{"id":531118,"date":"2023-06-30T08:50:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T15:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=531118"},"modified":"2023-06-30T20:42:39","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T03:42:39","slug":"u-s-nationals-nic-fink-breaks-100-for-top-seed-in-100-breast-michael-andrew-17th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-nationals-nic-fink-breaks-100-for-top-seed-in-100-breast-michael-andrew-17th\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Nationals: Nic Fink Breaks 1:00 for Top Seed in 100 Breast; Michael Andrew 17th"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Nationals: Nic Fink Breaks 1:00 for Top Seed in 100 Breast; Michael Andrew 17th<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nic Fink<\/strong> did not qualify for the U.S. team in the 200 breaststroke, but as the veteran approaches age 30, he has come on strongly in the sprint breaststroke events, a rise which culminated in a world title in the 50 breast last year plus a Worlds bronze medal in a tight 100 breast final. Fink got onto his fifth World Championships team Thursday evening with a win in the 50 breast at Nationals, and he will be the strong favorite heading into the 100 breast final.<\/p>\n

Fink, who owns a best time of 58.37 that ranks seventh all-time in the event (and second among Americans), was the only man to break 1:00 in the prelims. He got a push at the end from 200 breast winner\u00a0Matt Fallon<\/strong>, along whom he has been training for the past month in Athens, Ga., and Fallon closed well to take the fourth seed in 1:00.22.<\/p>\n

In the first circle-seeded heat,\u00a0Jake Foster<\/strong> got off to a strong start and held off Josh Matheny<\/strong> to get the win, 1:00.07 to 1:00.15. Foster lowered his best time of 1:00.81, and he will have another chance at making the World Championships team after finishing third behind Fallon and Matheny in the 200-meter race.<\/p>\n

Noah Nichols\u00a0<\/strong>also dropped a half-second from his best time, touching in 1:00.29 for the fifth seed, followed by the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the event, Cody Miller<\/strong>. Miller touched in 1:00.57.\u00a0Charlie Swanson<\/strong> (1:00.64) and Mitch Mason<\/strong> (1:00.71) were the last two qualifiers for the final, denying\u00a0Tommy Cope<\/strong> (1:00.73) and\u00a0Max McHugh<\/strong> (1:00.77)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it was a disappointing performance for\u00a0Michael Andrew<\/strong>, the American-record holder in this event at 58.14 and the fourth-fastest performer in history. Andrew ended up 17th in prelims, his time of 1:01.50 more than three seconds behind is best time. Andrew was the winner in the 50 butterfly and runnerup in the 50 breast, but his 100-meter results have been disappointing. He placed fourth in the 100 fly at last year’s World Championships, missing a medal by just four tenths, but he did not even qualify for the A-final at this meet.<\/p>\n