World Cup Indianapolis: How New Arrivals Can Shake Up Short Course Meters Showcase

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Ryan Murphy -- Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

World Cup Indianapolis: Stacking Up the New Arrivals to Short Course Meters Showcase

This week, the FINA World Cup will return to the United States for the first time since early 2006, and the meet will be in Indianapolis for the first time since the circuit’s debut season of 1988-89. The World Cup has already produced plenty of quick swims through two weeks, including a world record by Katie Ledecky and impressive swimming by Summer McIntosh, Maggie Mac Neil and Shaine Casas, among others, at last week’s stop in Toronto.

Ledecky will surely chase another global standard in short course meters, a course in which she rarely races, in Indianapolis, but for the swimmers already in the midst of their World Cup seasons, we have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Not so much for the host of athletes, mostly Americans, making the IUPUI Natatorium their one and only stop for the circuit as a chance for some international racing and possibly a tune-up for next month’s Short Course World Championships in Melbourne. Those we will be watching closely include:

Ryan Murphy, Hunter Armstrong & Justin Ress

ARMSTRONG Hunter USA Gold Medal, RESS Justin USA placed First but disqualified 50m Backstroke Men Final Swimming FINA 19th World Championships Budapest 2022 Budapest, Duna Arena 25/06/22 Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Hunter Armstrong, left, and Justin Ress — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

The sprint backstroke races through the early stops of the World Cup have included 100 back long course world champion and world-record breaker Thomas Ceccon along with Americans Casas, who became the third-fastest performer ever in the event in Toronto, and Coleman Stewart, the world-record holder. Now, add Ryan Murphy, one of the elite backstrokers of the generation, along with the quickly-emerging Hunter Armstrong and 50 back long course world champion Justin Ress to the mix, and you have some all-time quality backstroke showdowns brewing.

Which of these swimmers can take advantage of the extra walls and post some eye-popping efforts, maybe even give Stewart’s 100 back top mark of 48.33 a scare? We’ll find out. We also must note that it’s Murphy and Armstrong set to race the 100 back at Short Course Worlds as USA Swimming’s selection procedures utilized long course times. Will those men have enough in the tank to produce results that really validate USA Swimming’s decision? We already know Casas is ready to go, so this shapes up as a high-stakes race, at least by the standards of early November.

Duncan Scott

The aftereffects of COVID-19 forced 25-year-old British star Duncan Scott out of the long course World Championships this summer, but he returned to the scene in resounding fashion at the Commonwealth Games. Scott won six total medals at that meet, including solid gold-medal performances in the 200 freestyle and 200 IM. This meet will mark Scott’s first competition in three months and a return to the short course meters format in which he won 20 races during last year’s ISL season. In Indianapolis, Scott is set to swim the 200 free, 400 free, 200 IM and 400 IM, and since he is not on British Swimming’s roster for Short Course Worlds, we will see how his times from this week would stack up next month in Melbourne.

Erin Gemmell, Katie Grimes, Leah Hayes, Bella Sims & Claire Weinstein

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Katie Grimes — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

These five teenagers have provided a huge jolt for the United States so far in 2022. Katie Grimes won a pair of silver medals at Worlds in the 1500 free and 400 IM, while her Sandpipers of Nevada teammates Bella Sims and Claire Weinstein helped the U.S. women to gold in the 800 free relay in Budapest. None have extensive short course meters competition experience, so this meet should be excellent practice of simply racing, going up against more experienced swimmers and playing with house money. It would be no surprise if one or more members of this Vegas trio could pick off a more experienced competitor and hint of further development in the five months since Worlds.

A busy schedule of events for Leah Hayes in Indianapolis will include the 200 IM, the event in which she won World Championships bronze this summer, and she might enter as a slight favorite against impressive short course swimmers Sydney Pickrem and Beata Nelson. Erin Gemmell, meanwhile, swam a top-10 time in the world in the long course 200 free this summer, and the World Cup will mark her first-ever international meet competing against senior-level swimmers as she prepares to head to Australia with the U.S. team for Short Course Worlds next month. The 200 free will feature Gemmell alongside Ledecky, McIntosh, Siobhan Haughey and Madison Wilson.

Abbey Weitzeil

On the other side of the experience spectrum is Abbey Weitzeil, a 25-year-old American who filled the role of top 100 freestyler for the U.S. at last year’s Olympics and then won her first individual medal at an international meet last December with a 100 free bronze at Short Course Worlds. But Weitzeil did not have her usual form at the U.S. International Team Trials in April, and she narrowly missed qualifying for Worlds. This year was her first time being left off a major squad since 2013, and Weitzeil has not competed since. But Weitzeil did not suddenly lose the ability to be competitive internationally. Surely, the Trials performance was one poor meet in a career with many more good ones. Let’s see where she stands in the sprints this week with Haughey, Wilson, Kasia Wasick, Meg Harris and fellow American Natalie Hinds and Erika Brown all in attendance.

Ahmed Hafnaoui

Perhaps the most surprising Olympic champion from last year, Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui, is entered in the Indianapolis meet for what is believed to be his first competition since the 2021 Short Course Worlds. Hafnaoui is now training at Indiana University, but he is not academically eligible to compete for the Hoosiers’ college team this year. So where does this 19-year-old stand internationally right now? Good question, and hopefully the answer will be forthcoming. A strong field including Danas Rapsys, Matt Sates and Kieran Smith awaits in the 400 free, and Olympic champion Bobby Finke is set to compete against Hafnaoui in the 1500 free.

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