U.S. Nationals: Carson Foster Easily Tops 200 Fly; Thomas Heilman Crushes 1:55.11 for Second Place

Carson Foster -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Nationals: Carson Foster Easily Tops 200 Fly; Thomas Heilman Crushes 1:55.11 for Second Place

Despite having never before raced the 200 butterfly at a national or international-level competition, Carson Foster left no doubt as to the identity of the top U.S. man in the event. Foster, the World Championships silver medalist last year in both individual medley events, swam a time of 1:54.30 to post the top mark of the morning by eight tenths. Foster’s best time of 1:53.67 ranks him as the third-fastest American ever in the event.

This prelims swim was the first race of a busy meet for Foster, who is racing at a major meet for the first time since turning professional. Foster is the top seed in the 400 IM and 400 free in addition to the 200 fly, and he is also entered in the 200 free, 200 back and 200 IM, although it remains to be seen if he will compete in all of those events.

The race looks to be for second place, and making a statement in prelims was 16-year-old Thomas Heilman, the Charlottesville, Va., native who has been on a roll of breaking National Age Group records for the past several years. Heilman got another one in prelims as he swam a time of 1:55.11 to win the first circle-seeded heat. He beat his previous best of 1:56.52 by 1.41 seconds, and he became the second-fastest 15-16 boy in U.S. history, passing Luca Urlando (1:55.22). Only Michael Phelps has been faster, with a 1:54.58 set back in 2001. His amazing performance made Heilman the second-fastest swimmer of the morning.

Cardinal’s Zach Harting, the 2021 Olympic Trials winner in this event, qualified third in 1:55.48, followed by a pair of swimmers dropping more than a second to break 1:56 for the first time: Team Triumph’s Jack Dahlgren (1:55.72) and Florida’s Mason Laur (1:55.97).

Mission Viejo’s Trenton Julian, the runnerup in the 200 fly at last year’s International Team Trials, ended up sixth in the morning in 1:56.38, while veteran Chase Kalisz of Sun Devil took seventh in 1:56.44. The NCAA champion in the 200-yard fly, NC State’s Aidan Hayes, took eighth in 1:56.71. That locked out Carmel’s Aaron Shackell by seven hundredths, with Shackell finishing in 1:56.78.

Notably, Cal’s Gabriel Jett missed the final with an 11th-place time of 1:57.24, which was 2.87 seconds off his best time of 1:54.37 from last summer’s Nationals. Urlando, meanwhile, missed the meet altogether after swimming in the World Championships final of the event last year. Urlando is on the comeback trail after shoulder surgery.

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