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 a morning session that includes swims from Summer McIntosh, Leon Marchand and Regan Smith:
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
It’s not world record holder Summer McIntosh leading the way in the 200 IM prelims. She finished third in the morning, winning the fourth and final prelims heat in 2:16.27. The pace was set a heat earlier by Teagan O’Dell, who went 2:14.91.
Cyrielle Duhamel of France was second in 2:16.11. McIntosh was .11 seconds up on Emma Weyant. Ava Chavez finished fifth in 2:17.99, then there was some two seconds back to Lindsay Looney in sixth.
Men’s 200 individual medley
It’s not world record holder Leon Marchand leading the way in the 200 IM prelims. He finished fifth in the morning, landing second in his heat in a comfortable 2:05.95.
The pace was set by Carson Foster, who went 2:01.38 to set the top time out of heat two of four. He brought Grant Sanders (2:01.92) along with him in his heat. Kieran Smith won Marchand’s heat in 2:03.48 for third overall. Humberto Najera won the third heat in 2:05.25, landing fourth overall.
The big names run out quickly, with Gerhardt Hoover sixth and Cullen Kahl seventh. Like the women’s event, this one will go through a semifinal Wednesday night.
Women’s 100 backstroke
One star that did deliver a leading time Wednesday is Regan Smith. The American went 59.38 to lead the field in the 100 back. She was .18 up on Rylee Erisman, who went 59.56. Anna Peplowski, trying a double, was third in 1:00.52 in a limited field that featured just 16 swimmers.
Among those swimmers is a lot of 16- and 17-year-olds. Erisman is one. Charlotte Crush finished fourth in 1:00.94. Mena Boardman and Sydney Wasylenky were sixth and seventh, respectively. Also in the A final is Beryl Gastaldello, also in a double, in fifth.
Men’s 100 backstroke
It’s a French sweep of the top three places, led by Mewen Tomac in 55.48. He finished .05 seconds up on countryman Yohann Ndoye Brouard. Third was Mathys Chouchaoui in 55.78.
Fourth place went to Tiago Behar. The first American was fifth in Grant Bochenski, who went 56.51. Jack Dahlgren is also in the A final.
