2023 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 27 – July 1, 2023
- Indianapolis, IN
- Indiana University Natatorium
- LCM (50m)
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- Psych Sheet (updated version, 6/26)
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- How To Watch
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap
A chorus of boos rained down the Indiana University Natatorium on Thursday morning after yet another swimmer was disqualified for butterfly kicks during breaststroke.
This time it was Max McHugh, who had a breakout performance of sorts in the heats of the men’s 50 breaststroke as he appeared to shatter his best time and claim the top seed for tonight’s final by a wide margin.
McHugh touched in a time of 26.84, which would move him up to #5 all-time among American swimmers while knocking more than four-tenths off his previous best time of 27.25 set in 2021.
But a massive groan came over the crowd when it was announced that McHugh had been disqualified for fly kicks during breaststroke, making him the seventh swimmer to be DQed during the session.
McHugh can been seen racing in Lane 6 below:
There had previously been three women and three men DQed in the 400 IM, including 2021 Olympic and 2022 World Championship bronze medalist Emma Weyant, who was dinged for the same infraction as McHugh.
McHugh’s lone entry remaining at the competition comes in the 100 breaststroke on Friday, where he’s seeded 12th but will have a realistic shot at a top-two finish given the form he showed in the 50-meter event.
He swam his personal best of 59.57 in the 100 breast at the same meet as his 27.25 50 in July 2021.
With McHugh’s DQ, Nic Fink (27.08) takes over as the top seed heading into tonight’s final.
This sucks. Was pulling for him
Reading these comments made me realize that I fundamentally do not understand how breaststroke works
It is not as cut and dry as some say. SS please clip a variety of kicks and have top USA officials comment on them. I saw nothing at the pull out but did see a kick that is marginal–but only likely to be initiated as discussed below by video review. It is a real issue and we should have some intelligent analyses. Not just name calling. The goal should be to come up with clearer guidelines.
It’s called cheating. Both he and his coaches should be ashamed of themselves for doing it/allowing it.
It’s a big freaking difference to be told a d learned of a rule he thinks he’s doing right, only to be found by new technology that somehow he’s barely infracing on a rule that’s being judged by a human that has little to now usa swimming explanation as to what constitutes an infraction or not. These racers are not intentionally dq’ing and it’s really crappy to assume you think they are. Most of these swimmers have NEVER been dq’d for this violation before. You think everyone who got dq’d today collectively got together i. The parking lot and said, “Today’s the day we try and cheat the system…cheaters on 3..1..2..3…CHEATERS!”
That’s ridiculous and narrow minded at best to think… Read more »
As an expert on this topic, I say get gud kid. How hard is it to just accept being mid? Embarrassing like we’d rather celebrate a 27.0 that was legit and hard earned than cringe at whatever this garbage is. I was a breaststroker and I was mid and I never dreamed of cheating and I’m proud of that. Howdoya sleep with all those medals when u know dang well some of those homies behind u were legit? Icky.
Why have coaches who have the means to film this in practice not fixed it before hand? … you knew there were going to be cameras… so make sure you are swimming legally before it’s all on the line.
If you break down every play in the NFL, there is an extremely small, tiny amount of holding by offensive linemen. And if we added more cameras and allowed more official timeouts then 10 yard holding penalties would be administered all the time. I did not see anything egregiously obvious today. These are professional swimmers, our nation’s finest. The officiating is awful!
I think DQs in breaststroke will always be an issue. Why? Because all the other strokes are at something of a “local maximum” and breaststroke very much is not.
Consider backstroke. It’s slower than freestyle, yes, but the swimmer is rotated a full 180 degrees, and their arms are moving the opposite way relative to their body. If a swimmer tried to make backstroke “more like freestyle”, say by rotating onto their side, it would dramatically slow them down, until they were well past the halfway point, and clearly swimming freestyle.
Butterfly is much the same. Long-axis swimming is faster (or at least more efficient) than short-axis swimming, but there’s no small asymmetry that can be introduced to butterfly that… Read more »