United States Swimmers Start Quest for Budapest

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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Morning Splash by David Rieder.

There won’t be nearly as much at stake this weekend in Mesa, Ariz., as in other corners of the world—like in Victoria, Brisbane, Moscow, Quindao, Nagoya or Sheffield, all home to qualification meets for this summer’s FINA World Championships.

So it’s unlikely that anyone will be challenging any world records during this third stop on the arena Pro Swim Series circuit—as Kylie Masse and Xu Jiayu have both done in the 100 back over the last week at their respective national championships.

But this weekend’s arena Pro Swim Series meet in Mesa marks the unofficial start to long course season in the U.S. and thus the buildup to U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis and to the World Championships in Budapest.

Wait a second, you might argue—there have already been two arena Pro meets, in Austin in January and in Indy at the beginning of March. Sure, but back then, a huge percentage of would-be entrants were singularly focused on the upcoming NCAA championship season while plenty of professionals were easing their way back to competition after a post-Olympics hiatus.

Not anymore. While international representation is down this week with trials season in full swing around the world, 19 of the 26 events in Mesa will feature at least one of the two Americans who swam that event in Rio.

Just don’t be surprised if some of them are a little bit rusty. None of the Olympians who just finished up their NCAA seasons have swum in a long course meet in precisely eight months, since the final day of the swimming competition in Rio.

That’s not to say that long course has been totally out of mind. Even at the height of her massively successful first college season, Katie Ledecky and Stanford coach Greg Meehan, working together for the first time, had international racing in mind at the Pac-12 championships.

At that meet, Meehan held Ledecky out of the 1650 free so she could swim both the 400 IM and 200 free on night three. That lineup would not necessarily maximize Stanford’s point output—not that the Cardinal, up big in the team race, needed every point it could get.

“Just managing the 400 IM-200 free double is good practice for her in looking at potential events this summer, just like she had to manage the 1500 free and 200 free [within in the same session at the World Championships] in Kazan in 2015,” Meehan said. “Just trying to think about the bigger picture as well as long as it fits within what we’re doing team-wise, and it did.”

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Stanford mixed in some long course practices throughout the year, and Ledecky will undoubtedly be just fine when she returns to the Olympic format this weekend. Same with her teammate Simone Manuel, still riding the confidence of a breakthrough Olympics and a fine meet at the NCAA championships, particularly her 45.56 in the 100 free.

For Ledecky and Manuel, the difficult part was coming down from the highs of the Olympic Games. For plenty of their Olympic teammates and other top performers from the NCAA championships, the big bumps in the road come now.

Chase Kalisz, Olivia Smoliga, Leah Smith and Lia Neal all used up their NCAA eligibility this season. This weekend, they cross the threshold into professional swimming.

Over the next month, seniors around the country will earn their college diplomas and graduate into adulthood seeking scary full-time jobs. That’s exactly the step the aforementioned quartet will take this weekend—except their jobs don’t guarantee a salary.

None of them have signed any endorsement deals, at least not yet. All earned USA Swimming stipends based on their efforts last summer, but those won’t get extended for another year if their times are not up to scratch in June and July of this year.

All of them have swum at these Pro Swim Series events in the past, but now the title represents something real for them—their results actually affect their respective livelihoods.

But in a world where so few swimmers can sustain themselves long-term off their performances, none of these newly-minted pros would still be swimming if they did not believe they had more in the tank.

“I feel like at the Olympics, I just got a taste of what my future can be,” Smith said. While I was very happy with my performance, it made me hungrier. There were things I wanted to improve on—I wanted silver [instead of bronze in the 400 free], and I wanted to medal in the 800. There’s still more that I want to achieve, and I’m not done with the sport yet.”

Kalisz returned to Georgia after winning a silver in the men’s 400 IM in Rio, and then he capped off his NCAA career with a dominant performance in the 400 IM at the men’s NCAA championships, crushing his American record by more than a second in the process.

But afterwards, he sounded like a man far more motivated than contented.

“The best thing that happened to me was getting a silver medal,” he said. “It will probably motivate me until the next Olympic cycle, and it’s something that I’m not going to forget being as close as I was. I think I was swam the perfect race, and I don’t know how much faster I could have gone at the Olympic Games, but I’m not going to be completely satisfied.”

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

But the next Olympics in Tokyo still three years away, Kalisz and the rest of the country’s top swimmers will have to settle for a trip to the World Championships this summer as the ultimate goal for 2017.

Just as with last year’s Olympic Trials, qualifying will be cutthroat. The stakes in Mesa are not that high—yet—but it’s step one in the return to the unforgiving beast that is long course racing.

Mesa’s excellent mid-April weather—sunny with high temperatures around 90 degrees—is a perk, but there’s business at hand this weekend at Skyline Aquatic Center, business that most hope will culminate with a trip to Budapest and the World Championships.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Travis Ritenour

7 years ago

i being on my swim team there is nothing like going swimming to start the day

Nancy Pulham

7 years ago

I think you’ve gotten Simone’s time wrong in the 100 free. Wasn’t it 52.70?

Ger

7 years ago

Reply to Nancy Pulham

The time is for the 100yd free at NCAA’s.