TYR Pro Swim Series Prelims: Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh Set to Clash in 400 Freestyle
After an opening night of distance swimming, the sprinters took center stage out of the gates Thursday morning at the TYR Pro Swim Series stop in Fort Lauderdale.
It starts with a fast women’s 100 freestyle, led by Olympian Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske. They took the top two seeds in the final, though they’ll have plenty of company in a positively loaded field.
All the action from the morning session:
Women’s 100 freestyle
Gretchen Walsh led the way in 54.09, .03 seconds ahead of Torri Huske. Huske won a fast final heat of 10, going 54.12 to hold off Rylee Erisman’s 54.17 and Simone Manuel’s 54.33. Sarah Fournier won the penultimate heat in 54.33 ahead of Penny Oleksiak, the Canadian gold medalist tying Erin Gemmell for sixth in 54.53. Kate Douglass secured the last finals spot in 54.72, .08 up on fellow Virginian Maxine Parker.
The B final will include Parker, Claire Curzan (54.89), Isabel Ivey (55.11), Claire Weinstein (55.21) and Beata Nelson (55.37), with Alex Walsh scratching after a 55.21. pending scratches. Among the C finalists are Bella Sims, Taylor Ruck and Leah Hayes.
Men’s 100 freestyle
On the men’s side, the Americans were upstage by Lithuanian international Tomas Navikonis, the Ohio State swimmer going 48.58 to take the top time. Chris Guiliano was second, .03 back, with Shaine Casas third in 48.87. Navikonis is chasing the auto cut for the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, which is 48.34.
Among the American A finalists are Luke Hobson in sixth at 49.29 and Carson Foster in seventh in 49.37. The surprise A finalist is Julian Koch, a Pitt freshman who dropped 1.4 seconds off his best time from the second heat of 11 to make the final in 49.11. The last A final spot went to Mikel Schreuders in 49.38. Tomas Lukminas made the final eight in 48.96, good for fourth.
The B final has swimmers from around the Americas, with Lamar Taylor ninth and Ilya Kharun 16th (though he’s scratched the final to get fellow Canadian Yuri Kisil in there). Luis Dominguez Calonge was 15th.
Among the scratches from prelims are Hunter Armstrong, who has the 50 back later in the session, and Caeleb Dressel.
Women’s 100 breaststroke
The battle of American Olympians in prelims went to Emma Weber, who posted a time of 1:07.21 to get the top seed in the final. That bested Lilly King’s 1:07.49. Kate Douglass was third in 1:08.18 with Alex Walsh fourth in 1:08.32, both in their second swim of the morning session.
UNC’s Skyler Smith was fifth in 1:08.35, ahead of the Canadian duo of Shona Branton and Sophie Angus. Elle Scott edged Piper Enge by .05 for the final A final spot.
The B final will include Gabrielle Rose, at 47, still pumping out a 1:09.58 that was good for 12th. She’ll be next to Madyson Hartway, born 31 years later. Isabelle Odgers and Leah Hayes are also in the B final. Torri Huske went 1:11.28, good for 22nd. She will scratch the C final bid.
Men’s 100 breaststroke
Make it two Lithuanian leaders? Aleksas Savickas went 59.72, the only sub-minute time, to lead the way in prelims. With it, the Olympian cuts under the auto qualification standard for the Singapore World Championships, 59.75. Denis Petrashov is also chasing that, the Kyrgyzstani Olympian second in 1:00.42. Spain’s Carles Coll Marti was third in 1:01.07, .01 ahead of the top American, Michael Andrew.
The A final is an international affair: Russia’s Evgenii Somov was sixth; Mariano Lazzerini of Chile was seventh; in eighth is Lyubomir Epitropov of Bulgaria. That leaves just Andrew and fifth-place Campbell McKean of the host country.
Women’s 50 backstroke
Kylie Masse got the morning amped up with a Canadian record of 27.13 that was .01 off the U.S. Open record. Holder of said record, Katharine Berkoff, finished second in prelims in 27.34 with American record holder Regan Smith third in 27.50.
In the 28s are quite a crowd, led by Claire Curzan in 28.18 and Rhyan White in 28.21. Spain’s Carmen Weiler Sastre is sixth, with Erika Pelaez and Catie Choate rounding out the top eight.
The B final will include Taylor Ruck (10th in 28.65), fellow Canadian Madison Kryger (28.67), Rylee Erisman (28.67) and Bella Sims (28.77).
Men’s 50 backstroke
Make it three international leaders with Hubert Kos leading the 50 back, the Hungarian going 24.76. That’s just .14 seconds off his four-week old national record. Stanford’s Finn Harland was second in 24.88, the New Zealand international hunting his national mark of 24.65. Quintin McCarty flew the flag for America in third in 24.93.
Also in the A final are Shaine Casas (24.98) and Michael Andrew (25.00), both in second swims of the day. Jack Harvey of Bermuda obliterated his best time by going 25.21, blasting six tenths off his national record of 25.89. He’s looking for an A cut of 25.11 for Worlds though he scratched out of the final. Jack Dolan and Grant Bochenski add two Americans to the A final.
Women’s 200 butterfly
Regan Smith, with little turnaround time, led the way in the women’s 200 fly with her time of 2:06.30. Only one swimmer is within 2.75 seconds in a thin field of a thin event globally.
Alex Shackell finished second in 2:07.31. Audrey Derivaux was third in 2:08.85, followed by 2:09s from Caroline Bricker and Katie Grimes. Irishwoman Ellen Walshe and Danish international Helena Rosendahl Bach round out the top eight.
Men’s 200 butterfly
Jack Dahlgren led the way in the men’s 200 fly, his time of 1:56.83 besting Carson Foster by a hundredth and Tennessee’s Martin Espernberger by a tenth. Mitchell Schott of Princeton was fourth. Trenton Julian is also in the A final in seventh.
Not in the A final is Paris bronze medalist Ilya Kharun, who finished fifth in a slow final heat to land 13th overall in 2:00.51. He’ll bow out of his chance to swim in a B final. Both Shackells – Aaron Shackell in 1:59.38 and Andrew Shackell in 1:59.90 – will swim in the B final.
Women’s 400 freestyle
A showdown is set for Thursday night between Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh, but there will be plenty of others vying for spots on the podium.
Ledecky was first in prelims Thursday morning in 4:03.45. McIntosh finished third in 4:06.56. Claire Weinstein was in between them in 4:04.80.
A distance back in fourth was Erin Gemmell in 4:09.31. She was followed by Jillian Cox in 4:09.33 and Cavan Gormsen in 4:09.88. Emma Weyant and Katie Grimes tied for the final A final spot in 4:11.07. Grimes, though, scratched the final, letting Madi Mintenko into the final eight. Kayla Han leads the B final.
Men’s 400 freestyle
Kieran Smith led the way in the men’s race with a time of 3:49.81, with most of the big names through to the final if not in leading positions.
Second was Ryan Erisman in 3:50.74. Luke Hobson, looking to expand upward in distance was third in 3:51.32. Bobby Finke, fresh off his 1,500 free win, was fifth in 3:52.27. Leon Marchand is in the final and avoided an outside lane in sixth in 3:52.77. In between is Georgia’s Tomas Koski in fourth.
