{"id":386065,"date":"2019-08-01T18:46:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T01:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=386065"},"modified":"2019-08-02T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T15:30:00","slug":"austin-katz-final-50-of-the-mens-200-back-earns-him-the-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/austin-katz-final-50-of-the-mens-200-back-earns-him-the-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Nationals: Austin Katz’s Strong Finish Leads to Crown in 200 Backstroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Men’s 200 Back (Austin Katz)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A World University Games gold medal in his pocket and now a national title in his possession, Austin Katz<\/strong> is heading into the Olympic year on a high note. The University of Texas<\/a> standout came up with a sterling finish to prevail in a head-to-head duel with Shaine<\/strong> Casas <\/strong>in an old school Lone Star Showdown. Casas will be a sophomore at Texas A&M. Katz touched the wall in 1:55.72, his finishing lap of 29.44 enough to push him ahead of Casas, who registered a time of 1:55.79 for the silver medal.<\/p>\n

Katz slipped slightly on the start but still rebounded for the win.<\/p>\n

Katz was faster winning the World University Games with a 1:55.57. He sits fifth in the world for 2019 while Casas is now ranked sixth. His time would have won the bronze medal at World Championships.<\/p>\n

With the United States Olympic Trials less than a year away, Katz has established himself as a firm contender for a spot on the Team USA roster. Although Ryan Murphy<\/strong>, a three-time gold medalist at the 2016 Games in Rio, is the favorite to prevail at Trials, Katz and Jacob Pebley<\/strong><\/a> look like the leading challengers.<\/p>\n

Coming in third and claiming the bronze was Clark Beach<\/strong> with a time of 1:57.14.\u00a0In a close race for fourth, Bryce Mefford<\/strong> went a time of 1:57.39 to out-touch Zachary Poti<\/strong> (1:57.40) by .01.\u00a0In sixth was Carson Foster<\/strong> (1:58.26), in seventh was Nicolas Albiero<\/strong> (1:59.21), and in eighth was Wyatt Davis<\/strong> (1:59.78).<\/p>\n

2019 World Rankings:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. 1:53.40, Evgeny Rylov, RUS<\/li>\n
  2. 1:54.12, Ryan Murphy, USA<\/li>\n
  3. 1:55.03, Mitch Larkin, AUS<\/li>\n
  4. 1:55.24, Xu Jiayu, CHN<\/li>\n
  5. 1:55.57, Austin Katz, USA<\/li>\n
  6. 1:55.79, Shaine Casas, USA<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. 1:55.79, Ryosuke Irie, JPN<\/li>\n
  8. 1:55.85, Luke Greenbank, GBR<\/li>\n
  9. 1:56.06, Keita Sunama, JPN<\/li>\n
  10. 1:56.07, Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Screen<\/p>\n