Michael Andrew Breaks Pro Swim Series Record in 50 Back in Knoxville

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

19-year-old Michael Andrew got his 2019 started in a big way by breaking the TYR Pro Swim Series record in the 50 back prelims on Thursday morning in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Andrew posted a 24.68 in the heats to break the old meet record held by Junya Koga (24.74) from the 2015 Pro Swim Series in Charlotte.

Andrew was the only one to break 25 seconds in the heats as he was a little off his overall best time of 24.49 from the 2018 FINA World Cup in Kazan. He actually went a 24.49 twice this year, doing it twice on the World Cup circuit, once in Kazan and once in Doha.

Andrew is well ahead of the rest of the field heading in to finals tonight with Cal swimmers Daniel Carr (25.30) and Ryan Murphy (25.71) in second and third.

Those three were the only ones to break 26 seconds in the heats. Tim Zeng (26.33), Jack Kirby (26.51), Bryce Mefford (26.61), Zach Franklin (26.75) and William Marois (26.84) also swam in the heats and qualified for the A-Final in the 50 back.

Event 8  Men 50 LC Meter Backstroke
==================================================================
        World: W 24.00  8/4/2018  Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS
     American: A 24.24  7/27/2018 Ryan Murphy, CAL
    U.S. Open: O 24.24  7/27/2018 Ryan Murphy, CAL
     Jr World: J 24.00  8/4/2018  Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS
     Pro Swim: P 24.74  2015      Junya Koga
    Name            Age Team                 Seed    Prelims  FINA       
==================================================================
                         === Round 1 ===                          
 
  1 Michael Andrew   19 Race Pace Club      53.55      24.68P q924  
         r:+0.61                       
  2 Daniel Carr      20 Unattached          54.01      25.30  q857  
         r:+0.51                       
  3 Ryan Murphy      23 California Aquat    51.94      25.71  q817  
         r:+0.55                       
  4 Tim Zeng         21 Chena Swim Club     55.45      26.33  q761  
         r:+0.64                       
  5 Jack Kirby       18 Baylor Swim Club    56.19      26.51  q745  
         r:+0.62                       
  6 Bryce Mefford    20 California Aquat    53.84      26.61  q737  
         r:+0.57                       
  7 Zach Franklin    17 Stingrays           49.01Y     26.75  q725  
         r:+0.60                       
  8 William Marois   20 Chena Swim Club     56.34      26.84  q718  
         r:+0.55

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Steve Friederang

5 years ago

I keep imagining how fast this young man would be if he trained in the environments built by Mark Schubert, Gregg Troy, Eddie Reese, Bill Sweetenham, etc. Probably the most mis-handled amazing talent in swimming today — or maybe any day.