Georgia redshirt senior Chase Kalisz has chosen the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 fly as his 3 individual events for the upcoming NCAA Championships.
The last time we saw Kalisz at an NCAA Championship meet, he placed 2nd in the 400 IM, his best event, but didn’t perform as well in his other two races. In the 200 IM, he finished 15th, and on the meet’s final day, he placed 38th out of 40 swimmers in the 200 fly.
The 200 fly is the interesting choice, with Kalisz selecting that race over the 200 breaststroke. When he arrived at Georgia, breaststroke was his primary stroke among the 4 and where he did the most damage in the IM. As his college career has progressed, however, he’s moved more-and-more of his focus toward the 200 fly – a natural shift giving his tutorship under Michael Phelps combined with Georgia’s recent success in the event.
He swam the 200 fly at last summer’s Olympic Trials as well. He ultimately finished 5th, missing the Olympic Team in that event by less than a second.
Kalisz has gone lifetime bests in both the 200 yard fly and 200 yard free already this season. In the former, he swam a 1:40.38 at the Georgia Fall Invitational in December. That time seeds him 3rd behind Texas’ Jack Conger and Cal’s Zheng Quah.
But he’s also been a lifetime best in the 200 yard breaststroke this season – a 1:54.62 at an otherwise insignificant dual meet against Florida. That knocked a full second from his previous lifetime best done as a freshman at the 2013 SEC Championships. That would have only seeded him 31st at NCAAs, but the time has a very different perspective given its timing.
More power to him!! They’re great events! These are events my son likes to swim!! Best of luck for great swims!!
Right choice, he is in his last 6 months of college and he needs strong fly for his pro-career (US swimming have two possible spot in the 200 fly and a world class IM swimmer needs strong fly to compete with the best in the world).
Perfect comment
Schooling Conger Seliskar Switkowski Lanza and Pace Clark. Good luck in the snake Pit that is the 2 Fly.
I really think he would get 2nd to Licon in that 2 breast ( no disrespect to guys like McKee, Fabian and Fiala)
Apparently everyone thinks Chase and the UGA staff are idiots. Don’t you think that if they believed he’d score more in the 200 Breast he’d be swimming the 200 Breast? I happen to think Chase and UGA are swimming what they believe he’ll score more in.
I agree they know what they are doing, I just think there is more wiggle room in the 200 breast vs the 200 fly. I just think the 2 Fly is absolutely stacked compared to the 2 Breast.
Way better chance of making the 200 fly final than 200 breast
You forgot Quah
How many of those guys got 5th at OT? None. Also why do people think he’d get 2nd in 200 breast he’d have to drop nearly 3 whole seconds to even be in the top 3? Cause he swam quick at a dual meet he’s automatically a contendor?
No, because he’s and Olympic silver medalist who chased people down in the breastroke !
Also, none of them got 5th at trials. But one did get third, one is a former world bronze medalist and the other one probably would have been top 3 in rio had he swam it.
What? Who wuold have been top 3 in Rio if he swam the 200 fly?
And, breaststroke is usually the weak leg in the IM since 2004 with only few great breaststoker (Shanteu, Verrazsto and few others)…
Prob Schooling?
Schooling
Are you kidding? Schooling best time in the 200 fly is 1.55 high, to win the bronze medal in Rio he wuold need 1.53.60, at least 2 seconds drop…
HE could’ve finished second in 200 breastroke… 1:54 at a dual meet. He most certainly has a 1:50/1:49 in him. Bad move he will get anywhere from 3-5 in 2 fly and not to mention putting him in the event hurts his teammates points. I thought 2 breast was a no brainer
I really do not understand why Kalisz is forcing the 200 fly so much. I understand that he was trying to improve his front half of the 400IM, and that has generally spurred his improvement/focus on the 200 fly; however, he is still a much better breaststroker than butterflier. Thats where he makes his big move in the 400 IM, and the words came out of his own mouth in December when he said his breaststroke has never been faster.
His best stroke, breaststroke, has improved, the team needs him in that stroke for relays, and he has the potential to score a couple more points in the 200 breast than the 200 fly in my opinion. Yet he… Read more »
He’s seeded 3rd in the 200y fly and would be seeded 31st in the 200y breast.
Lmao he swam that time AT A DUEL MEET that’s probably the fastest or one of the fastest duel meet times of the year. I agree with Samh 100 percent
He’s always swum the 200 fly as his 3rd individual event. Outside of having a poor swim in 2015 (not his best meet overall either), he has always performed well.
There’s a difference between your strongest split in the 400 IM and your most competitive stroke 200.
The 1:54 from a dual meet is definitely impressive, but only Chase and his coaches know the full context of that swim. He might have had some rest, or a suit, and expected to see something quicker… who knows. The fact is he’s consistently swum the 200 Fly at National events, dual meets, SECs, NCAAs, etc. for the past 4 years and has moved away from the 200 brst, and is… Read more »
Swimswam,
He has never made finals in the 200 fly at NCAAs. He made finals in the 200 breaststroke his freshman year.
*swimswammer
it does allow more rest before the relay finals than the 2 breast.
Olympic Trials finalists swims the events he finaled in instead of the breastroke, who would have thought