SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which junior performance they found most exciting:
RESULTS
Question: Which Recent Junior Performance is Most Exciting?
- Luca Urlando‘s 1:53.84 200 fly – 69.4%
- Regan Smith‘s 58.45 100 back – 20.7%
- Ariarne Titmus‘s 3:59.35 400 free – 8.2%
- Michael Pickett‘s 22.34 50 free – 1.7%
Voters found Luca Urlando‘s 1:53.84 in the 200 fly to be the most exciting junior performance of the month by a wide margin: his swim topped Regan Smith‘s world junior record 100 back by almost 50 percentage points.
Urlando has fast become the new darling of the SwimSwam comment section after his breakout performances at last summer’s U.S. Nationals and his continual dropping of time this calendar year. He blitzed a 1:53.84 in the 200 fly earlier this month at the Clovis Pro Swim Series, becoming the third-fastest American of all-time and the fastest 17-18 in USA Swimming history. Maybe most notable is whose National Age Group record he broke: it formerly belonged to one Michael Phelps, then an age group phenom who won a World title and broke a world record with his 1:53.93 in prelims at the World Championships.
Though Urlando’s swim wasn’t a world junior record, he’s only 17 and still has about a year and a half to challenge the WJR.
Smith came second in our poll with 20.7% of the votes. She set the world junior record in the 100 back last summer, and has re-set the record three times in the last month and a half. Swimming at the Counsilman Classic in Indiana, Smith broke the record in prelims (58.55) and finals (58.45).
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus came third in our poll with about eight percent of the votes. Her 3:59.35 makes her the third-fastest performer ever in the 400 free and also sets her up as a challenger (though still an outside one) to the almost-unbeatable Katie Ledecky in women’s distance. Titmus, 18, is no longer eligible for the world junior record, but should be a favorite to win a medal of some color at Worlds this summer.
New Zealand 16-year-old Michael Pickett is a much less-known name than the other three, but that may not last for long. He made headlines this month for putting up a 22.34 in the 50 free – faster than 2017 World Champ Caeleb Dressel was at that age. Pickett only gained 1.7% of the votes.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters for their thoughts on California’s new bill that would allow college student-athletes to make money off of their names and images – something the NCAA currently bans under amateurism rules:
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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner
I’d take that 200 fly over that 100 back any day but look at what happened a few months later
Just following the footsteps of father Dean