Anna Moesch, Minna Abraham Leading Surge for Sub-1:40 in 200 Freestyle at Conference Championship Meets
Eleven years ago, Missy Franklin delivered a groundbreaking effort in the 200-yard freestyle, a performance so epic that it earned its own chapter in her autobiography chronicling her Hall-of-Fame career. At the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C., Franklin became the first female to break 1:40 in the event, shattering her own record from one year earlier by more than a second with a time of 1:39.10.
In 2026, that time still stands as the American, NCAA and U.S. Open records, and only two women have joined Franklin under the 1:40-barrier: Mallory Comerford in 2018, when she went 1:39.80 in her second of three consecutive national titles in the 200 free, and Gretchen Walsh last year, with a time of 1:39.34 leading off Virginia’s record-shattering 800 free relay at the ACC Championships.
In the latter race, Walsh was under record pace for most of the race, and perhaps she would have taken down the record had she focused her attention on the 200 free rather than the sprint events that made her one of the most accomplished college swimmers ever. Regardless, her college career is over, and a new group of swimmers, only one of whom has ever won an individual NCAA title, are the leading contenders to join the 1:39-club and perhaps take a shot at Franklin’s record.
On the eve of this year’s college championship season, the top time in the country in the 200 free belongs to Anna Moesch, a second-year swimmer emerging as the next star of the Virginia dynasty. Moesch arrived as a highly-regarded high-school sprinter from New Jersey, and she quickly proved she belonged. As a freshman, she finished fourth in the 100 free and fifth in the 200 at the NCAA Championships, and she took part in three national-title winning relays. She followed that up by qualifying for the U.S. World Championship team with a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter free at U.S. Nationals. She earned a silver medal in Singapore for her efforts.
This season, Moesch has gone as fast as 1:40.25 in the 200 free, a drop of almost two seconds from her best time last season and good enough to make her the fourth-fastest performer ever behind Franklin, Walsh and Comerford. Moesch also currently holds the country’s top time in the 100 free (45.98), and she could drop those times even further at this week’s ACC Championships.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
The swimmer who is perhaps her closest competition races this week at the Big Ten Championships in Minneapolis. Minna Abraham, a junior at USC, was third in the 200 free as a freshman and second last year, and she has made a habit of 1:40-mid performances. Abraham went 1:40.56 at the 2025 NCAA meet, falling just six hundredths behind the now-graduated Anna Peplowski in the title race, and she improved her best time to 1:40.47 at midseason. That made Abraham the eighth-fastest performer in history.
Six other women have clocked 1:41s this season, matching the total from all of the 2024-25 season. Bella Sims, the 2024 national champion in this event now competing for the University of Michigan, clocked 1:41.17 in the 200 free at midseason. However, Sims skipped the 200 free at last year’s NCAA Championships to concentrate on the 100 back, and the multi-event star again has numerous options for her 2026 championship slate. Sims has been as fast a 1:40.78 in this race, ranking No. 13 all-time.
Her Wolverines teammate Stephanie Balduccini is ranked 14th in history, having gone 1:40.89 for third in last year’s national final. Balduccini went 1:41.40 at midseason, and she will be part of an exciting Big Ten race including Abraham, potentially Sims and Indiana freshman Liberty Clark, whose out-of-nowhere emergence this year has produced times as fast as 1:41.27.
The last three swimmers to have times in the 1:41-range include Virginia’s Madi Mintenko (1:41.70) and Aimee Canny (1:41.85) as well as Cal’s Mia West (1:41.74). Those three will all compete at the ACC meet along with Moesch and Cal’s Claire Weinstein, the World Championships bronze medalist last year in the 200-meter free.
Over the next week, expect to see sizzling times from various conference meets, with additional 1:40s and possibly a 1:39 in the cards. The locations to watch includes the SEC Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., which will see the Texas trio of Nikolett Padar, Lillie Nesty and Erin Gemmell race the 200 free against Georgia’s Kennedi Dobson and Tennessee’s Camille Spink. Let’s see if one or two swimmers distinguish themselves at their respective conference meets to become true threats to Franklin’s long-standing mark.