USA Swimming Pro Swim Series Austin, Day 1 Prelims: Caeleb Dressel Goes 22.33 in 50 Free
Caeleb Dressel started off the Austin stop of the Pro Swim Series Wednesday morning with a time of 22.33 in the men’s 50 free that placed him seventh.
That gets him into Wednesday night’s semifinals at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. He is four tenths off the leading time of France’s Maxime Grousset.
The Pro Swim Series stop in Austin is the first chance for USA Swimming to deliver racing tweaks to the schedule. This one is sprint heavy, with prelims/semis/finals plus a prize money increase for the 50 strokes and the 200 IM, with both the 50 frees and 200 IMs on the first day. That leads to a very busy night session with the extra semis.
The women’s 800 free at this stop will be prelims and finals on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
All the action from the morning:
Women’s 50 freestyle
Beryl Gastaldello set the pace in the 50 free in the morning with a time of 24.89 seconds. Fellow Frenchwoman Marie Wattel was third, with Analia Pigree tied for sixth.
Among the Americans, Simone Manuel landed second in 25.10. Anna Peplowski was fourth in 25.61, followed by Chloe Stepanek in fifth in 25.73. Claire Weinstein finished 10th to make semis.
Men’s 50 freestyle
Maxime Grousset led the way in 21.92, but he was followed closely by Brooks Curry in 21.99. Olympians Jack Alexy (22.08) and Chris Guiliano (22.14) were next, with Caeleb Dressel making it a veteran American delegation.
Serbia’s Andrej Barna finished fifth. Americans Matt King and Finn Brooks also were in the top eight. Luke Hobson finished 13th.
Women’s 100 breaststroke
Reigning world champion Anna Elendt led a threadbare field of just 10 starters with a time of 1:08.76 to ease into the A final. Skyler Smith was her nearest competitor in 1:09.10, with 1:14s making the top flight.
Grace Hunt finished third in 1:11.88, followed by Kate Canales and Maya McCarney.
Men’s 100 breaststroke
The men’s field was considerably more robust, with 31 entrants. Van Mathias was the only one to break a minute, going 59.92 to lead the way into the A final. Only one other swimmer broke 1:01, in Kyrgyzstan’s Denis Petrashov, who went 1:00.96.
The A final will include Mexican international Andres Puente Bustamante, who went 1:01.16. Clustered in the 1:01s are a number of recent collegians, among them Mitch Mason in fourth, Luke Barr in fifth and Brian Benzing.
Women’s 200 individual medley
Men’s 200 individual medley
Women’s 100 backstroke
Men’s 100 backstroke
