It’s been about 9 months without a National Age Group record for Michael Andrew, but the 15-year-old broke through with his first in the new age group on Saturday night while winning the Arena Pro Swim Series at Austin.
Andrew, who broke nearly every 13-14 record before aging up last spring, cut almost two full seconds off his lifetime-best to etch his name into the 15-16 records.
The top qualifier out of prelims, Andrew went 1:01.67 to knock off the previous NAG, a 1:01.94 set by USC commit Carsten Vissering at the 2013 Junior Nationals.
Andrew has appeared to slow down his tempo on the front half of the 100 breast as of late, and he’s really seeing it pay off in the back half. Though he was 4th at the 50 turn, the Indie Swimmer rolled past the field over the final 15 meters. Comparing his splits to Vissering’s also shows off his big back half:
- Michael Andrew, 2015: 29.29/32.38 = 1:01.67
- Carsten Vissering, 2013: 28.97/32.97 = 1:01.94
The Jr.WR (1:00.84) is in his crosshairs.
Is this the WR for a 15 yo?
aswimfan – I wish there were a better record of what the Japanese swimmers were doing at this age, but if Gyurta is the standard, he was only 1:02.39 at that age.
He had more glide in his breast. My impression is that Dr. Rushall is strongly opposed to this. But MA has left the reservation before (breathing every stroke in fly).
This is a stunning performance. For all of those Steve Lundquist fans amongst us, his WR from LA 1984 was almost topped by a 15yr old. 1x Dolphin kick of the dive and wall and a slightly different swim suit aside, this is a comparable swim. Lost for words. Well done MA. Good luck for the Rio Trials.
Back to the main topic.
Congrats to Michael Andrew.
Huge time drop in one day.
From 1.03.49 to 1.01.67!
Amazing!
First time he was in lane 4 at that level and reacted like a champion.
Very good race strategy.
His 200 breast improvements were the sign of something big.
He can finish his races now!
But I didn’t expect at all such a huge time drop.
US olympic trials will come a little bit too early in my opinion.
The qualification for Rio will be probably around 59.60/59.80.
Michael Andrew takes date for the after Rio.
Must he now focus only on that stroke? Or swim back and… Read more »
Is there a video?
When I saw already 35 comments, I thought that the main reason would be of course another useless debate about USRPT.
No, this time that’s about college swimming. The usual debate about college swimming. I used to participate. I remember I had launched something about Caeleb Dressel. 7 months per year in yards. Hopefully college swimming will not slower his long course progression. Because it’s common to see great fast kids stagnate or disappear from long course radars during their college career before reappearing and again improving as post-grad swimmers. But there are also some other cases who continue to develop well while there are in college. That was just a question from my part without bashing at all… Read more »
Bobo: I didn’t mean to set the whole thing off again, but some people were asking questions and commenting re: my comment, so I don’t mind taking 5 minutes of my life to re-state a couple of points. And you should stay on it too, IMO. It’s an important topic! The rise of pro swimming. And some people are having some trouble making the adjustment. In a small way, I hope we are helping to chance the culture of the sport by helping to prop up the pro swimming option. Before, NCAA was so idealized (and the pro route was usually discouraged) and I think some are having trouble letting go of that way of thinking. Now kids have two… Read more »
he meant to do it… he said so himself. he said watch this i’m going to make this place catch fire, follow his example and GO PRO!. Then he proceeded to lean back in his chair, chuckling to himself, wishpering “yes… take the bait. that’s it.” haha i’m tired and delusional too early.
Re. MA’s ‘low’ breaststroke: guess what? Shock, horror, David Salo is right! One size doesn’t fit all.
The ‘problem’ with breaststroke is that at the ‘catch’ position the feet have to be, a) underwater (!) and, b) orientated to move water backwards.
a) Their underwater-ness is a function of shin length (tibia/fibula), so long shins mean the swimmer has to either drop the knees deep (using a disadvantageous angle at the hips) or drop the hips deep to allow an advantageous hip angle and a good foot position.
b) The orientation of the feet is mainly a function of ankle flexibility but is influenced by the angles at the hip and knee joints – if the leg rotates at… Read more »
Clive, I am here. All is good, staying healthy. How are you?
I was gone for a Houston swim meet entire weekend with no time to check any Internet.
Our son made Texas AG cut on 50 breast: 33.91, so I still maintain I am the world famous breaststroke expert. 🙂
Anyway, I commented on Michael’s technique many times before. I respect Peter and what he is doing (whatever works for them – as Pope recently said” Who am I to judge.”). I completely disagree with anything they do in breaststroke, but that is my problem.
Cheers.