{"id":417353,"date":"2020-02-19T17:41:54","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T00:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=417353"},"modified":"2020-02-20T10:59:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T17:59:02","slug":"kieran-smith-blasts-new-american-record-with-406-500-at-secs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/kieran-smith-blasts-new-american-record-with-406-500-at-secs\/","title":{"rendered":"Kieran Smith Blasts New American Record With 4:06 500 at SECs (RACE VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 24 hours after nearly breaking 1:30 in the 200 freestyle<\/a>, Florida sophomore\u00a0Kieran Smith\u00a0<\/strong>absolutely demolished the record books in the 500 freestyle, scorching a 4:06.32. The time lowered the NCAA record set last season by\u00a0Townley Haas\u00a0<\/strong>of Texas (4:08.19) and also took down\u00a0Zane Grothe’s\u00a0<\/strong>American record of 4:07.25 set in December 2017.<\/p>\n

Smith<\/a> finished ahead of Texas A&M junior\u00a0Mark Theall\u00a0<\/strong>(4:10.77) and Florida teammate\u00a0Bobby Finke\u00a0<\/strong>(4:10.86).<\/p>\n

Kieran Smith led from start to finish and used an incredible last three 50’s to get under the American record. His win marks the first for Florida in the 500 at SECs since Pawel Werner\u00a0<\/strong>in 2016.<\/p>\n

This was the second record set on Wednesday night at the 2020 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Auburn as Arkansas’\u00a0Anna Hopkin<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>swam the fastest 50 freestyle relay split earlier in the night in the 200 freestyle relay.<\/p>\n

Georgia’s Walker Higgins\u00a0<\/strong>(4:13.98), Florida’s\u00a0Khader Baqlah <\/strong>(4:15.86), Georgia’s Andrew Abruzzo\u00a0<\/strong>(4:17.04), Georgia’s\u00a0Greg Reed\u00a0<\/strong>(4:18.88) and Alabama’s\u00a0Nico Hernandez-Tome\u00a0<\/strong>(4:19.47) also competed in the championship final.<\/p>\n

Kieran Smith will be in the 400 IM on Thursday morning and his third event has not yet been determined. He is entered in the 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke and 100 freestyle and will have to choose one of those events. He is in his sophomore year at Florida and swam the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 back at last year’s NCAA Championships. He reached the final in both IMs last year, finishing seventh in the 400 and eighth in the 200.<\/p>\n

Former record holder\u00a0Zane Grothe\u00a0<\/strong>has already reacted to the news of his record getting broken.<\/p>\n

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That was awesome<\/p>\n

— Zane Grothe (@zane_growth_ee) February 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n