{"id":613292,"date":"2025-06-05T10:43:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T17:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=613292"},"modified":"2025-06-05T10:43:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T17:43:11","slug":"us-nationals-simone-manuel-building-off-best-swim-in-six-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/us-nationals-simone-manuel-building-off-best-swim-in-six-years\/","title":{"rendered":"US Nationals: Simone Manuel Building Off Best Swim in Six Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Nationals: Simone Manuel Building Off Best Swim in Six Years<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Simone Manuel<\/strong> looked up at the scoreboard and couldn’t help but smile.<\/p>\n

Even though she was hoping to finish top two in the 100 freestyle, her third-place finish came in a time of 52.83.<\/p>\n

When asked about it being a while since she went that fast, Manuel knew exactly how long.<\/p>\n

“Six years. Fastest I have been in six years,” Manuel said. “It was really exciting to turn around and see a 52. It has been since 2019 that I have seen that in an individual 100 free. Obviously, the competitor in me would have loved to get an individual spot and just been a bit faster, but I really can’t complain. I have a lot of reasons to be proud of that swim and use it to catapult me over the next couple of years in this quad.”<\/p>\n

The Olympic gold medalist has made the most of her move to train at Texas with Bob Bowman<\/strong>, who also coached her at Arizona State during her post-grad career.<\/p>\n

“I have made a lot of progress even since January, not knowing what I wanted to do in my swimming career after Paris,” Manuel said. “I just have an amazing group at Texas. We have a fun time. It is a really good environment, and I am two hours from home. I spent a lot of my adult career away from my family. It was the best decision for me to go to Stanford and go to ASU, but also as I get to the latter stages of my career, balance is really important and being able to see my family is a big part of that. It really fills my emotional tank. Being close to them has been really good for me.”<\/p>\n

Manuel still has the 50 free after finishing third in the 100 and seventh in the 200 free.<\/p>\n

“Not what I would have wanted. It didn’t really show today but a lot of focus has been on the 200, which is probably why it didn’t show. I think I have put more pressure on that event than I would like to. Right now, that feels more mental than physical. But it has helped my 100 free and taken the pressure off that,” Manuel said. “It is a bummer, but obviously the journey is not over. It is a four-year process, and I am hopefully continuing to make progress.”<\/p>\n