Zane Grothe Powers To Gold in 800 Free; Jordan Wilimovsky Second

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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American Zane Grothe has had himself quite a week in Tokyo at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Grothe set a huge best time in the 1500 on the first day, won bronze in the 400 free yesterday, and followed it up with another best time in the 800 on Sunday.

Grothe swam a 7:43.74 to win the 800 free, lowering his best time from a 7:44.57. He also just missed the American Record of 7:43.60 from Michael McBroom at the 2013 World Championships. Grothe had a big second half, negative splitting the race by almost four seconds. Grothe finished ahead of American teammate Jordan Wilimovsky (7:45.19) and Australia’s Jack McLoughlin (7:47.31).

Grothe is now ranked second in the world in the 800 free, almost a rarity for American men’s distance swimming. Grothe’s time would have won silver at the European Championships last week, sitting only behind Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk (7:42.96).

Grothe also sits 12th in the all-time rankings in this event, sitting behind McBroom and moving in front of Italian Federico Colbertaldo (7:43.84, 2009).

Australia’s Mack Horton finished in fifth as he was never really on pace to challenge Grothe. Horton was fourth with a 7:53.43. Brazil’s Guilherme Costa was fourth at 7:51.67.

Japan’s Naito Ehara (7:55.02) and Shogo Takeda (7:56.01) finished in sixth and seventh.Canada’s Alex Pratt (8:03.12) was eighth.

2018 World Rankings:

Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR, 7:42.96
Zane Grothe, USA, 7:43.74
Gregorio Paltrinieri, ITA, 7:45.12
Jordan Wilimovsky, USA, 7:45.19
Florian Wellbrock, GER, 7:45.60
Henrik Christiansen, NOR, 7:46.75
Jack McLoughlin, AUS, 7:47.31
Jan Micka, CZE, 7:49.73

All-Time Rankings:

9. Ryan Cochrane, CAN, 7:41.86 (2011)
10. Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR, 7:42.96 (2018)
11. Michael McBroom, USA, 7:43.60 (2013)
12. Zane Grothe, USA, 7:43.74 (2018)
13. Federico Colbertaldo, ITA, 7:43.84 (2009)
14. Mack Horton, AUS, 7:44.02 (2015)
15. Henrik Christiansen, NOR, 7:44.21 (2017)

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Paul Anthony

5 years ago

Awesome! ????