200 Freestyle Final – 2014 Austin Grand Prix – reported by Jared Anderson
Yannick Agnel is a man on fire.
After besting a pair of international distance stars in the 400, plus finishing second to Nathan Adrian in the 100 free last night, Agnel was back at it on night 2 in the middle-distance, going an unbelievable 1:45.76 to win the 200 free.
That’s easily the top time in the world so far this year (in fact, Agnel’s prelims 1:47.1 was the previous 2014 best), and would have been the 7th fastest time in all of 2013, World and European Championships included.
His North Baltimore training partner Matt McLean took second, going 1:48.94, a nice time for the former University of Virginia star. And Tunisian star Ous Mellouli, who recently jumped in with Agnel and McLean at NBAC, took third to make a 1-2-3 North Baltimore sweep in the event. Mellouli was 1:50.13.
Club Wolverine’s Michael Klueh took fourth followed by Cal’s Tom Shields, usually a butterflyer who was the runaway winnner in the 100 of that stroke last night. Distance swimmer Michael McBroom was 6th and a pair of Canadians, Stefan Milosevic of the University of British Columbia and Jeremy Bagshaw out of California, rounded out the top 8.
The B final was another showdown of big names. SwimMAC’s Dax Hill, who swam his college years in this very pool, won in 1:50.80. Charlie Houchin was 10th overall, just a tenth behind, and Tom Luchsinger of NBAC took 11th.
CONGRATS YANNICK!
Unbelievable 1.45.76. It’s good to be enthusiast but I wouldn’t write unbelievable. When you have a PB of 1.43 low, it’s not surprising to swim not tapered 1.45 high/1.46. I expected a 1.45. He swam a 1.45. He’s on the good way of a successful summer.