2015 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES – CHARLOTTE
- Thursday, May 14 – Sunday, May 17, 2015
- Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center, Charlotte, NC
- Friday-Sunday: Prelims 9AM/Finals 6PM (Eastern)
- Live Stream
- Live results
- Also available via Meet Mobile – “2015 Arena Pro Swim Series at Charlotte”
- Psych Sheet
- Sunday Prelims heat sheet
The fourth and final day of competition in Charlotte features the 200 IM, 200 backstroke, 50 breaststroke, 100 freestyle, the women’s 800 freestyle and the men’s 1500 freestyle.
Women’s 200 IM – Prelims
Katinka Hosszu will be competing for her fifth individual victory of the weekend during finals tonight. She claimed the top seed in the women’s 200 IM with her time of 2:13.33. Melanie Margalis looked really strong, however, posting the second fastest time of the morning at 2:13.40.
Qualifying third and fourth was Caitlin Leverenz and Kirsty Coventry. Leverenz looked very smooth this morning, finishing with a 2:14.11, and Coventry was right behind her in the same heat. Coventry was just off her seed time this morning with a 2:15.04.
Joining them in finals will most likely be Hali Flickinger, Kathleen Baker, Tanja Kylliainen, and Katie Meili.
Men’s 200 IM – Prelims
The men’s 200 IM was a bit slow until the final heat of the A flight. There was a four man race to win the final heat, but it was Ryan Lochte who got his hand on the wall first to claim the top seed with his time of 2:01.89. The three that finished behind Lochte in the final heat will also be seeded 3-4-5 tonight in the final. Josh Prenot was second with a 2:02.03, Andrew Seliskar was third at 2:02.04, and Conor Dwyer was 2:02.05.
Gunnar Bentz had a fantastic final 50 to win the first seeded heat with a 2:01.99. He will be the second seed in tonight’s final. Thiago Pereira was just behind him (although I don’t have his final time at the moment), which would likely bump Phelps out of the final. Even though Pereira is most likely in, it probably doesn’t mean much because he has scratched finals every day so far this meet. It is unlikely he will swim tonight in finals.
Chase Kalisz and Kyle Whitaker passed Michael Phelps in the breaststroke leg, finishing first and second in the sixth heat. Kalisz is seeded 6th (or 7th) at 2:02.36, Whitaker is 7th (0r 8th) at 2:03.01, and Phelps is 7th (or 9th) at 2:03.06.
Women’s 200 Backstroke – Prelims
With a statement swim, Katinka Hosszu tied the fifth fastest time in the world in the women’s 200 backstroke at 2:08.32 to claim the top seed. That swim is close to a two second drop from her previous season best of 2:10.03.
2014-2015 LCM Women 200 Back
SEEBOHM
2.05.81
| 2 | Katinka HOSSZU | HUN | 2.06.18 | 08/07 |
| 3 | Missy FRANKLIN | USA | 2.06.34 | 08/08 |
| 4 | Daria K USTINOVA | RUS | 2.07.29 | 04/19 |
| 5 | Dominique BOUCHARD | CAN | 2.08.16 | 08/07 |
| 6 | Hayley BAKER | AUS | 2.08.21 | 04/09 |
Dominique Bouchard qualified second with her time of 2:11.90. She was just ahead of Hali Flickinger and Clara Smiddy, who qualified 3rd and 4th with 2:12’s.
Erin Voss posted the fifth fastest time of the morning at 2:13.01, and Allie Szekely was sixth at 2:13.39. Szekely made a name for herself as an um-and-coming breaststroker at the 2012 Olympic Trails. Since then she has shied away from the breaststroke events and has developed as a backstroker.
Hannah Moore and Melanie Margalis will also be joining them in the A final.
Men’s 200 Backstroke – Prelims
Tyler Clary had his best swim of the weekend this morning, earning the top seed of the men’s 200 backstroke with his time of 2:00.14. Jack Conger, Omar Pinzon, and Jonathan Roberts were all just off his time at 2:00’s as well.
Joe Patching finished fifth at 2:01.06, just ahead of Ryan Lochte who finished sixth at 2:01.48.
Arkady Vyatchanin and Tristan Sanders will be the last two A finalists at 2:01.69 and 2:02.69, respectively.
Women’s 50 Breaststroke – Prelims
Alia Atkinson got an early lead in the women’s 50 breaststroke which proved to be too much for Jessica Hardy. Atkinson posted the fastest time of the morning, and the fifth fastest time in the world this year at 30.72. Hardy was running her down towards the end of the race but ran out of room. She was second at 31.04 with the 11th fastest time in the world this year.
2014-2015 LCM Women 50 Breast
MEILUTYTE
29.74
| 2 | Jennie JOHANSSON | SWE | 30.05 | 08/09 |
| 3 | Alia ATKINSON | JAM | 30.11 | 08/09 |
| 4 | Yulia EFIMOVA | RUS | 30.13 | 08/09 |
| 5 | Jessica HARDY | USA | 30.20 | 08/09 |
The winner of the women’s 100 breaststroke, Katie Meili, qualified third with her time of 31.08. Her time will stand as the 14th fastest in the world this year.
Breeja Larson and Molly Hannis finished fourth and fifth, just behind Meili. Larson was 31.11 and Hannis was 31.16.
The sixth spot went to Andrea Cottrell at 31.69. She was followed by Lilly King in seventh at 31.90 and Hilda Luthersdottir in eighth at 31.99.
Men’s 50 Breaststroke – Prelims
Richard Funk posted the top time of the morning with a 27.76. He was just ahead of Felipe Lima who qualified second at 27.90. Lima currently has the 7th fastest time in the world from the Maria Lenk Trophy in April at 27.31.
Cody Miller has been swimming well. He qualified third at 27.91, and was the third and final swimmer to break 28 seconds. Brendan McHugh, the 2014 National Champion in this event, tied for fourth with a 28.11. Rostyslav Fedyna was also 28.11.
Zach Hayden and Youssef El Kamash finished sixth and seventh with 28.3’s, hwile Jorge Murillo Valdes picked up eighth at 28.63.
SwimSwam’s senior reporter, Jared Anderson, was .01 outside of 8th place with a 28.64.
Women’s 100 Freestyle – Prelims
Natalie Coughlin was about a half second off of her time from Mesa with a 54.67. She posted the fastest time of the morning and will be the top seed. The only other swimmer in the field to break 55 seconds was Chantal Van Landeghem with her time of 54.99.
Ariana Vanderpool-Wallace is sitting comfortably in third at 55.28, and has a lot of momentum from two event wins last night. Sandrine Mainville and Shannon Vreeland are fourth and fifth at 55.41 and 55.54, respectively.
Amanda Kendall dropped slightly from her seed to qualify sixth at 55.72. She was just ahead of Penny Oleksiak in seventh at 55.81.
Kelsi Worrell posted a best time to earn the last spot in the A final at 55.83. She was entered with a 56.06.
Men’s 100 Freestyle – Prelims
Nathan Adrian posted the fastest time of the morning to earn the top seed in the men’s 100 freestyle. He looked really easy towards the end of his swim and should have much more in the tank for his swim tonight. Marco Orsi was second with a 49.34, followed by Joao De Lucca in third at 49.41.
Luca Dotto and Marcelo Chierighini were fourth and fifth with 49.6’s, while Josh Schneider, the winner of the men’s 50 freestyle, picked up sixth at 49.78.
Cesar Cielo and Geoff Cheah were the final two A final qualifiers. The top 8 swimmers were all under 50 seconds this morning .
It’s worth noting that Phelps was actually about a second faster in the 200 IM this morning than he was in prelims at Mesa, and only about .2 slower in the 100 free than he was in the prelims at Mesa. This meet just has a much deeper field, especially in the 100 free. Going to be some fun races tonight.
It’s so hard to interpret the results at a meet like this. Thank you for that much needed perspective!
I noticed on meet mobile that in the women’s 800 early heats, Smith and Runge not only dead-heated for fastest swim so far at 8:29.28, but were also tied at every single 50 split from beginning to end– I can’t think of another time that’s ever happened before in the history of swimming. 😉 😉 😉
And an even more incredible coincidence, there were similar “ties” for 7th, 11th, and 14th places..
Ooooh! I just thought of an idea! Maybe we can get a big name swimming star to make a statement to the media that Phelps is all washed up and he’ll never win another Olympic gold medal! That would REALLY kick his training into high gear! Let’s start a collection! Or maybe GoldMedalMel would do it for us? 😉
It would have to be a European or other foreign national, now that Clary’s matured, I can’t think of any respected US Swimmer with both the credentials and the grapes who would dare to say that. Maybe one of the Australians??
Don Talbot was REALLY good at pissing Phelps off with his remarks leading into Beijing. Someone give Talbot a call and ask him to start making some of those statements. If that doesn’t work, there is always Thorpe.
Go Penny and Yuri!
Danjohnrob, I agree that it is wonderful to see so many of these names still in the game. I also think as it becomes the norm people will have more and more data and experience to inform how they train as they age. I only meant I am not sure we are there yet and that this may be the window in which rising stars surpass returning ones.
But it is also possible that we will see the older competitors shine when it matters most, in part because they can take big arenas in stride.
I understood your point, which is a good one! I think it may be the case that the reason older swimmers seem to only excel as sprint swimmers is that sprint swimmers tend to to incorporate a lot more rest/recovery into their training!
Great job, Jared Anderson! Ninth place in a meet like this is awesome! We’ll all be rooting for you tonight! 🙂
I think we will watch a changing of the guard over the next year. Phelps, but also Lochte, Ervin, Clary, Coughlin, maybe even Adrian are drifting from dominance. I do ‘t think the question us about whether they can swim well. I think the question is whether they can swim better than the best. So they may win a race here or a race there (200IM for Lochte seems likeliest) but not across the board.
It also is am open question only time can answer: do any of these coaches really understand the best training strategies for elite performance as a body ages? I am not blaming the coaches. I just think that it is relatively new to see… Read more »
Perhaps we will see a “changing of the guard” and a “drift from dominance” for many simmers, but the US is lucky to have stars like them sticking around to help with the transition by providing depth (especially in relays), bringing media attention with their big names, offering leadership, and oh yeah, maybe a medal or two while they’re at it!. For example, 2008 might not have been quite as much fun without Lezak or 2012 without Hansen. Even if Lochte and Phelps “fail” to win individual gold, they could still help US swimming a LOT! 😉
It will be interesting if Phelps is truly doing more yards and working out like he did prior to 2008 to see how he ends the year. Last year he swam some great in-season times and did well at the championship meets too. They weren’t best times, but they were fast and competitive. It may be one of those things where less yardage is the way to go for an aging athlete, but time will tell. I personally don’t believe 30 is too old to train the way they did from an aerobic capacity, it’s more about the body holding up and recovering.
We’ll find out 3 months from now the GOAT.
I’m thinking the same way, Justin! Logically one would assume his suffering now will lead to a better result than last summer, which wasn’t that bad; however, there is the example of Natalie Coughlin, who apparently overtrained/didn’t get enough rest before 2012 trials and paid the price. I’m glad Phelp and Bowman have this season to play with and find out what will work best for Michael! I think you’d be crazy too bet too much money against him!
Coughlin ’12 is a great example of the overtraining syndrome, it can even happen to sprinters too, the great Jenny Thompson had a couple years of that too, I think it was back somewhere between ’96-’00 before she regained her usual form. And also to relatively younger swimmers, Grevers had a year of overtraining syndrome in 2010 I think it was, and Lochte, I think in 2011.
I totally am feeling the same !!! the new guard is shining forth ! let’s just wait one year and at least between 7 up to 10 new comers will step up for the OT . Seliskar , Conger , Dressel , Manuel ,Meili , and a few others will surprise .
This doesn’t mean i don’t love the old guard ! they will anyway shine this year and next , that’s clear . With a few newcomers on the Team , that will promise to be most interesting for the Olympics . I can imagine a 400 free relay with Adrian , Feigen , Conger & Dressel for example or a 800 free relay team of Lochte , Dwyer , Rooney and Conger . Older and newcomers working hand in hand for amazing relays .
Dressel needs to show he still has the thing on LCM.. and this is early, but It seems Phelps cannot do tons of races anymore.. and not so sure he can be a 47 low (not even 47) like people predict, he will probably go for relay spot only and 200 IM/100 fly (If he qualifies on 100 fly)
Hey swimbreastroke. Texas used mizuno thsre are two models licon used the multi race model.although there is a spront model