US Nationals: Simone Manuel Building Off Best Swim in Six Years
Simone Manuel looked up at the scoreboard and couldn’t help but smile.
Even though she was hoping to finish top two in the 100 freestyle, her third-place finish came in a time of 52.83.
When asked about it being a while since she went that fast, Manuel knew exactly how long.
“Six years. Fastest I have been in six years,” Manuel said. “It was really exciting to turn around and see a 52. It has been since 2019 that I have seen that in an individual 100 free. Obviously, the competitor in me would have loved to get an individual spot and just been a bit faster, but I really can’t complain. I have a lot of reasons to be proud of that swim and use it to catapult me over the next couple of years in this quad.”
The Olympic gold medalist has made the most of her move to train at Texas with Bob Bowman, who also coached her at Arizona State during her post-grad career.
“I have made a lot of progress even since January, not knowing what I wanted to do in my swimming career after Paris,” Manuel said. “I just have an amazing group at Texas. We have a fun time. It is a really good environment, and I am two hours from home. I spent a lot of my adult career away from my family. It was the best decision for me to go to Stanford and go to ASU, but also as I get to the latter stages of my career, balance is really important and being able to see my family is a big part of that. It really fills my emotional tank. Being close to them has been really good for me.”
Manuel still has the 50 free after finishing third in the 100 and seventh in the 200 free.
“Not what I would have wanted. It didn’t really show today but a lot of focus has been on the 200, which is probably why it didn’t show. I think I have put more pressure on that event than I would like to. Right now, that feels more mental than physical. But it has helped my 100 free and taken the pressure off that,” Manuel said. “It is a bummer, but obviously the journey is not over. It is a four-year process, and I am hopefully continuing to make progress.”
