Déjà Vu for Simone Manuel, On Top of the World Once Again

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Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA

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By David Rieder.

When Simone Manuel won her first Olympic gold medal, she could hardly believe that the digit “1” was next to her name on the scoreboard, and almost instantly, she was flooded by emotion.

One year later, when Manuel captured her first individual World title in the same 100 free, she was far more reserved—no tears this time. After sharing Olympic gold with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in Rio, she got to stand on the podium by herself this time in Budapest.

This win, though, was just as improbable as the upset Manuel pulled off last year in Rio.

Sarah Sjostrom was not going to be beat in the women’s 100 free at the World Championships. No way—she’d been nipping away at the world record all year and had finally smashed it on the first night of the World Championships. Leading off the 400 free relay, she had punched the wall at 51.71, well under Cate Campbell’s previous world record of 52.06.

Five days later in the individual final, Sjostrom flipped first in 24.75, under her own world record pace. Manuel was in second, but she was a half-second behind.

Sound familiar? It should—last year in Rio, Campbell had just recently broken the world record, was in lane four for the final and was out ahead and under world record pace at the 50-meter mark, with Manuel was a half-second behind.

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Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

But with 25 meters to go in that race, Campbell was fading. At 15 meters, she completely lost her tempo. Manuel was charging, and Oleksiak swooped in at the last minute, and the two women tied to pull off one of the Games’ most stunning upsets

The moment was Manuel’s long course breakthrough, her first individual medal as well as her first gold. After that, Manuel’s confidence soared, and the results in the year since have spoken for themselves.

Returning to Stanford for her sophomore year, she plowed through the NCAA season, winning two individual national titles and leading Stanford to the team’s first championship in 19 years. In the early part of the long course season, she consistently dropped time in the 53-second range, much faster than she swam even in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.

She had finished second behind Mallory Comerford in the 100 free at U.S. Nationals, but she still had earned her spot to swim the event at the World Championships, and more rest was to come.

A medal chance in the 100 free? Sure, most definitely. Gold? Not likely, not with the way Sjostrom had set the sprint world on fire through the first half of 2017 as her sprint free abilities suddenly matched her already-premier sprint butterfly.

But as she came down the home stretch in the 100 free, Manuel was not dropping off the pace—in fact, she was charging. With about 10 meters left, Sjostrom’s stroke tightened up, and she was fading. The collapse was not nearly as pronounced as Campbell’s at the Olympics, but all spunk in Sjostrom’s freestyle had vanished.

Manuel pounced on the opportunity. She snuck her fingertips in just ahead of Sjostrom’s– 52.27 to 52.31.

Manuel was still a half-second off the time Sjostrom had put up leading off the relay, but it didn’t matter. For a second straight year, she had a gold medal in her best event.

As fast as Sjostrom had been swimming race after race throughout the year, Manuel never believed that the 23-year-old Swede was unstoppable.

“I always think I have a shot,” Manuel said. “I think that’s the reason that’s why I’m the swimmer that I am. I try to race, and I try to get my hand on the wall first. I just had confidence in the training I had done.”

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Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA

Sjostrom was devastated, in disbelief that she had blown all her steam too early in the race and wasted an opportunity to win a World title.

“It’s so stupid to go out in 24.7. You shouldn’t do that. No one can handle that,” she said. “Four hundredths of a second is nothing. And they showed the race and I saw my finish. It was horrible. You don’t deserve to win gold if you swim like that.”

But to take nothing away from Manuel: 52.27 is a heck of a time. She now ranks as the fourth-fastest performer in history, trailing only Sjostrom, Campbell and Britta Steffen. She took back the American record from Comerford, who had broken Manuel’s previous mark leading off the U.S. 400 free relay five days earlier.

She had won the first World title for the United States in the event since 1998, when Jenny Thompson won gold in Perth.

“I was two at the time,” Manuel pointed out. “It’s great to bring American sprinting back to the forefront, along with Mallory and the others we have behind us.”

Make no mistake: Manuel has led the charge in returning sprinting to a position of great strength for the U.S. women, just 13 months after the Olympic team left Trials in Omaha, Neb., to the tune of major concerns about the state of the 50 and 100 free. Needless to say, those worries are long gone.

Now, Manuel continues to ride that wave of confidence, the one that she has been on since Rio, that she can beat anyone in the world when swimming head-to-head. Twice now, she has backed that up.

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Pablo Valedon

6 years ago

Congratulations simone????!

AvidSwimFan

6 years ago

That race was so great to watch. Everyone counted her out, but the one person that mattered most didn’t – Simone Manuel. She produced the clutch race when it counted. She might not have the WR. But she has the Worlds’ title to go with the Olympic one. Nicely done.