Friday evening saw four swim meets in three time zones – all four of which featured Olympians and Olympic hopefuls. Each meet is considered a tune-up leading to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, June 26 to July 3 in Omaha.
The highlights:
Recommended Videos
- Michael Phelps finishes second in the 100m butterfly, but wins the 100m freestyle in Austin
- International swimmers find success in Santa Clara, with Sun Yang dropping the fastest time in the world this year in the 200m freestyle
- Men’s 100m breaststroke in Indianapolis previews what could go down at Trials in a little more than three weeks
- Allison Schmitt edges Missy Franklin for first in the 100m freestyle in Austin
- Caeleb Dressel clocks lifetime best 100m freestyle in Tennessee
At the Austin Elite Invitational in Texas, 2012 Olympic gold medalist fought for victories.
Michael Phelps won the 100m freestyle by 0.01 seconds over Jack Conger, but returned later in the meet to claim second place in his signature 100m butterfly behind Singapore's Joseph Schooling. Schooling clocked 51.58 seconds to Phelps’ 51.65, separated by 0.07 seconds.
Allison Schmitt edged Missy Franklin in the 100m freestyle, clocking 54.30 to Franklin’s 54.56. Schmitt returned to the pool later to clock 4:08.36 in the 400m freestyle, placing third. She earned a silver in the event at the 2012 Olympics.
At the Arena Pro Series stop in Santa Clara, California, it was the international swimmers that won most of the events.
China’s Sun Yang clocked the fastest time in the world in 2016 to win the men’s 200m freestyle in 1:44.82. Conor Dwyer clocked 1:45.41, earning him the third fastest time in the world in 2016.
Australia’s Emma McKeon won the 200m freestyle in 1:56.36, while countryman Mitch Larkin took first place in the 400m individual medley in 4:17.35.
Canada’s Noemie Thomas won the 100m butterfly in 57.72.
NBC Live Extra will stream live coverage of Saturday’s Santa Clara finals session beginning at 8 p.m. ET. NBCSN and Live Extra will have live coverage of Sunday’s Santa Clara session beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
The men’s 100m breaststroke at the Arena Pro Series in Indianapolis showed a preview of what that race could be like at Trials: Nic Fink pulled out the win in 1:00.13, though Cody Miller and Kevin Cordes were close behind in 1:00.41 and 1:00.51, respectively. The most recent U.S. rankings list Fink, Miller and Cordes all inside the top-five for the 100m breaststroke.
Kelsi Worrell won the women’s 100m butterfly in a time of 58.12, while Leah Smith won the women’s 200m freestyle with a lifetime best of 1:56.64. She took 0.02 seconds off of her swim from the preliminary session Friday morning, which was then a lifetime best, too.
The Tennessee Aquatics June Invitational also kicked off Friday, where sprinter and Olympic hopeful Caeleb Dressel won the 100m freestyle in lifetime-best style, clocking 47.84.
Two-time Olympic medalist Elizabeth Beisel also competed in Tennessee, where she won the 400m freestyle – an atypical event for her – in a time of 4:10.87.