Swimming video courtesy of Team Andrew.
Swimming news coverage reported by Jared Anderson.
On a weekend dominated by college conference meets, Michael Andrew quietly added another National Age Group record to his collection at a Speedo Champions Series meet in College Station, Texas.
The 14-year-old Andrew went 1:46.29 to win the B final of the 200-yard butterfly, breaking the 11-year-old NAG record set by Ricky Berens. That time was 1:48.24.
Andrew, who owns NAG records in the 100s of all 4 strokes as well as the 200 IM, now appears to be turning his attention to the longer races, starting with this 200 fly. He also swam the 200 back Friday morning, but was disqualified in prelims. In addition, he’s slated to swim the 200 free and 200 and 400 IM later on in the meet, as well as the 100 fly, 100 back and 50 free.
Andrew is closing in on his 15th birthday, so it makes sense he’s trying out some other events to try and stamp his name on the 13-14 record book a few more times before moving up to a new age bracket. The Speedo Series meet will continue through Sunday night in College Station. Results are available on Meet Mobile, listed under “USA Swimming Speedo Champions Series.”
Just want to add, that we should be careful getting too caught up in analyzing his stroke/turns etc. There are famous coaches and programs that more or less ignore walls and technique, and we’ve never too much lambasted them….ok, well, a little. Is anyone arguing Bill Rose doesn’t know what he is doing? I’ve seen plenty of his swimmers struggle mightily on the walls. Chad, Chloe(big-time), and even Tom, all had rough walls not just at 14, but at 18 and beyond.
I vividly recall Chad and Chloe losing probably :10+ seconds to competitors in the 800/1000/mile races, even long course. I remember seeing Tom swim the 100 fly at his first dual meet in college, where he kicked… Read more »
There is a lot of discussion about his walls and turns but I think most folks are losing sight of the fact that both turns and underwaters are not as important in long course swimming. Long course is more about swimming versus turns/underwaters. This is especially true of the backstroke and butterfly events where a far greater portion of the race is swum underwater in short course yards versus LCM (7 turns in SCY versus 3 in LCM). Breath control is also more emphasized while being underwater and results in a different kind of training requirement. I am not saying turns are not important but much less of a factor in LCM. In part I think in the US lack… Read more »
This is correct, but the thing that caught my eye was a guy as big as he is taking 6,8,8,8,8,9,9,x strokes. Nine strokes seems like a lot of strokes for someone pushing 6’4″. Are there any successful LCM swimmers that have his size and his turn over for 200M?
Very true, but MP has/had some of the best walls in the world. When it comes to the elite in LCM, that is a difference maker in the 100s, 200IM. In 2008, no one outside of Lochte had the total package of walls and swimming.
Turns are becoming a much bigger factor in long course then maybe you realize? With so many of these athletes very even in a swimming sense, turns are becoming a difference maker. In the 100s and 200IM, it is critical. The two hundreds are, at least right now, about efficiency and maintaining momentum. If a swimmer is breathing efficiently, like Phelps did in fly, they can breathe every stroke and hammer the walls in the… Read more »
BTW –
I take the opposite philosophy on LCM training – I think the reason why the US has such an extensive history of dominance internationally is partially because we spent so much time training SCY – the ability to maintain a higher intensity with better form over a longer period translates well to LCM. I don’t have anything to back that up besides anecdotal evidence though, so take it as discussion fodder only.
Recently the dominance of US men’s swimming has pretty much been Michael Phelps and some appearances by Lochte here and there. Other than those two the drop off in US talent on the world stage will be much greater now that Lochte is getting older and Phelps as of now is “retired”. Basically we will not see another Phelps for a little while if ever. I mean Phelps has 22 Olympic Medals, 18 of them Gold! I don’t see realistically American men stepping up to account and fill the void for all of those medals? The competition level and folks specializing in specific events will make it even harder.
On a side note I attended the Grand Prix in… Read more »
By dominance, do you mean just golds, or overall medal count? At the 2011 World Championship, only four different US men earned individual medals (eleven total individual metals). In 2013, 11 different US men earned a total of 13 medals. The US men won the 4×200 both years, would’ve have won the medley relay both years except for a .01 early takeoff, and actually finished higher in the 4×100 free in 2013 without Phelps than they did in 2011 with Phelps. Granted, US men earned six individual golds in 2011 versus just three in 2013, but I think the US men are plenty deep, just may not quite have the top-level talent represented in Lochte and Phelps.
Well is there any other medal than Gold? Can you name the silver and bronze medalists from the last two Olympics and World Championships – without having to look them up?? Of course I am just kidding about the silver and bronze but yes in the US we place a lot of emphasis on “Gold”. I mean every commercial I see on TV has the tag line “Going for Gold” in it. Yes there is depth in US men’s swimming but not at the level that Phelps and Lochte brought. Between the two of them they have pretty much locked up the two available spots on the Olympic roster and then in the events they chose not to swim there… Read more »
M Andrew’s splits are on the mark, particularly for a 14 year old. 2-fly is a tough race. You have to do for years before you pull those back-end two 50s into the right range. If you’re conditioned, it’s a lot less about endurance than techique (your technique, the one that is right for your body-type). THE POINT: If M Andrew doesn’t grow another inch or train any harder, he’ll get down to a 1:42-43 on experience alone, by simply getting in-tune with his body as all young men do as they grow.
In 200 yard fly, I went 1:55 at 14, 1:51 at 15, and a 1:46. at 16, 1:44 at 17, and a 1:57.8 in the 200m… Read more »
Mel I certainly respect and agree with you on a 14 year old’s ability to split a 200 fly, you have plenty of experience.
Here is my thing with all of this. We see a lot of crappy posts and several with questions, good questions we would love to hear from the family about. Regardless if someone says his walls suck, the underlying question is what are they doing about it? How much training time are they dedicating to those? Do they have a projected timeline for that development or are they just waiting for them to catch up?
The 50 free in slow motion. It seems pretty clear to me its a bit unconventional, but so was Malchow’s fly… Read more »
My feeling as it relates to the Olympics is that it doesn’t “prove” anything if he doesn’t make the Olympics in 2016. Now the Olympics have always been hard to make (understatement) but I think it is a lot harder to make them now than it was even 4 years ago…just based on the amount of people in the sport. If Phelps was 13 now… (so would be 15 in 2016) I am certain he would not make the team.
Making the team is a great goal to have but realistically he needs to just keep dropping as much time as he can. I think he will stick with USA… I really hope so at least. It is a much… Read more »
Michael does want to represent the U.S. in 2016. According to Peter, they will look at what are his best chances to make the U.S. team 6 months to a year out. Peter always says that they can’t predict Michael’s physical development so its way too early to focus on any one event or events at this time. They also know that its best to get others involved in his development as they are already starting to work with Josh Davis. They also plan to have Rowdy Gaines get involved.
This kid has so much potential–it seems everybody putting in the 2 cents on what he can improve on (which is good) also believes this—
Thanks for the video.
Do you have the 400 IM?
I meant looks like he just dies the last 100 of this race.
I agree. He has slow walls, not enough kick off the walls which I’m sure will come with more development. But if you watch the race it looks like he just does… Shows the lack of endurance his training program gives him in the longer events.
Not nearly as smooth a technique as Phelps especially in the freestyle. This kid will peak by age 16.
C’mon man, your analysis is terrible beyond the superficial. I would be happy to have a kid split 23, 26, 27, 28. Gutsy swim, which can be refined. He is 14.
How would you rate a 22, 25, 26, 27 that totaled a 142? I’d say that’s pretty great. Did you want to see a 24, 26, 27, 27? What could possibly please you?
Peter… you beat me to it…
Dylan Bosch split 22 high, 24 high, 25 high, 26 high to go 140 at B1Gs this weekend.
The anti-USRPT crowd is looking silly at this point. Now we are going to dismiss it because he’s ‘dying’… It’s really, really silly.
Is it for everyone? No. Do what you want and what you think works best… but don’t dismiss results because they are doing it a way that you don’t like.
Good on Michael… that was a great race, and there’s lots of room for improvement in the underwaters… and I’m sure they’ll figure that out too…
Anybody else thinks he kinda rounds his turns?