{"id":272257,"date":"2017-08-12T08:13:04","date_gmt":"2017-08-12T15:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=272257"},"modified":"2017-08-12T08:54:39","modified_gmt":"2017-08-12T15:54:39","slug":"meet-daniel-roy-the-stud-teenage-breaststroker-youve-never-heard-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/meet-daniel-roy-the-stud-teenage-breaststroker-youve-never-heard-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Daniel Roy, the Stud Teenage Breaststroker You’ve Never Heard Of"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rieder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Daniel Roy<\/strong>\u00a0stands a not-that-imposing 5 feet 8 inches, and he doesn\u2019t dictate the race right off the gun in his signature event, the 200 breast. But once he gets going, well, he can move.<\/p>\n

He did not distinguish himself through the first half of his 200 breast final Friday night at Junior Nationals, swimming through the first 100 meters in a 1:04.42 split that put him just one hundredth ahead of the field. But at that point he took off, and his splits on the third and fourth 50s were each a full second quicker than anyone else in the race.<\/p>\n

It was a strategy that Roy had honed under\u00a0Doug<\/strong>\u00a0Djang<\/strong>, his coach at King Aquatic Club, and it all clicked at Juniors. Roy finished in 2:11.25, clearing his previous best time by seven tenths of a second. The win was his second of the week, after previously winning the 100 breast in 1:01.42, and the time makes Roy the eighth-fastest American in the 200 breast this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoug and I, we started working together last year, and he told me, you can close a lot better than most of the guys out there,\u201d Roy said. \u201cThere are 1000 ways to swim the 200 breaststroke. You have to race your own race and stay within your lane.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Roy\u2019s time ranks as the second-best ever by an American swimmer aged 18 or younger, trailing only\u00a0Kevin Cordes\u2019<\/strong>\u00a02:10.92 from back in 2012\u2014a mark which will be on Roy\u2019s mind when he represents the U.S. later this month at the Junior World Championships in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

A 17-year-old breaststroker making inroads on the national elite\u2014sound familiar? Sure, but Roy is more than a foot shorter than\u00a0Reece Whitley<\/strong>, and the two hail from opposite sides of the country, Roy from the Pacific Northwest and Whitley from the Philadelphia area.<\/p>\n

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Reece Whitley — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

For all the attention Whitley has received, it was Roy who won the 18-and-under national championship in the 200 breast this year, while Whitley swam in the B-final. Roy\u2019s time from Juniors is five hundredths faster than Whitley has ever swum.<\/p>\n

Roy calls Whitley \u201cthe nicest guy I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d but considering they are the same age and they specialize in the same events, they seem like obvious rivals\u2014right?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call us rivals\u2014I would call us more, like\u2026\u201d Roy paused to think of the right word. \u201cCompetitors,\u201d he settled on.<\/p>\n

But amazingly, Roy and Whitley have never raced a 200 breast head-to-head. Well, not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been head-to-head in the 100 and the 50 but never in the 200,\u201d Roy said. \u201cI hope at Junior Worlds we get to race each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy has represented the U.S. once before internationally, competing at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships last summer in Maui, where he won a bronze in the 200 breast. He is eagerly anticipating again getting to wear a USA cap in Indianapolis and the pressures and responsibilities that he feels like come along with that honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special, especially when you\u2019re representing your country on your soil,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot to live up to, especially with all the other amazing breaststrokers in the world. I\u2019m really excited.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Roy is not shy about his own lofty expectations. As far as time, he expects much better from himself than a 2:11 come World Juniors and better than even Cordes\u2019 aforementioned 17-18 national age group record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s more in the tank than a 2:11. I think I can drop a 2:10,\u201d Roy said. Maybe a 2:09, 2:09-high,\u201d he added, quietly.<\/p>\n

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Daniel Roy — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

2:09? That was the magical standard in the 200 breast for years, and prior to 2016 it never took quicker than a sub-2:10 performance to even make the U.S. Olympic team. Roy\u2019s lifetime best at the start of 2017, by the way, was 2:12.17.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my goal, 2:09-mid. I set that goal at the beginning of the season, and I\u2019ve been working towards that ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering his senior year of high school, Roy is one of a shrinking minority of top-ranked swimmers who has not committed to swim for a particular university in the fall of 2018. He has yet to even narrow down his choices to two or three finalists.<\/p>\n

But whatever school he ends up choosing will be getting a game-changer. For years, Whitley has gotten most of the attention as the future of American breaststroke, but lately, Roy has been opening some eyes, and not just this week at Junior Nationals.<\/p>\n

Watch a video interview with Roy after his 200 breast win at Junior Nationals:<\/strong><\/p>\n