Golden Goggles Voting Update: Jaeger Leads Phelps By 1% For Race of the Year

It’s been just about a month and a half now since voting opened on USA Swimming’s Golden Goggle Awards, and its time for another update on the voting totals. We last did an update about 2 weeks ago. Since then, the number of votes cast has climbed by thousands, but recent voters haven’t significantly changed the trend of leaders in each category.

Men’s race of the year continues to be the tightest battle, with Connor Jaeger and Michael Phelps separated by just 1 percent. Interestingly, Phelps has 2 nominations for race of the year, which may be spreading his votes. We’ll discuss that and more in the voting recaps below.

A few links of note before we begin:

• When the voting first opened, we put together our own ballot with explanations of why we chose the way we did, written by Jared Anderson.
• A week later, the hosts of the Official SwimSwam Podcast – Mitch Bowmile and Loretta Race – weighed in on their own picks and how they differed from the original SwimSwam ballot. You can listen to that right at the beginning of the podcast – and stay tuned through the end for an interview with Breakout Performer of the Year nominee Kelsi Worrell.
• And finally, we updated the voting results about a month into the campaign, and you can find that story here.

YOU CAN VOTE FOR THE 2015 GOLDEN GOGGLE AWARDS HERE.

Here’s a quick look at the horse race as it currently stands, with last week’s numbers in parentheses. Current leaders are in bold:

HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE ONLINE VOTING?

Nominees:

• USA Swimming Foundation Website – 62% (+16%)
• USA Swimming Website – 6% (-2%)
• Twitter- 5% (-2%)
• Facebook – 20% (-8%)
• Instagram – 1% (-1%)
• Other 6% (-2%)

More voters are being brought in by the USA Swimming Foundation website, while its closest competitor Facebook has dropped another 8 percent.

BREAKOUT PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

• Katie Meili – 20% (-2%)
• Jordan Wilimovsky – 35% (+1%)
• Kelsi Worrell – 45% (-)

Wilimovsky gained another 1 percent on Worrell here, but it’s highly unlikely that the lead will change at this point. Worrell’s 45 percent lead shows no change since our last update.

PERSEVERANCE AWARD

• Kevin Cordes – 6% (-3%)
• Connor Jaeger – 34% (-5%)
• Allison Schmitt – 60% (+7%)

Schmitt’s lead is still increasing in this category. She’s up 7 percent from 2 weeks ago. Meanwhile, Jaeger has dropped 5 percent. Both athletes have definitely earned their nomination for the perseverance award, but it’s possible that people are voting for Jaeger in the race of the year category instead. This is Schmitt’s only nomination.

COACH OF THE YEAR

• Bob Bowman – 22% (-)
• Bruce Gemmell – 36% (+2%)
• Dave Kelsheimer – 20% (+1%)
• David Marsh – 13% (-2%)
• Cathering Vogt – 9% (-1%)

Bruce Gemmell has extended his lead for Coach of the Year, now holding 36 percent of the votes after coaching Katie Ledecky to multiple golds and world records this summer. Behind him, Dave Kelsheimer gained 1% to close in on Bob Bowan for 2nd.

RELAY PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

• Women’s 4×200 free relay – World Championships – 62% (+2%)
• Men’s 4×100 medley relay – World Championships – 18% (-)
• Mixed 4×100 free relay – World Championships – 20% (-2%)

The clear favorite here is the women’s 4×200 free relay, which now holds 62 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, the mixed 4×100 free relay has dropped 2 percent. As mentioned in our last update, mixed medley relays aren’t yet into swimming’s mainstream enough to gain more votes.

FEMALE RACE OF THE YEAR

• Haley Anderson – 5K Open Water, World Championships – 11% (-1%)
• Katie Ledecky – 200 free, World Championships – 16% (-1%)
• Katie Ledecky – 800 free, World Championships – 25% (-2%)
• Katie Ledecky – 1500 free, World Championships – 48% (+4%)

Ledecky’s 1500 free has picked up another 4 percent, now holding nearly half of all votes. It’s hard not to vote for a race that she broke a world record in twice, without even meaning to the first time. All 3 other race nominations, Ledecky’s 200 and 800, and Haley Anderson‘s 5k, dropped 1-2 percent.

MALE RACE OF THE YEAR

• Connor Jaeger – 1500 free, World Championships – 37% (+6%)
• Ryan Lochte – 200 IM, World Championships – 6% (-4%)
• Michael Phelps – 100 fly, National Championships – 6% (-3%)
• Michael Phelps, 200 fly, National Championships – 36% (+6%)
• Jordan Wilimovsky – 10K Open Water, World Championships – 16% (-4%)

Phelps and Jaeger are still neck and neck in this category, each getting a 6 percent boost since our last update. While they’re still separated by just 1 percent, Jaeger’s 1500 now holds a 180 vote lead compared to the 48 vote lead he held previously over Phelps’ 200 fly.

Phelps was also nominated for his 100 fly, which holds 6 percent of votes overall. It’s possible that he’s being hurt a bit due to having multiple nominations. Fans may be split choosing between the 100 and 200 fly. Phelps posted the fastest time in the world for 2015 in both races this summer. It’s also worth noting that Jaeger fans could be voting for him for the perseverance award rather than in this category. It’s hard to say exactly how much this effects the votes for Phelps and Jaeger.

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

• Haley Anderson – 19% (+7%)
• Missy Franklin – 17% (-2%)
• Katie Ledecky – 64% (-5%)

Ledecky has steadily dropped in this category over the last few weeks, but still holds an overwhelming lead. She’s down 5 percent since our last update, but still has 64 percent of votes overall. Meanwhile, Anderson has picked up 7 percent to surpass Franklin, who dropped 2 percent, for second. They have 19 and 17 percent of votes respectively.

MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

• Ryan Lochte – 22% (-2%)
• Michael Phelps – 56% (+8%)
• Jordan Wilimovsky – 21% (-8%)

Both Lochte and Wilimovsky earned gold medals at the World Championships this summer, but Phelps posted 3 world leading times at US Nationals. The votes have gone in favor of Phelps, who is now up another 8 percent to hold 56 percent overall. Wilimovsky dropped by 8 percent, giving Lochte a 1 percent advantage for 2nd.