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5 Big Things From Day 1 of Arena Pro Swim Series – Santa Clara

2016 ARENA PRO SWIM SERIES AT SANTA CLARA

#1 SUN YANG POSTS WORLD’S FASTEST TIME IN 200 FREESTYLE

Chinese Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Sun Yang blasted to a 1:44.82 to win the men’s 200 free final. That time landed him as the fastest 200 freestyler of 2016, surpassing Great Britain’s James Guy. Guy previously sat on top of the world rankings with a 1:45.19. With no clear favorite to win the 200 free in Rio, Yang has now asserted himself as a gold medal threat.

#2 CONOR DWYER SCARES LIFETIME BEST IN 200 FREESTYLE

Sun Yang wasn’t the only swimmer who turned heads in the men’s 200 free. Tonight, Conor Dwyer swam a 1:45.41, less than a tenth of a second off his best time of 1:45.32 from the 2013 World Championships. That swim was over a second faster than Dwyer has been at any meet since July of 2013.

Dwyer now sit’s 3rd in the World Rankings for this year, behind only Yang and Guy. With trials coming up, Dwyer looks like one of the top contenders for an individual 200 free swim in Rio.

#3 SARAH HAASE PUTS AMERICAN 100 BREASTSROKERS ON NOTICE

Stanford’s Sarah Haase scorched a lifetime best 1:06.31 in prelims of the women’s 100 breast this morning. Haase was off the mark in finals, but still managed to win the event in 1:07.05. She was nearly a second ahead of anyone else in finals, including Olympian Jessica Hardy, who was 2nd in 1:08.01.

Before this spring, Haase had never swum under 1:08 in this event. Her previous best coming into the meet was a 1:07.53 from Mesa PSS in April. Haase now ranks 8th in the world this year, with Lilly King and Molly Hannis being the only Americans ahead of her.

#4 NOEMIE THOMAS DOWNS VOLLMER’S 100 FLY MEET RECORD

Canada’s Noemie Thomas, who trains at Cal Berkeley, swam to a convincing win in the 100 fly tonight. Thomas posted a 57.72 to hold off Aussie Emma McKeon (58.31). Thomas’ swim clipped Dana Vollmer‘s meet record, which she set at 57.73 in 2010, by a hundredth of a second. Vollmer was entered in the event, but opted out of competing in prelims this morning.

#5 MAYA DIRADO BLASTS 200 FREESTYLE BEST

Maya DiRado clocked a lifetime best in the 200 free tonight, blasting a 1:57.70 to take 3rd behind the Australian duo of Emma McKeon (1:56.36) and Bronte Barratt (1:56.65). DiRado dropped over seven tenth from her previous best, which was a 1:58.41 from 2013 Nationals. Now that she’s dropped a 1:57 in season, DiRado makes a strong case that she’s on the list of women we could see on Team USA’s 4×200 free relay this summer.

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Swimmer Thieroff
8 years ago

Anyone know where race footage of that 200 will be? Those times are insane, possibly comparable to what the winning time in Rio will be… Unbelievable in season swims for both Sun Yang and Dwyer!

Robert Gibbs
Reply to  Swimmer Thieroff
8 years ago

USA Swimming already has race videos from Indianapolis up on its YouTube channel. Presumably they’ll have videos from Santa Clara up later tonight or tomorrow.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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