Despite the wealth of long course racing that occurred this week, this week’s Performance of the Week goes to Abbey Weitzeil for her 50-yard freestyle at the 2016 American Short Course Championships down in Austin, Texas. Weitzeil crushed the field en route to a shockingly fast 21.12 that surpassed Lara Jackson’s 2009 record of 21.27 from the 2009 NCAA’s.
Recording a 21.42 in prelims, Weitzeil came back at night to lead off the 200 free relay in 21.28 before finally smashing the record at the end of the session. The future Cal Bear (who, like fellow Pac-12 sprint star Simone Manuel, is taking an Olympic redshirt from NCAA competition this year) now has the fastest 50 yard freestyle in history, which should make the Cal coaching staff very happy. Just last week Cal junior Farida Osman went 21.32 at Pac-12’s, which means Cal will have two of the fastest sprinters in history come next fall. Between Osman, Weitzeil, and the return of Simone Manuel (whose PB of 21.32 is tied with Osman’s), expect some very fast showdowns in the coming years within the Pac-12.
Notably, Weitzeil also posted some top long course times in the LCM portion of the competition. She became the second fastest American this year in the both the 50 and 100 freestyles, sitting only .01 behind Madison Kennedy’s 24.71 from the Orlando Arena Pro Series the same weekend and .02 behind Katie Ledecky’s 53.77 from the Austin Pro Series stop.
Congratulations Abbey Weitzeil on earning Swimming World’s Performance of the Week!
I wonder if she would be faster or slower if she was swimming in college?