U.S. Nationals Day 2 Men’s Prelims: Luke Hobson Leads Scorching 200 Free Field
The 2025 U.S. National Championships continued from Indianapolis with the Day 2 prelims.
The events are the 200 free, 200 breast, 200 back and 50 butterfly.
Here is a look at the men’s prelims events.
Men’s 200 Free
The fireworks started in the circle-seeded heats.
The first circle-seeded heat went to Kieran Smith (1:46.05) to hold off Henry McFadden (1:46.13) and Carson Foster (1:46.18), as the entire heat closed strong.
The second circle-seeded heat went to Chris Guiliano in 1:46.20, ahead of Daniel Diehl (1:46.70).
The final heat went to Luke Hobson in 1:44.78, the second-fastest time in the world this year. Gabriel Jett and Rex Maurer tied for second at 1:45.46.
Hobson took the top seed into finals at U.S. Nationals, with Maurer and Jett tied for second.
Lukas Mijatovic finished fourth and broke the 15-16 NAG by more than a second, getting to the wall in 1:45.92.
Smith was fifth, followed by McFadden, Foster and Guiliano.
Just how fast was the morning? Last year, the eighth-place tie was 1:47.00.
This morning at U.S. Nationals, 1:47.01 was 16th with 15 swimmers faster than the eighth-place from the Olympic Trials.
