Connor Jaeger Rocks New American & US Open 1500m Record

Day 2 of the 2015 Duel in the Pool started with the distance races and the men’s 1500m was an incredible battle to remember.  Newly-minted World Record Holder in the event, Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy, was neck and neck with American Connor Jaeger virtually the entire way.

But, it was Team USA’s Jaeger who was able to dig deep and fire off a fierce final 50m to take the win and set a new American Record in the process.  When all was said and done, Jaeger stopped the clock at a remarkable 14:19.29 for the victory.

The American Record coming into the meet was a 14:31.02 held by Erik Vendt from all the way back in 2000, but Jaeger etched his name into the record books by beating that by a margin of over 10 seconds.

Paltrinieri led through about the 1100m mark, but that’s when the Club Wolverine Elite swimmer, Jaeger, slowly started chipping away at the slight lead that Paltrinieri. For every inch Jaeger gained, however, Paltrinieri answered, so the American never got too far away from the World Record Holder.

Entering the final 75m, it was still anybody’s race between Paltrinieri and Jaeger, but was in that final 50m, especially after the final turn, that Jaeger tapped into his will to win and simply took the race as his own.

Jaeger has steadily been establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with on the international stage, capped off this summer with his American Record in the LCM edition of this event at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Split break-down of Jaeger’s race is below:

50m (1) 26.22 28.60
100m (1) 54.82 28.72
150m (1) 1:23.54 28.58
200m (1) 1:52.12 28.97
250m (1) 2:21.09 28.85
300m (1) 2:49.94 28.85
350m (1) 3:18.79 28.81
400m (1) 3:47.60 28.86
450m (1) 4:16.46 28.89
500m (1) 4:45.35 28.96
550m (1) 5:14.31 28.92
600m (1) 5:43.23 28.93
650m (2) 6:12.16 29.09
700m (2) 6:41.25 29.00
750m (2) 7:10.25 28.92
800m (2) 7:39.17 28.95
850m (2) 8:08.12 28.88
900m (2) 8:37.00 28.69
950m (2) 9:05.69 28.83
1000m (2) 9:34.52 28.50
1050m (1) 10:03.02 28.59
1100m (1) 10:31.61 28.68
1150m (1) 11:00.29 28.81
1200m (1) 11:29.10 28.81
1250m (1) 11:57.91 28.89
1300m (1) 12:26.80 28.90
1350m (2) 12:55.70 28.75
1400m (2) 13:24.45 28.33
1450m (2) 13:52.78 26.51