After a storybook return to competition on Thursday night, Michael Phelps came up short in his second preliminary race following the end of his six-month suspension by USA Swimming.
Phelps finished 17th overall in Friday’s morning heats of the 400-meter freestyle on Day 3 of the Arena Pro Swim Series event in Mesa, Ariz., qualifying for the second-flight “C” final. He scratched the event shortly after, instead joining the commentators in the Universal Sports broadcast booth for the night’s finals.
Instead, swimming fans were treated to another stunning in-season performance from Bethesda’s Katie Ledecky, who’s preliminary time tied Phelps’s earlier in the day in Mesa, Ariz.
Ledecky claimed the women’s 400 freestyle Friday night, touching in 4 minutes 1.95 seconds. The 18-year-old’s time ranks only behind her own world-best 4:00.47, performed in January at the Austin Pro Swim Series event.
“I was out a little fast. I don’t know what my splits were,” Ledecky said, shrugging off guest booth commentator Michael Phelps’s assessment that she “lowered the hammer” at the start. Phelps added a challenge, suggesting the pair of Olympians should settle a surprise tie from the morning heats.
“Okay,” Ledecky responded from the pool deck after her victory. “Want to go in an hour?”
“How about now,” Phelps volleyed, “while you’re tired.”
Ledecky’s victory in the 400 freestyle — her third individual gold of the weekend — was just the fifth win by an American on Friday — half the events — and the only finish in a world-top 10 time.
Cammile Adams edged 17-year-old Katie McLaughlin, a Cal recruit, by 0.06 seconds in the women’s 200 butterfly — 2:08.80 to 2:08.86; Josh Schneider won the men’s 50 freestyle in 22.52; Breeja Larson finished first in the 200 breaststroke (2:27.82); and Michael McBroom the men’s 400 freestyle in 3:50.38.
Per usual at these Pro Swim Series events, with potential for easy money to fund training programs already based in the U.S., a strong field of international athletes have flocked to Arizona for the four-day competition.
Belgian Louis Croenen won the men’s 200 butterfly in 1:59.61 over Tyler Clary (2:00.23), and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace of the Bahamas placed first in the women’s 50 freestyle (24.84) over Simone Manuel (24.98). Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu claimed the women’s 100 backstroke in 1:00.72 over Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe (1:00.89) and Iryna Glavnyk of Ukraine (1:01.84), while Arkady Vyatchanin of Serbia topped Matt Grevers in the men’s event with a time of 53.84; and Venezuela’s Carlos Claverie won the men’s 200 breaststroke (2:14.31).
At present, the U.S. has only 14 swimmers ranked in the top 10 in the world so far this year in Olympic events, with just two Americans appearing multiple times. Ledecky ranks first in the 400 and 800 freestyles and third in the 200 freestyle; Matt Grevers is currently fourth in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 200 backstroke, trailing in the latter to compatriot Ryan Murphy of Cal (sixth). Ledecky, Grevers, Texas’s Jack Conger and Nationa’s Capital’s Andrew Seliskar are the only Americans ranked in the top five internationally, with Conger enjoying the No. 2 ranking in the 100 butterfly and Seliskar currently fifth in the 200 butterfly.
The other U.S. swimmers are: Natalie Coughlin (women’s 100 backstroke, tied-ninth); Katie Meili (women’s 100 breaststroke, ninth); Cody Miller (men’s 100 breaststroke, eighth); Adams (women’s 200 butterfly, eighth); Caitlin Leverenz (women’s 200 individual medley, sixth); Maya DiRado ( women’s 200 individual medley, eighth); Melanie Margalis (women’s 200 individual medley, 10th); Ryan Lochte (men’s 200 IM, eighth); and Elizabeth Beisel (women’s 400 IM, sixth).
