U.S. Nationals: Justin Ress Edges Out Adam Chaney, Jack Aikins for 100 Back Win (VIDEO)

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Justin Ress -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Nationals: Justin Ress Edges Out Adam Chaney, Jack Aikins for 100 Back Win

Among swimmers in the men’s 100 backstroke final at U.S. Nationals, the résumé of Justin Ress was unmatched. He won the world title in the 50 backstroke last month after his initial disqualification was overturned, and he went under 53 for the first time with his third-place finish in the 100 back at the U.S. International Team Trials. But Friday evening’s final in Irvine, Calif., the 24-year-old received a push from a pair of collegians, Mason Manta Rays’ Adam Chaney (Florida) and Swim Atlanta’s Jack Aikins (Virginia).

Ress was out in 25.75, but both Chaney and Aikins closed down on the second length. Ress was marginally ahead as he lunged for the wall, the same move that triggered the initial disqualification at Worlds, but it paid off this time with a 13-hundredth margin of victory. Ress touched in 53.55, eight tenths off his time from Trials (52.73), while Chaney finished second in 53.68. Aikins, who won the 200 back two days earlier, was seven hundredths further back as he finished third in 53.75.

“The only thing I really remember from it was the last 15 when I saw the guys on the outside of me that close to me,” Ress said. “I wasn’t expecting it, but it really powered me to the end. I was just trying to race.”

Ress explained that his preparation for this week’s Nationals was far from ideal. He had hoped to return from Worlds and immediately resume weight training to build his strength back up, but he got sick and tested positive for COVID soon after arriving back in the United States. So it makes sense that his performances were not at the level he showed at Trials or Worlds. But that stretch was the best of his career as Ress captured two gold medals in Budapest, first swimming alongside Caeleb Dressel, former NC State teammate Ryan Held and Brooks Curry on the gold-medal-winning U.S. men’s 400 freestyle relay and then taking that 50 back world title.

All that happened after fairly limited training after Ress moved to Southern California to begin training with the Mission Viejo Nadadores and coach Jeff Julian, who he got to know through their time with the ISL’s Cali Condors. After a short period of intense work, Ress turned to his racing instincts, which he honed during his time competing in the ISL. While most in the swimming community are meticulous about the details about long-term training plans, Ress thinks differently. Whenever it’s needed, he’s ready to race.

“I was 250 lbs. in late January. Did kind of a training camp out here for a month. Went back home, didn’t train much, came back out here, had another month and had Trials and swam best times by a lot of time,” Ress said. “I did that with a month-and-a-half total training. I was up 35 lbs. two or three months before it. That just made me think, ‘Hey, we don’t need to only swim fast twice a year.’ Three months is definitely enough time to get back up and swim fast again.”

As for those career-redefining results in April and June, Ress feels lucky and appreciative.

“It’s taken a while for it to really sink in,” Ress said. “I think that happens a lot for people their first time winning something like that. I just remember the second weekend back, I finally got healthy from COVID, was getting back into training, was getting my butt kicked in the pool. I was like, ‘Wow, what just happened two weeks ago just doesn’t happen to a large majority of the world.’”

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