Swim of the Week: Lilla Bognar Drops Eight Seconds To Win NCSA 200 Back

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.

Lilla Bognar had a phenomenal performance at the 2021 NCSA Summer Swimming Championships in Huntsville, Alabama last week, highlighted by her unbelievable drop in the women’s 200 backstroke.

Bognar, 14, took four seconds off her personal best time in the event’s preliminaries, bringing her PB down from 2:18.66 to 2:14.72, qualifying third for the final after coming in seeded eighth.

The Team Greenville swimmer took things up a few notches in the final, however, blasting a time of 2:10.62 to win by a second and a half while competing against a field that included five swimmers aged 17 and up.

Looking at the way Bognar split the race, she made up all of the difference on her back-half in the final.

Already an established 100 backstroker coming into the meet—with her best time of 1:03.27 set in July ranking 54th all-time in the girls’ 13-14 age group—Bognar had used her front-end speed in the prelims, flipping in 1:04.84 at the 100 (by far the fastest in the field) before closing in 1:09.88.

In the final, however, the 14-year-old showed she can carry that speed through a full 200. After getting out a bit faster in 1:04.56, just seven one-hundredths clear of NOVA’s Zoe Dixon, Bognar unleashed back-half splits of 33.29/32.77, coming home in blazing 1:06.06 to win the race definitively.

Bognar’s final time of 2:10.62 launched her up to sixth all-time in the 13-14 age group. Her best time coming into the day, 2:18.66 set in May at the Atlanta Classic, didn’t even rank inside the top 100.

All-Time Rankings, Girls’ 13-14 200 Backstroke (LCM)

1. Missy Franklin, 2:09.16 (2009)
2. Teagan O’Dell, 2:09.57 (2021)
3. Rye Ulett, 2:09.70 (2019)
4. Taylor Ruck, 2:10.22 (2015)
5. Alex Walsh, 2:10.55 (2015)
6. Lilla Bognar, 2:10.62 (2021)
7. Beth Botsford, 2:10.66 (1996)
8. Erin Earley, 2:10.95 (2014)
9. Madison White, 2:11.31 (2009)
10. Regan Smith, 2:11.41 (2016)

Not unlike Teagan O’Dell, who took on a massive schedule at the U.S. Summer Championships that included posting the #2 200 back time in 13-14 history, Bognar’s event lineup at NCSAs was not for the faint of heart.

After racing the 200 back on Tuesday, Bognar took on the heats and finals of the 200 free on Wednesday, the 400 IM and 100 back on Thursday, the 400 free on Friday, and the 50 back, plus the timed final of the 800 free, on Saturday.

She ultimately lowered her best time in six of her seven events, only missing the 100 back, while racing 3,500 meters in five days.

BOGNAR’S NCSA Schedule

• Tuesday: 200 back – 2:14.72 prelims (PB), 2:10.62 final (PB, first place)
• Wednesday: 200 free – 2:05.31 prelims (PB), 2:05.93 final (sixth place)
• Thursday: 400 IM – 4:54.40 prelims (PB), 4:54.88 final (third place)
• Thursday: 100 back – 1:04.41 prelims, 1:04.02 final (fourth place)
• Friday: 400 free – 4:26.13 prelims (PB), 4:23.09 final (PB, fourth place)
• Saturday: 50 back – 29.76 prelims (PB), 30.17 final (seventh place)
• Saturday: 800 free – 9:01.35 (PB, fourth place)

The 400 IM showing of 4:54.40 also slotted her into the top 100 all-time in the 13-14 age group, moving into a tie for 94th after entering the meet with a PB of 4:59.22.