arena Swim of the Week: Grace Koenig-Song Becomes #2 13-Year-Old Ever In LC 50 Breast

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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

Grace Koenig-Song made history on Thursday night at the NCSA Spring Swimming Championships in Orlando, delivering an all-time performance in the final of the women’s 50 breaststroke.

Koenig-Song, a member of the Nasa Wildcat Aquatics, neared her lifetime best in the short course prelims in 28.84, and then won the long course final in 31.80 in what was the second-fastest swim in history from a 13-year-old girl.

Koenig-Song’s time overtakes former 50 breast world record holder Benedetta Pilatoand current world record holder Ruta Meilutyte to become the second-fastest ever, trailing only Estonian Eneli Jefimova.

Fastest 13-Year-Olds of All-Time, Girls’ 50 Breaststroke (LCM)

1. Eneli Jefimova (EST), 31.69 – 2020 Estonian Meet
2. Grace Koenig-Song (USA), 31.80 – 2024 NCSA Spring Championships
3. Benedetta Pilato (ITA), 31.82 – 2018 Italian Championships
4. Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 31.85 – 2011 Euro Meet
5. Harri Evans (GBR), 32.04 – 2017 British Championships

In the race, Koenig-Song edged out 17-year-old Caroline Larsen (31.86) for the victory, falling just .01 shy of Margaret Aroesty‘s NCSA Meet Record set in 2016 (31.79).

Koenig-Song entered the meet with a best time of 33.51, but had been faster than that on Wednesday opening up the 100 breast (32.93), where she finished in a time of 1:09.97 to break 1:10 for the first time and qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Her previous PB stood at 1:10.53, set in November.

Among Americans, Koenig-Song is now the fastest 13-year-old ever in the 100 breast, overtaking Lucy Thomas (1:10.35) and Abby Arens (1:10.36) with her swim on Wednesday.

Last year, Koenig-Song broke the National Age Group Record in the girls’ 11-12 age group in the SCY 100 breast (1:02.02), and with more than a year of progression to come, Amanda Beard‘s 13-14 NAG in the LCM 100 breast from 1996 (1:08.09) could be on the chopping block.

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