The feel-good story of the 2019 swimming season will come this week at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatics Center at Indiana University with the return of five-time Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian for the fourth leg of the Tyr Pro Swim Series.
Adrian, now 30, disclosed in January that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, but has fought it off and is returning to the pool. His last race was on 1 December 2018, at the USA Swimming Winter National Championships, finishing second in the 100 m Free. He has been a regular on the Tyr Pro Swim Series circuit, but will make his debut for 2019 in Bloomington.
The meet has some deep fields, especially in the women’s events. Some of the workloads for the top swimmers based on the entries:
Men:
● Nathan Adrian ~ 50-100 m Free
● Blake Pieroni ~ 50-100-200 m Free
● Tom Shields ~ 100-200 m Free, 100-200 m Fly
● Zane Grothe ~ 400-800-1,500 m Free
● Cody Miller ~ 50-100-200 m Breast
● Michael Andrew ~ 50 m Free, 50-100 m Back, 50-100 m Breast, 50-100 m Fly
Women:
● Lilly King ~ 50-100-200 m Breast, 200 m Medley
● Bethany Galat ~50- 100 m Breast, 400 m Medley
● Annie Lazor ~ 50-100-200 m Breast
● Madisyn Cox ~ 200-400 m Free, 100-200 m Breast, 200-400 m Medley
● Simone Manuel ~ 50-100-200 m Free, 50 m Back
● Mallory Comerford ~ 50-100-200 m Free, 50-100 m Fly
● Margo Geer ~ 50-100-200 m Free
● Allison Schmidt ~ 100-200 m Free
● Kelsi Dahlia ~ 50-100-200 m Free, 50-100-200 m Fly
● Katie Ledecky ~ 100-200-400-800 m Free, 400 m Medley
● Ella Eastin ~ 200 m Free, 100 m Breast, 100-200 m Fly, 200-400 m Medley
● Regan Smith ~ 50 m Free, 50-100-200 m Back, 50-100-200 m Fly
There are a modest number of foreign swimmers entered, but they include star freestyler Farida Osman (EGY) and backstroke star Taylor Ruck (CAN).
The crowd favorite will be Indiana’s Lilly King, the world-record holder in the 50 m and 100 m Breast events and the reigning World Champion in both. She’s been a regular performer in the Tyr Pro Swim Series, but – following the end of the collegiate season in late March – this is her first appearance in 2019.
There is prize money of $1,500-1,000-500 for the top three places in each event. The meet will be shown on NBC’s Olympic Channel on Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern time; on NBCSN on Saturday at 6 p.m., and online on Sunday at www.usaswimming.org. Look for a link to results here.
