2019 ESSZ Age Group Championships
- March 14-19, 2019
- Georiga Tech McAuley Center, Atlanta, Georgia
- SCY
- Results on Meet Mobile – search “ESSZ”
A week after missing Gretchen Walsh‘s 13-14 50 freestyle National Age Group record by just .01, the TAC Titans’ Claire Curzan obliterated it Saturday evening in Atlanta at the 2019 ESSZ Age Group Championships.
Curzan, 14, went 21.89 to become the first 14-and-under girl in history to break 22 seconds. The next-fastest swimmer, Morgan Carteaux, finished in 23.37.
In addition to topping the 13-14 ranks, the high school freshman Cruzan is now the second-fastest 16-and-under swimmer in history, behind only Gretchen Walsh‘s 21.82
Top 5 Performers in History: 13-14 Girls 50 Freestyle
- Claire Curzan, 21.89 – 2019
- Gretchen Walsh, 22.00 – 2017
- Kate Douglass, 22.32 – 2016
- Dara Torres, 22.44 – 1982
- Annika Korb, 22.46 – 2018
Top 5 Performers in History: 16&U Girls 50 Freestyle
- Gretchen Walsh, 21.81 – 2018
- Claire Curzan, 21.89 – 2019
- Torri Huske, 21.95 – 2019
- Simone Manuel/Kate Douglass, 22.04 – 2013/2016
- Alex Walsh, 22.08 – 2018
Watch the race below, courtesy of the TAC Titans:
WATCH:
Claire Curzan goes 21.89 to become the first 14&U to break 22 in the 50 Free!! pic.twitter.com/AZuzY1TK0z
— TAC Titans (@TACTITANS) March 16, 2019
Curzan has been on fire over the past month. In February, she broke both the short course 100 and 200 fly 13-14 NAG records on consecutive weekends. Last weekend at Cary Sectionals, Curzan broke Missy Franklin’s 13-14 100 freestyle NAG record, going 47.67.
Amazing swim. Is this her last meet as a 13-14? Anyone know when she ages up?
She doesn’t age up until the summer.
Eh I once had a pet dolphin that was faster
Video or it didn’t happen.
Yeah, and she had neither a starting wedge nor a modern suit.
She could have easily been 21 low modern times back then with a tech suit and wedge
Yes and imagine how fast the athletes could have swim in the 1940s if they wore tech suits instead of the old wool body suits. They dove off the edge of the pool as there were no “start blocks”, Lane lines were ropes, shallow pool, cloudy water, no goggles, terrible gutter systems, hand touch on the FREESTYLE FLIP TURN!!! AND had to swim uphill both ways. The sand dial timing system was unreliable. The training was rigorous as some of the swimmers trained 3 or 4 times a week with some practices getting up to 1500 yards!!!
This comment is highly underrated.
We would be faster than sharks now 😂😂
I was thinking the same she’s very underrated!!
haha I suck
The positive impact of competition
Its all this dang underwater kicking Im telling you!!! Some poor kid is gonna pop a lung and come up coughing blood and green stuff and I don’t want that to happen. I say limit the underwater off the start and turn to 10 meters. Thats plenty far and safer for the youth of America!!! So what if a kid goes 21 in the 50 and really gets hurt. To push these boundaries in very unhealthy and thats a fact.
What’s unhealthy about this? Holding ones breath for 15 yards is not a health concern for the youth of America…
I don’t know why whenever someone breaks any sort of barrier, someone has to comment this. They train to hold their breath underwater for like 7 seconds I think they’re fine.
Um how about no. We don’t enjoy stupidity here
Back in the day before all this underwater kicking is was pretty normal for practices to have whole sets like no-breath second 25 of a 50 or no breath on the third 25 of a 100. No one every burst a lung from those sets. At 14 my 50 free was a breath at the flags on the first 25 and that was it, and my lungs are still intact. Breath control is nothing new, what’s new is that the current generation is using that control in a more advantageous way.
We did unsafe things when I was training as an age grouper, like 100y underwater nobreather tier stupid. 15 meters is not a big deal for an athlete.
We got a new troll guys don’t engage
INDEED – and a Big one LOL
Explain to me what the difference is between swimming underwater to 15 meters off of both walls versus swimming those first 15 meters without taking a breath? Because with this logic, you might as well start enforcing mandatory breathing patterns for the 50, 100, and 200 free.
Didn’t I meet you on a corner where you were preaching end times?
On a serious note, it’s great to be concerned for kids safety, but there’s 0 science behind your concerns. swimming already limits under-waters (interestingly, not out of safety concerns).
There is biological age and athletic age. How long has she been swimming? Has she developed gills?
She could final in the NCAAs!