meanwhile, did not record a sub-53 flat-start swim last year but went 51.90 on a relay at Worlds before becoming the first woman ever under 50 in the short course meters 100 free last fall.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
The field this week also includes Erin Gemmell, who valiantly filled in for an ill Walsh in the Worlds final of the 400 free relay, and Anna Moesch, coming off a phenomenal sophomore season at Virginia. Already a national A-finalist and World Championships relay alternate, Moesch took massive steps this year. She became the second-fastest swimmer ever in the 200-yard free, winning an NCAA title in that event, and she jumped to third ever over 100 yards while finishing second behind Huske at the NCAA meet. Moesch provided the key leg in a come-from-behind NCAA victory in the 800 free relay before leading a national-record-setting effort in the 400.
Now, Moesch begins the process of showing off her capabilities in long course. She will not be on the Pan Pacs team, with only the top-five 100 freestylers from last year earning berths, but she still figures to stamp her authority on the event this year to prove herself as a force for 2027. Her best time in the long course 100 free stands at 53.54, but she could eclipse that mark as soon as the Fort Lauderdale meet and possibly get under 53.
Moesch’s skill set likely translates better to the 100-meter race, at least right now, but her 1:39.23 in the 200-yard event is indicative of a big 200 free in long course as well, certainly for an improvement over her current best time of 1:58.34. The 200 free field this week misses Huske, Claire Weinstein and Anna Peplowski but still features Gemmell, Manuel, Erisman and 2016 Olympic champion Katie Ledecky plus international forces Summer McIntosh and Nikolett Padar.
So far this year, the best time by an American belongs to Peplowski, who went 1:55.82 at the recent Bergen Swim Festival to just miss her best time. Manuel finished in 1:56-territory at the opening Pro Swim Series meet in January while Erisman and Regan Smith hit that standard in March. Smith will again challenge the freestyle specialists in the event this week. Another Virginia-trained swimmer to watch here is Madi Mintenko, fifth in the 200-yard event at NCAAs and already with a best time of 1:56.95.
Spectacular times should not be the expectation in the spring, not with nearly every contender in the midst of heavy training. But given the amount of talent in the field in these events and the swimmers’ recent record of performance, it would be no surprise to see some eye-popping numbers that make Australia’s recent grip on the freestyle relays appear even more tenuous.